Why dogs die prematurely? Small dogs should live 20 years.
Large dogs 15 years. To achieve this result, feed only dry dog food, with lamb/beef/chicken as 1st ingredient. Very important, brush their teeth with a soft tooth brush with water only, no tooth paste since they will swallow it.
Twice a week is sufficient. If you start when they are puppies, they adapt to brushing. Without weekly brushing, gum disease takes hold, and those same mouth germs destroy their kidneys/heart/liver.
Better still, feed them a raw meat diet with bones and cartilage. Raw meat, bones and cartilage are their natural diet and no tooth brushing is required as the bones and cartilage keeps their teeth clean and their gums healthy.
The raw meat diet also helps with the other end of their GI tract, if you know what I mean.