Only the Best Die Young

Kennel Chervood dogs die before 5 years old on average.

Jess at the Cynoanarchist blog was looking at the kennel page of the Clumber Spaniel that was denied Best of Breed at this year’s Crufts due to ectropion and noticed that the “Rainbow Bridge” page showing the dogs from that kennel who have died had some troubling lifespans for the dogs. No cause of death is given for any of the dogs, but for many the dates of birth and death are given, so I’ve gone ahead and calculated the ages at which these dogs died.

For a few of the dogs, the date of death is not given, so I’ve assumed they died today in my “at most” calculations, but these dogs are not included in the overall average due to this uncertainty: Ringo, Mads, Matti, and Mingus.

OLIVER  9.5 years
Don’s Hop On The Bus Gus
RINGO At most 3.3 years
Chervood’s Snow Autumn
BULLET 3.1 years
Chervood’s Snowbull
EKKO 0.5 years
Chervood’s Snowbeach
FAYETTE 7.0 years
Chervood’s Snowflower
KASPER 8.2 years
Chervood’s Snowman
MADS At most 5.3 years
Chervood’s Snowhunter
MATTI At most 5.3 years
Chervood’s Snowsinger
MINGUS At most 8.1 years
Chervood’s Snowmountain
OSVALD 3.0 years
Chervood’s Snowboll
RONJA 8.4 years
Traddles Marchioness
SAMI 0.4 years
Chervood’s Snowhunter
SELINE 5.8 years
Holgerssons All That Jazz
TATIES 0.5 years
Chervood’s Snowsummer
 Average: 4.66 years

That’s right, of all the dogs listed on their Rainbow Bridge page, the average lifespan is only 4.66 years.

You might suggest that it’s a biased sample and that surely there are dogs living long and happy lives at this kennel and that their big age numbers just aren’t being counted yet.

Sadly, that’s not the case. I went though all of the dogs listed in the “Our Dogs” page and calculated their ages. Of 15 dogs, only 3 are over 6 years old, the oldest is 8.8 years.

Dog Age
Chervood’s Snow Sinope Of Knott 0.4
Chervood’s Snow Titan Of Knott 0.4
Chervood’s Snow Ariel Of Hjalmar 0.5
Cyron z Rajslu Siola Fantazie’Cyron’ 1.7
Katrieli’ Queen Victoria ‘Vikan’ 2.3
Chervood’s Snowrunner ‘Kola’ 5.3
Chervood’s Snowflash ‘Kino’ 5.6
Chervood’s Snowheaven ‘Petra’ 5.6
Chervood’s Snowwind ‘Pluto’ 5.6
Chervood’s Snowdreamer ‘Mojo’ 5.3
Chervood’s Snowdancer ‘My’ 5.3
Chervood’s Snowjumper ‘Paco’ 5.3
Don’s Bric in the Wall ‘Marco’ 7.7
Chervood’s Snowbell ‘Silja’ 8.8
Don’s Big Time ‘Timey’ 7.7

In light of this information, does the fact that this breeder pays for lots of health checks (and even publishes some of the results) matter? Heck, does the ectropion on their big winning bitch who was just denied Best of Breed at Crufts all that important? These dogs are dying when healthy breeds of the same size are still young and vibrant.

What a shame.  More here.

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About Christopher

Christopher Landauer is a fifth generation Colorado native and second generation Border Collie enthusiast. Border Collies have been the Landauer family dogs since the 1960s and Christopher got his first one as a toddler. He began his own modest breeding program with the purchase of Dublin and Celeste in 2006 and currently shares his home with their children Mercury and Gemma as well. His interest in genetics began in AP Chemistry and AP Biology and was honed at Stanford University.