My friend has a sort of a mutt that could not be considered the pick of the gene pool. Part corgi, part terrier, he’s a nice little guy but his body is too heavy for his slender long legs. Pity, he’s not going to have a long lif, as he’s in pain a lot of the time. A corgi, as you know, is a very sturdy little dog, very low to the ground with a heavy body balanced on quite sturdy short legs. A very old breed, they go back more than a thousand years.
I’ll probably stick with rescuing purebreds, Keeshonds and Corgis to be specific. My Kees lived for 17 years, my Cardigan Corgi for 15 and died in an accident. Neither ever had a sick day.
My daughter rescues mutts from the pound and many if not most turn up with terrible problems and don’t have long long lives. We all still mourn one marvelous little pup they rescued who grew and grew and grew to be a huge doggie, probably a collie/afghan mix. Gorgeous wonderful dog, suddenly got extremely awful cancer and died within two weeks of diagnosis. She was perhaps seven. With mutts, you just don’t know what nutritional support the mother dogs got; with purebreds, chances are the breeders did the very best they knew how to insure healthy pups.
One of my shelter dogs was allergic to fleas. The vet gave me something for her without telling me that it did heart and liver damage. She died at 8 yrs old. There are quite a few factors in longevity. The vet lived. (the jerk)