The Dog Aging Project: Discoveries and Implications for Canine and Human Health

Dog owners applaud project

In 2014, a group of veterinarians, biologists and other researchers founded it Dog Aging Project with the aim of helping dogs live longer and improve their overall health.

In particular, extending the disease-free lifespan – i.e. the duration of health of the dog – has a high priority.

Longevity of health is at the forefront of aging research, because a life expectancy of 100 years is less attractive if you are ailing enormously from the age of 60.

The researchers are therefore studying thousands of dogs of all ages and breeds. In addition, owners provide their pet’s health records and complete detailed surveys each year that take three hours to complete.

All that data will teach us, among other things, how genes, lifestyle and environment influence the aging process.

In addition to files and questionnaires, the researchers will reveal aging by mapping the genomes of approximately 10,000 dogs – their entire genetic material.

And now results are coming in.

Exercise prevents dementia

In 2022, the Dog Aging Project published the findings of a large analysis of the links between physical activity and dementia in older dogs. The study included 11,574 dogs aged 6-18, of which 287 had dementia.

The surveys provided the researchers with information about, among other things, the dogs’ cognitive health: memory, pattern recognition and information processing. And furthermore about the intake of nutritional supplements, training and the activity level.

There appeared to be significant links between physical activity and dementia. For example, the highly active dogs had less cognitive decline and less risk of clinical dementia, also known as CCD.

Dogs with specific conditions – especially age-related – receive extra attention in different types of research. For example, if they are demented or suffer from CCD, the studies can provide details about how and the age at which brain diseases strike.

The variety of dog breeds makes it even more necessary to collect a lot of data. For example, the aging process in German Shepherds can look very different from bulldogs, because life expectancy varies greatly by breed.

In a study from 2022, a British research team concluded that the French bulldog lives an average of only 4.5 years, while the Jack Russell Terrier has almost 13 years ahead.

The study also found that smaller dogs generally live longer than larger ones, while in most other mammals, large species tend to live longer than small ones.

This may be because of the food we feed our dogs.

Eat once a day

The influence of nutrition on health is undisputed, but there are still major gaps in our knowledge of how eating habits influence health and aging in animals.

The researchers therefore studied a number of diets, hoping to find a menu with an anti-aging effect. Studies with mice and rats show that a limited caloric intake and intermittent fasting, in which only a few meals are eaten, have a positive effect on longevity.

So the researchers of the Dog Aging Project tested whether there were also links between dogs’ health — specifically their cognitive health — and meal frequency.

Analysis of data from more than 10,000 dogs showed that one meal a day – rather than several – may be associated with a much lower risk of organ, dental and bone disease, as well as better mental health.

So exercise and diet affect dogs’ longevity. But the researchers don’t stop there. They are now looking for medication that slows down the aging process and delays the death of the dogs.

Miracle drug cleans up cells

One remedy is promising. Rapamycin is used against cancer in humans and in organ transplants, where it calms the immune system so that the organ is not rejected. But it also proves to be useful in aging research – for example, experiments with fruit flies, worms and rodents have yielded spectacular results.

In a research from 2016, an American team found that three months of daily treatment with rapamycin extended the lifespan of elderly mice by up to 60 percent compared to untreated mice.

Rapamycin has the same effect on aging as calorie restriction. It inhibits the protein mTOR, which is activated when we eat and regulates metabolism, cell growth and cell division, among other things.

But the protein’s activity may also be linked to an increased risk of a number of age-related diseases, such as cancer, arthritis and osteoporosis.

So the Dog Aging Project is now testing rapamycin on dogs to get data on its effects in larger animals and to find the optimal dose. And it’s not just dogs that benefit.

Dogs are perfect laboratory animals

The research will likely benefit humans, and not just because their four-legged friend lives longer. Using dogs as a model, we also gain insight into how nutrition and exercise affect human ageing.

Dogs live shorter lives than humans – and they age faster. Therefore, it is easier to study aging in dogs than in humans.

And because they live so closely with humans and thrive in a human environment—unlike, say, mice in the lab—dogs can serve as models for how our environment and lifestyle affect aging. For example, dogs have many of the same lifestyle diseases as we do, such as obesity, arthritis and diabetes.

Extending a dog’s life gives us more hope than extending a mouse or rat’s life, and it will give us more confidence that we too can fight aging and live longer, healthier lives.

Just as diseases can be prevented with lifestyle and medicine, aging is possible – and our four-legged friends make us realize that.