A couple of adjacent headlines in the Guardian a couple of days ago led me to think about the different expectations of life for dogs and humans, and in particular, the influence of breeding.
The main headline was “Queen has 90th birthday” immediately followed by “Prince Found Dead”. My immediate thought was that the Duke Of Edinburgh had died of over excitement about giving a lift to the Obamas in his Range Rover and remembering where the clutch was; or possibly that Charlie had fallen on his sword as he realised that he was unlikely to make it to Top Dog this side of his going completely mad. Apparently, insanity is the only bar to becoming monarch, which is a bit harsh but there you go.
No, it turns out that the Prince in question is an American “chanteur” and one that is definitely not a thoroughbred like our own Royal Family. Not only Prince but many other celebrities have been conking out recently in their 60s and 70s, whereas some of the toffs they are reeling out to give opinions about Brexit and the like are well past time but still apparently breathing and earning appearance fees.
So what do we observe about this matter in the dog world. Generally, it is accepted that thoroughbreds live shorter lives than the progeny of street children, or “mongrels” as the humans call them. In fact the difference can be as much as 100% with us pure stock with impeccable lines tending to pass on before the hybrids are even “half way to paradise” as Billy Fury used to say.
What do we conclude from this? Humans and dogs are different. “Woof woof”…you won’t hear a human say that so that proves my point.