How long do dogs live? What three large studies found
This site collects dog breed lifespan numbers from published, openly licensed studies and shows them the way the papers reported them — median or mean, in years or months, from whichever country the study sampled. When two studies cover the same breed and disagree, both numbers are shown side by side; we do not average them into one figure or say which is right.
Three studies, three numbers
Using a dataset of 584,734 unique dogs located within the UK, including 284,734 deceased, we present variation in longevity estimates within the following: parental lineage (purebred = 1 breed, crossbred ≥ 2 breeds), breed (n = 155), body size (large, medium, small), sex (male, female) and cephalic index (brachycephalic, mesocephalic, dolichocephalic).
median survival was estimated at 12.5 years (12.5–12.6, n = 584,734, events = 284,734)
Applies to: 584,734 dogs in a UK multi-source dataset (breed registries, pet insurers, vet corporations, rehoming charities), pure and crossbred combined
From Scientific Reports (Nature, CC BY 4.0), Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Page read on 2026-09-28.
Mortality data on 5663 deceased dogs registered with the UK Kennel Club were collected from an owner-based survey.
The overall median age at death across all breeds was 124 months [10.33 years] (95% CI: 122.57 to 125.43 months, IQR: 86–154 months, range: 0–317 months).
Applies to: 5,663 deceased dogs registered with the UK Kennel Club, from an owner-reported survey
From Canine Genetics and Epidemiology (BioMed Central, CC BY 4.0), Longevity and mortality in Kennel Club registered dog breeds in the UK in 2014. Page read on 2026-09-28.
The final dataset, gathering data from the national registry database, consisted of 278,116 dogs with confirmed deaths.
The mean lifespan at birth for all the dogs was around 8.91 years, with the female dogs tended to have a similar lifespan to male dogs.
Applies to: 278,116 dogs with confirmed deaths in Portugal's official national companion-animal registry (SIAC)
From Animals (MDPI, CC BY), Investigating the Life Expectancy at Birth of Companion Dogs in Portugal Using Official National Registry Data. Page read on 2026-09-28.
Why the numbers differ
These three figures are not measuring quite the same thing. The UK dataset behind the first number is a median survival estimate from insurers, vet groups and breed registries; the UK Kennel Club figure is a median age at death from an owner-reported survey; the Portugal figure is a mean life expectancy at birth from a national chip registry. See how each study built its number.
3 breeds in our chart have three independent sources instead of just one — Golden Retriever is one of them.
This site covers dogs by breed only, and only lifespan numbers with their sources. It does not cover disease, treatment or feeding, and nothing here is veterinary advice.