How Long Do Labrador Retrievers Live – Human and Dog Years?
by Administrator
Filed under Featured Content, Labrador Overview
This bit of information on Labradors is too often neglected when prospective owners fall in love with a puppy. We all love them – wriggly little bundles of energy. It’s difficult to imagine them ever slowing down and getting old. They do, though, and those who look for information on Labradors should ask, “How long do Labrador Retrievers live in human and dog years?”
Most North American and European dogs live, on average, about 12.8 human years, but some breeds live longer than others. In general, the life expectancy of larger dogs is less than that of smaller dogs. The bodies of larger dogs work harder, and tend to “wear out” earlier than those of smaller dogs. For example, while big, strong-looking bulldogs average only 6.7 human years, frail-looking miniature poodles average 14.8 human years.
Back to the Lab
But you want information on Labradors, not bulldogs and poodles. Your question was, “How long do Labrador Retrievers live in human and dog years?”
Labrador Retrievers average 12.6 human years.
That is not a given, of course. We cannot guarantee that YOUR Lab will live 12.6 years. To give trustworthy information on Labradors, we must also consider how your dog is treated. The life expectancy of any one dog must take into account the daily and occasional stressors encountered by that particular dog. It must consider physical stressors of cold, heat, obesity, exercise, lack of exercise, etc. It must also consider psychological stresses that come as a result of the treatment your Lab receives.
Most reliable information on Labradors points out that the dog’s length of life is further determined by what it eats, and what kind of care it receives.
Converting Human Years to Dog Years
Once we know your dog’s life expectancy in human years, we must convert it to dog years to realize how old that really is.
Many people believe that each human year equals 7 Labrador years. That is not accurate information on Labradors, however, since Labs reach adulthood within the first couple of years after birth, and a human baby requires 18 years to attain the same maturity.
One canine expert worked out a formula that is more accurate, although no one can judge the matter perfectly.
The Formula
That formula counts 10.5 dog years per human year for the first 2 years. After that, it figures about 4 dog years per human year.
Working that into our information on Labradors, you get these figures:
HUMAN YEARS DOG YEARS
1…………….10.5
2…………… 21
3…………… 25
4…………… 29
5…………… 33
6…………… 37
7…………… 41
8…………… 45
9…………… 49
10…………. 53
11…………. 57
12…………. 61
12.6………. 63.4Labrador Retrievers average 63.4 dog years.
Live Long and Prosper
One final bit of information on Labradors: These dogs are bred to be workers, so they require regular exercise if they are to live long. Plan on giving your Lab 3 walks each day, or let him out into a protected yard to romp 3 times a day. Do not allow your Lab to remain inactive and become overweight.
Overweight dogs tend to die at an earlier age than trim, fit dogs.
i am 10 years old and my mom and dad are vet’s i try to save as many animals as i can i love animals and hope you can help save animals to thank you love emma yoder please halp
What wonderful stories to read….
My chocolate lab Coco is now 15 1/2 years old. We took her from a bad situation when she was a year old. She was kept in a crate in an unfinished basement and only let out twice a day to go outside. When we got her she was super wild and did not know how to play with a toy.
We fell in love with her in minutes. She has been with us since. She has been through two crutiate ligament surgeries and now at the the age of almost 16, she is still able to walk around on her own. We have made sure to keep her weight down so she would be with us a long time.
She can’t see well as she has catacts and her hearing is not so good, but she is a doll…She follows me all over the first floor of the house always needing to be near my side. She is my precious baby and I pray she has more time with us. We cherish every moment we have with her.
Lost, my dog died yesterday
You can question your decision over and over and over again. We had to put our first lab down, she was 14 and a half too, she stopped eating, drinking and had bad arthritis, we would have to help her up and down the stairs to go outside. She still did quite fine on her walks in the morning but she lost a lot of weight and muscle too. Now her sister will be 16 in 4 months and she is still pretty active and seems to be doing well although I have to take her to the vet today as I have seen some blood and mucus in her stools that have been runny for the past few days. It was a hard thing to have to put your best friend down but on the other hand do you want to see them stumble and suffer till they go naturally? Every dog is different, it’s funny because the lab we have now, she seemed to have all of her problems when she was younger and now she will soon be 16! I know a guy who had a 19 year old male black lab, he finally had to put him down last summer. He still looked like he was in good shape but as the owner you have to make that decision when it ’s time to let them go. Thanks for letting me share, you can e-mail me anytime. Paula, Ontario Canada
my wonderful 8 year old black lab died last night in the hospital. His spleen had been removed with 3 masses on it. wouldn t know if it was cancer for a few more days. thought he was coming home today but stopped breathing last night then went into cardiac arrest. also needed a blood transfusion after surgery saturday.I am absolutely distraught. He was such a kind, loving, gentle dog. I have been crying for 2 days.
I keep saying the same thing over and over. my dog just died yesterday at 8!! did I do something wrong? but he did have 3 masses on his spleen but I feel like I did something wrong or not enough…
We always think we never do enough. You should not be so hard on yourself. Just the fact that you are here and saying these things shows how much you really cared for your pet. My sympathy goes out to you.
I just read about your lab having had a few seizures at about 5 years of age. I have a big black lab named Kona who started having seizures when he was almost 5. I learned that about 12% of labs have idiopathic seizures disorders. Kona is now almost 10. He has been on medication to control his seizures for almost 5 years. He has has a great life. Other than dealing with the break through seizures he has been one healthy pup. The last three months he has developed liver problems due to the medication he has been taking to control his seizures (phenobarbital). We are now in the process of adding another med and weaning him off of the phenobarb. I don’t know if his liver will heal, but am hopeful that we will have a few more years with him. Right now he is so very sedated but I know that will get better as the medications are adjusted. Long story short–your puppy can still have a great life ahead of him so long as you can manage his condition. Good luck to you both.
im very scared about my dog as – she is only 1.9 years old and she is not keen in breeding . she is a pampered and well maintained lab.there is a lab living next door and always flirts with cashew(my labs name). my family wants litter but i think it will effect cashews health and behaveour. i also think shes too youngto have pups.
please….if someone has an answer to this,mail me at– sai.sita@yahoo.com
My lab is only two years old but Reading these stories is making me cry knowing that I too will have to say goodbye to my best friend cashew , best wishes to you all.
i have my 1st lab cashew and she is a pure breed . i was in tears till i finished reading your sorrowful stories….
I have posted before as we put our Precious Black Lab Nicki to sleep on July 30th of last year. There is not a day goes bye that I do not look at her picture and shed a tear-we so loved our Girl. She left behind a ton of my Chikdcare kiddos and families that loved her- and all of us and she left behind her best Friend in the world-our Lab-St. Bernard who is 11-her name is HappyGirl.
This year for Christmas I was given a 2-lb Chihuhua-my Grnadsons Girlfriends puppy had a litter. I named her Lizzy and now I believe God has given her to me to have the same-quality of life as we have offered our other furry family members. I can now look at Nickis picture and smile and remember how blessed we were to have had her for 14 years.
Many of you think you will never feel better and it is a long time comming-but the good times will ond day out weigh the grief you feel-please believe that. God Bless you all* Pauline
Hi,
I read your note and thought I’d tell you about a product I tried for my 15-year-old lab mix Allison. She was having trouble getting up the 3 steps of my front stoop after coming home from our walks. She even slipped and fell down the steps a few times. It broke my heart to see my once vibrant dog having trouble just doing this easy task. The product is called Flavocin and is a glucosamine and bioflavanol supplement. If you just google it you can buy it online. It helped Allison who now gets up the stairs just fine. She’s been on it for about 6 months and seems to feel better. Her back legs were getting wobbly and she would poop without really sitting down. I called it the poop and scoot. Now she “goes” fairly normally.
Just a note….Flavocine is a bit pricey at $35 a bottle of 90 tabs. They recommend one tab per every 20lbs of body weight. For Sherman that’s 5 a day so the 90 tabs would go fast. I found a very similar product in the pet section of my local Walmart. It’s called glucosamine plus by Pro Pet. It goes for about $10 for 60 tabs. It uses the same one tab per 20 lbs ratio. I give Allison one flavocin and 2 glu+ tabs daily. She weighs about 55lbs. I hope this helps and wish you the best of health for you and your buddy Sherman.
All the best,
Pierre
I lost my black lab/ border collie cross, Jammer, on January 23, 2010. He was almost 10 years of age. He was 100 pounds initially but had dropped to about 65 pounds near the end. He was diagnosed with cancer and other health problems in September of 2009. He had a number of operations and treatments which cost around $15,000 but, in the end, we could not do anything more for him as he developed a cancerous tumour on his heart and his heart was not pumping enough blood through his body to allow him to continue on. I am crying as I type this. I do not regret the money that I spent as he was my best friend and I would have done anything for him. At one point he had lost 95% of the hair on his body but it had almost all grown back by the time he left us. I was so proud of him. Rest in peace Jam.
My wife and family lost our chocolate lab on feb.3 2010, It was a very sad day. Charlee was with us for 14.5 years at age 4 she was diagnosed with addisions diease she nearly died thaen but with a monthly shot and lots of love we kept her for another 10 and a half years. Yes I’m sad today and I cry when i think about her but I also cry and laugh when we talk about all the funny things she did all those years. I did forget to tell you that we got here at the animal shelter when she was 8 weeks old after someone dumped her at the mall parking lot. Someone found her shivering under a car and to that person I say thank You for giving us the opprtunity to have such a wonderful chocolate Lab. Rest in peace Charlee:(
I just read the email from Kevin regarding Charlee and it sounds like she had a wonderful life. We got Jammer when he was 3 months old from a pet store. He had been there over a month and no one wanted him as he was too big. A short time later we found out he had hip dysplasia and we worried he would not have much of a life. He ended up being the most friendly and happy dog I have ever owned and he never let his hip dysplasia affect his love to run or to go for walks.
I also read the post of Donna Triv about her dog which passed away after an operation. What was his name Donna? It sounds if you are questionning your decision to give him an operation. I think you did the right thing.
The same thing happened with Jammer. He was diagnosed to have a tumour in his testicle and some masses in his spleen. He had an operation on September 1, 2009 to remove his testicles and spleen. The testicle tumour was not cancer but it was causing his body to produce enormous amounts of estrogen which caused him to have a skin condition, lose weight, and lose all of his hair. At first the specialists did not think the masses in the spleen were cancerous but the testing came back a week later saying he had blood cancer and was terminal. Jammer had a good 4 months of life after the operation before the cancer finally got him. He was not the same old Jammer but we watched him closely and he still wagged his tail and enjoyed his walks so I am glad we did what we did. We put him on low does chemotherapy pills rather than the more intensive intravenous chemotherapy because we did not want him to be any weaker than he already was as a result of the estrogen problem. He would probably still be with us if we had gone for the more intensive treatment but we just could not do that to him. We did what we thought was best for him and I am sure you did as well Donna. Thanks to all of you for sharing your wonderful stories and for letting me share mine. Rod from Calgary.
I have been lucky enough to be blessed with two labs Aticus and Jazz. Jazz being the oldest (9). Jazz has not been eating for days and throwing up. I took her to the vet last friday and then again on monday as she was still not eating. They did a ultrasound on friday and found she has a huge blockage from her stomach to her rectum. I asked the vet if I could go on payment plans as I am a cancer patient and do not any longer have a job, he told me no, we do not except payment plans. I now have been left with putting the love of my life down. I have been told the surgery will cost me 5,000 dollars of which I do not have or I would do the surgery quickly. When did it become all about money for the vets and when do we put a price tag on our animals head. She is now shaking my guess would be from pain and when I ask the vets for pain meds he told me she did not need tham. So tomorrow I will not let my baby suffer anymore I will be forced to put her down. Thanks for listening P.S I cannot stop crying……
recently lost my black labrador.”tammy” she was 17 yrs old.i would love 2 have another labby but one getting on in age to suit me as i am a fit oap.iv thought of a new puppy but i dont heve the vitality to have one so young.if there i anyone finding it difficult to continue to care and love for unseen resounds please contact me thank you.ps i live on the south east coast.couldn’t keep tammy out of the sea,(you know what labbies are like haha)best wishes alan
We lost our Mutt Puppy (9.5 year old Black Lab) earlier this afternoon. He hadn’t been eating all his food, but he’d done this before…and always seems to snap out of it a few days later…I miss him so….
My Lab.,.,Kane is 15 1/2 and is in distress. He has been on pain meds for a few years for athritus and for thryroid issues. Now since this morning , he has difficulty breathing, pale gums and stopped eating. My vet says,, tests,, tests tests, but when I asked him if the tests will help him in the long run,.,.he said no. I am so confused as this is my baby and I love him so much, He appears comfortable, but in distress. I want whats best for him.
Kane, my 15 1/2 year old labrador and best friend died last night. He had problems breathing throughout the day and it appeared that he could not get comfortable. I petted and stroked him all day as he looked into my eyes as too say,.,.”scott, it’s time for me to say goodbye” All of a sudden he stood up and stumbled outside and layed on the grass. I let him stay for awhile and carried him back to his bed. Within a minute, he stopped breathing and passed away. No pain and in peace. I never thought I could feel as sad as I do now. I miss him so much!
His little 14 year old lab girlfriend now looks confused and tries to find him
but cannot. I expect to find her a new puppy companion as soon as the grieving is over.
Gotta love them dogs!!!
Our yellow lab, Oakley, turned 13 this month but I don’t think he is going to live much longer. His hips are bad and he can hardly walk — falls down. His rear legs aren’t strong enough to lift him up and we are now lifting him. I just found him out front laying in his pee. He chewed our door jamb from house to garage today — wonder if he was in pain and frustrated? My husband is going to be a mess when Oak is no longer here. Oak traveled to our Arizona house with us 30 trips a year — played in lake. He loved to go in our boat — he knew when the diesel truck was hitched to the boat and we were going boating — he would bark as if to say “I’m going too!” He went camping with us. Oakley would every day wait for us to get home so he could lay in the front yard — unleashed. Kids loved to stop and pet him as they couldn’t believe that he wouldn’t leave the yard even when other dogs came by. My husband has been the best “dad” Oakley could have ever had — this is going to be hard on him but I think it’s coming soon(?)
I got my first Lab “Duke” in September of 2007. He is such a joy, he loves life, and his other two dogs. He was twelve weeks old when we got him in Washington state while on vacation, he was supposed to be my husband’s dog but lucky for me he choose me. I was very ill the first year we had him and the happiness in him was contagious. Wonderful breed of dog, won’t own anything but labs from here on out.
I just lost my Lucy, my 14.5 year old black lab on 1/26/2010. It is very hard to function without my beloved pet. I took her to a vet who was not competent and when I finally moved to her a Critical Care Vet, she passed peacefully in a warm loving environment. I miss her so much that I still cry and wish I would have given her more hugs when I had the opportunity.
I am sorry for those of you who have lost your four legged family members.
Donna Triv – I don’t know if you have been checking in on these comments or not, so you may not ever see my reply here, but I wanted you to know that you are not alone! We just lost our beloved 7 year old lab Zoe one week ago tonight, on February 16th at 8:33 pm. She had internal bleeding from a tumor, either on her spleen or intestines. Our poor girl had always been there for us, always happy and healthy. We thought we did everything right with her, from the time she was a puppy. So I feel your pain.
RadioguyJ (at) gmail.com if you want to chat about our beloved labs. Sometimes that’s the best way to heal these wounds.
My pretty girl, Hattie Mae~13 years old, yellow lab is not doing well either.
It is so hard to watch the go down little by little every day. We almost lost her 3 years ago to Phnumia. Her strong will pulled her through. She has been holding her own since but with scared lungs causing breathing problems. However, she now has numerous bleeding sores all over her. The vet said labs get them at her age and nothing can be done. She also has a huge internal tumor on her chest under her left leg. She has to relieve herself about every 2 hours & on top of all of that, she can hardly move because of arthritis. The only thing keeping us from putting her to sleep is she is eating and sleeping well and still thinks she is a puppy when she goes outside. She hobble runs to her frisbee and barks at me if I don’t feed her cookies on time. I so hope she just goes in her sleep …
I lost my best friend yesterday. My black labrador Rommel. He lived for 14 years and two months and was the most beautiful boy in the world.
He was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth where a tumour was forming in may of last year… was given a few months to live… and he nearly lasted a whole year – what a trooper!!!
He suffered with arthritis which is common with this breed, and finally had to be put to sleep yesterday after failing to eat or drink for days and could not stand.
He was the most fantastic, loving, loyal pet we could have asked for and I would advise anyone strongly if they are considering to get a pet to get a black lab. We had a fantastic 14 years with him, which we all treasured.
I cannot put into words the upset in my household at this time. He was such a big part of our family.
We all loved him with all of our hearts… he will remain forever with us..
He was the best friend anyone could ever hope to have.. I will miss him every day of my life.
My 6 year old lab weighs about 100 lbs but is not fat and she is havin problem standing up and walking
it’s seem to be her back hips what could this be
hey that is great i loved it. there is some great info there and there is some great stories to read. i love labs because i have one and her name is r*** and she is fun and with the exercise she goes on a walk once a day but she as lot of land at home so she runs a lot and she loves to play on the trampoline. my puppy is so cute thanks for the info.
To Jeff’s email 2/27/2010: Jeff, have you also tried glucosamine? This helps with arthritis and has done wonders with my lab Poochie and Lucy had improved when she was on it. Also, my friend took her 14 year old lab to the vet last week because she was walking in circles and having a hard time getting up. She found out her Lab’s cholestrol was quite high, this and another blood test determined that this was a precursor to seizures. Please take your lab to the vet, it might save her life in the long run. –Audrey
My moms Lab was put down some days ago and I did’nt even know it, they told me they were going to do it but I didnt know when. he was about 13 years old,he lived a pretty good dog life I think!
We have two beautiful yellow labs. They are 13.5 and 11.5 years old and have been absolutely the best companions you can imagine. Gracie now has many fatty tumors on her body, some of which are quite large, but none of them is impeding on any organ or her ability to walk/run. We had several taken off a few years ago, but the surgery seemed to be harder on her than the tumors, so our vet agrees that we should just let her be. She has always been a docile dog, but she is healthy, other than needing thyroid meds.
Maggie is the younger of the two and she is probably heavier than she should be, but even the vet agrees that 1.5 cups of dry food a day should not cause her to be overweight, so we are checking her thyroid for the second time.
My children love these animals and I cannot imagine life without them, but it occurs to me that Gracie is now beating the odds and Maggie will be soon. Can you brace yourself to lose a family member? I think not. And, who knows, maybe we will have two of those long-lived blessings. I’m grateful for every day with them.
I’ve been reading your stories and I’m sitting here crying. My best friend Robby was diagnosed with Degenerative Myelopathy. He is a 10.5 year old lab. The vet tells me there is no cure for this disease. It is similar to multiple sclerosis in humans. He’s my first dog I have ever owned. The vet said this disease is common in German Shepherds. I did some research on the internet and found sometimes it can affect Labs. It’s very hard to see him struggle to walk. He drags his back leg and stumbles. I’m told there is no cure. So I’m trying to keep him as comfortable as possible. From what I’ve read, the disease gets progressively worse. We still go for short walks as they say exercise is good. I did everything I could to keep Robby healthy and strong. I also have a Chocolate Lab Lola. She’s confused because she’s not sure what’s going on and they both look at me crying all the time. I’ve never been through the experience of losing a pet. I’m so lost right now. About 10 years ago, I lost my fiance to cancer. So I can only imagine how hard this is going to be. I keep praying to stay strong and enjoy having Robby here for what time he has left. Thanks for listening.
Our Lucy is 13 yrs and 5 months. She has been having lots of hip discomfort and we have her on an anti-inflammatory medicine for that. Sometimes she has a hard time getting into a position to lie down. She’s also been a diabetic for about 5 years. My husband follows her outside and collects her first morning urine every day and hasn’t missed even one day doing that. She has to have two shots every day and eat special food. All this has made us love her even more. She’s always been so sweet, so energetic, and so incredibly smart. We are agonizing as the days go by and we know we have less and less time with her. Tonight, her legs went out from under her quite hard. It’s very painful to watch. She has cataracts and runs into things if we don’t stop her in time. Her physical life is deteriorating, but her quality of life is still good. She knows we love her. We pet her and talk to her continually. We’ll not put her down unless her pain becomes unbearable or she is no longer able to respond to us. We will love and cherish her every second until then. When the time comes, we’re keeping her ashes with us. We’ve decided we can’t stand the idea of putting her under the ground. We’re hoping her ashes will get buried with one of us someday. She belongs with the family for eternity.
To Sandy (March 7) and Kay (March 8), My prayers are with you and your beautiful labs. Please, I ask that you ask for further blood tests for you labs and get a second opinion. My beloved Lucy, who passed on January 26, was at the hands of a vet who was border incompetent. When I moved her to a crictical care hospital, only then I found out what the vet who was trained in India failed to do. It could not hurt to get a second opinon. –Audrey
We just lost our beloved yellow lab Tyke. He was 2 weeks shy of 14. He was our baby before we had babies and he will be in our hearts forever. Cherish everyday that you have with your labs and give them extra kisses from us. He was hurting with arthritis and in the last month was barely eating. He always weight 80 pounds which was a perfect weight for him. Thankfully he went naturally and we did not have to put him down because that was a decision that was to hard for us to make. Though we would have if we saw to much suffering from him. We knew when it was time for him and I told him it was alright to go. The next morning he was gone. I’ve been crying all weekend and my heart is heavy but I have so many wonderful memories with him and the family. – M
Wehad to have our almost 13 year old yellow lab put down on Valentine’s Day. Lily was my most precious beautiful girl, and the pain of her not being here is unbearable. She was totally my shadow, followed me to the bathroom, kitchen, where ever i went. Unless you’ve had the love of a devoted dog, it’s hard for people to understand the grief. It has been 24 days since we lost her and it feels like I haven’t kissed that beautiful face for months. By the same token I am still barely getting through the days. Labs are truly the most wonderful dogs in the world. Life will not be the same without my precious girl. I miss you so much lily.