With Britain’s post-pandemic dog population having increased by at least 10 per cent to more than 11 million, I may be at the extreme end of cynophilia, but I doubt I’m alone. Canine life expectancy varies by breed: according to The Journal of Small Animal Practice, Cardigan Welsh corgis boast the longest odds, with us for 16-and-a-half years on average. Meanwhile, poor Neopolitan mastiffs have the shortest, with an average life expectancy of merely 2.33 years. Still, science is beginning to provide help with the issue of dog longevity for all of us whose hopes and fears are contained in four-legged form. Just as there are pioneers attempting to expand humans’ allotted years via an assortment of bio-hacks, so scientists are turning their attention to increasing canine lifespan.
There is Vaika, a charitable research organisation looking at ways to increase longevity through a study of retired sled dogs, named after a husky. It was founded by Dr Andrei Gudkov, a professor of oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. His team focuses on DNA damage in dogs between eight and 11 years old, monitored at a site in Ithaca. Here Vaika is trialling an experimental anti-ageing drug that could also have implications for humans.
Then there is Loyal, a business biotech start-up founded by scientist Celine Halioua to develop drugs to increase health and wag span. It will shortly be launching clinical trials of two drugs: the first an implant aimed at larger dogs; the second, a pill to be tested on older animals. Halioua’s goal is that, if successful, these could ultimately be trialled on – and sold to – people.
The largest and most exciting of these canine investigations, America’s Dog Aging Project (dogagingproject.org), is a vast academic undertaking involving almost 45,000 citizen scientists and their hounds, 30 scientists and 60 staff across 12 institutions, with many millions of funding. It was the brainchild of the biology of ageing specialist Dr Matt Kaeberlein, based at the University of Washington, Seattle. Dr Kaeberlein grew up with dogs, and typically maintains a small pack. It was his beloved long-haired German shepherd, Dobby, now 12, who inspired his light-bulb moment a decade ago.
‘I’d been studying the biology of ageing for 15 years in different laboratory animals, starting with simple-celled yeast, then nematode worms and, eventually, mice,’ Dr Kaeberlein explains.
‘It has never occurred to me that there was an opportunity to investigate how much we’d learnt inside the laboratory in the real world until conversations with my now co-director [evolution of ageing expert] Dr Daniel Promislow.
‘Suddenly, it occurred to me that there might be an opportunity not only to understand the biology of ageing, but to actually have an impact on the health and longevity of dogs because they age so much more rapidly than humans – and they share the human environment. I don’t know why it took me 15 years to make that connection, but as soon as I did it became something I had to do because of Dobby. If we’re able to give dogs an extra two, three, four years of healthy longevity, that’s a big deal. No one really cares if we can make a mouse live 50 per cent longer. It’s neat academically, but it’s not going to change anyone’s life.’
DNA-wise, dogs are not much closer to us than mice. However, the shared habitat factor is hugely significant, given that approximately 75 per cent of what drives longevity is believed to be environmental, a mere 25 per cent genetic. As species, humans and hounds have enjoyed 30-40,000 years of co-evolution. Moreover, unlike in, say, cats, the structured breed component offers rich potential for genetic study. These affinities mean that what we learn about canine ageing might also lead to human life spans being increased.