In a message dated 11/19/2002 11:29:24 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> i hate to even ask this, but what were the average ages all your berners > lived to? i am just curious... Hi Danielle, Surveys done in Great Britain, Switzerland, and the US have all come up with an average of 7 yrs, give or take a month or two. There are significant differences in the figures for the catagories: spayed bitches, intact bitches, neutered dogs, intact dogs...even the level of breeding activity comes into play. You'll find the details in the 2000 Health Survey on the BMDCA website (www.bmdca.org) As for me, I'm still enjoying the company of my first berner...she's 10-3/4. I also have a 7 y.o. and a 4-3/4 y.o. This might interest you... Going up the pedigree of the 4 y.o., both parents are alive and well at 7-1/2 and 9-1/4 yrs. Three grandparents lived to be 9 yrs and one to 11. Beyond that, I only have info on one side of his pedigree (the other side is German and I haven't been able to get age at death info). For the next 12 ancestors going back: age at death was 10, 11, 7, 11, 11, 9, 7, 11, 11, 10, 10, 7 (give or take a couple of months). Certainly that's not a guarantee that all dogs in this family will live long lives, and if you were doing pedigree research, you'd want to find out about siblings, aunts, uncles, as well as direct ancestors...but it does indicate that a fair number of Bernese do beat the average. ~ Sherri Venditti
