How Long Do Poodles Live? Average Poodle Lifespan? The Oldest?

Poodles are both intelligent and active dogs, so you’ve probably wondered what the lifespan of a poodle is, right?

The average lifespan of a Poodle is 12 to 15 years. Poodle lifespan is affected by a variety of factors, including nutrition, healthcare, and genetics.

In this article, we will take a look at these factors and how they can influence your poodle’s lifespan.

The big question is, how long will your Poodle live? Is there any way to make your dog’s life longer and more enjoyable? How can you help your dog enjoy a longer, healthier life?

Let’s find out.

How Many Years Can a Poodle Live?

How long does a Poodle live? Or any poodle mix, for that matter?

According to veterinarians and dog excerpts, poodles generally live for about 12 to 15 years.

However, there have been quite a few lifespan changes over the years.

There are lots of great lifespan estimates for your Poodle. The problem is that most of them simply aren’t based on up-to-date scientific data. That’s not the situation today.

Thanks to science, we know much more about how long Poodles live. We now have data from scientific studies that examine the lifespan of Poodles. Our statistics are based on those studies.

A study conducted by John B. Armstrong on over 360 poodles concluded that the average survival rate of poodles born before 1982 was 12.7 years.

In a similar study performed on 627 poodles, it was found that poodles born in more recent times had an average lifespan of 11.5 years. This was a decrease of 1.2 years on average when compared to poodles born before 1982.

In poodles born in recent times, there was a 1.2 to 1.8 year difference from the poodles born before 1982. Is this difference real, and if so, how could it be explained?

The possibilities for these results include:

1. Inbreeding
2. Genetics
3. Environment
4. Sampling Error
5. Analytical Error

We will discuss some of these later on in the article.

Do Poodles Live Longer As Compared to Other Dog Breeds?

Poodles are ranked among the longest-living dogs by both the American Kennel Club and the Dog Health Foundation of America. But, how do they compare to some of the other popular breeds such as Labradors or German Shepards?

As far as popular breeds are concerned, poodles rank pretty high up in the longest-living dogs list. Only outlived by breeds such as Yorkshire Terriers, Beagles, Chihuahua, and New Guinea Singing Dogs.

Most of the longest-living dog breeds have an average lifespan of 15 – 17 years. Whereas, the poodles live for an average of twelve to fifteen years.

How Long is a Poodle’s Lifespan In Dog Years?

The concept of a dog year is an attempt to quantify how much time our furry friends would live if they were to live as long as human beings.

Dogs, unfortunately, are rarely around for the entire lives of their owners as many of us know.

Dog years are often calculated by multiplying the age of a pet by seven. For example, a 1-year-old Miniature Poodle would be 7 dog years and a 2-year-old Miniature Poodle would be 14.

For this system to work, we assume that humans live for about 70 years and dogs live for about 10 years.

Since the average lifespan of a poodle is twelve to fifteen years (human years), it will be eighty-four (84) to hundred and five (105) years in dog years.

However, Professor Stanley Coren, who has authored many books on dogs and who teaches at the University of British Columbia, says that this multiplier has several flaws.

For starters, Coren contends that 70 years is no longer the average human life expectancy, and a dog’s lifespan is determined by its breed and size. A dog is capable of reproducing puppies at 1 year old, while a child cannot reproduce at the age of 7.

To solve this issue, using the human age scale, Coren developed his own method of calculating a dog’s age.

Using this system, a one-year-old dog is equivalent to a 16-year-old person, a two-year-old dog to a 24-year old, and each year after that until the dog reaches the age of 5, each year adds five human years.

Beyond age 5, Coren pointed out that the size of the dog must also be taken into account after the age of five. Generally, smaller dogs live longer than larger ones.

Taking this into account, Coren suggests that small dogs over age five ought to be aged by adding four years of human life, and large breeds by adding six years.

For example, according to Coren’s definition, a one-year-old Miniature Poodle would be 16 dog years old, while a much larger, two-year-old Standard Poodle would be 24 dog years old. The Miniature Poodle will have accumulated 51 dog years by the time it reaches eight “real” years, and the Standard Poodle 54 dog years by the time it reaches eight “real” years.

What Is The Longest A Poodle Has Lived?

Not all poodles are born equal, some of them shatter the boundaries set on their lifespans by mother nature and go on to live for much longer than other poodles.

Seamus, a toy poodle that lived in the United States in the 1980s set the world record for the longest living Poodle with a lifespan of 20 years and 298 days.

Seamus was born on 24th July 1993 and passed away on 18th May 2014, living for a record-setting 20 years and 298 days, almost 21 years which is uncommon for poodles.

On the list of oldest living dogs, Seamus ranks number 15 on that list with several breeds such as Beagles, Pugs, Labrador Retrievers living even longer than 21 years with Bluey the Australian Shepard Dog setting the world record for the longest living dog with the lifespan of 29 years and 160 days.

Seamus is just one of the many examples of poodles that do not care about the physical limitations set on their lifespan by evolution and nature. But, the question arises, how is it that these poodles go on to live so much longer than what they are capable of?

Well, I have no data or research to point to but if you would like to know what I think, this is my take.

Factually speaking, when an organism goes on to live longer than what they were intended to, it can always be traced back to the mutations in their genomes.

In simpler terms, it’s in their genes to live that long. This could mean a couple of things, but what I think is the most important is that there are certain genes that can make an organism less prone to diseases than others in the same species.

It’s either this or some poodles are just too attached to let go of their owners.

Let me know what your theory is in the comments below, I would love to hear what you think about this theory as well as read some of yours.

Are Poodles Vulnerable To Any Genetic Disorders?

As with other dogs and humans, poodles may have health issues, some common to all dogs, some specific to a specific variety or even the breed.

There is a long list of autoimmune diseases that Poodles are prone to, including:

• immune-mediated hemolytic anemia,
• immune-mediated thrombocytopenia,
• Evan’s syndrome,
• immune pancytopenia,
• chronic thyroiditis,
• temporal-mandibular myositis, and
• chronic active hepatitis

However, the two most dreaded autoimmune disorders are sebaceous adenitis (SA) and Addison’s disease (AD).

There has long been a theory that SA and AD have entered the breed through extensive inbreeding that was done by a small group of founders who produced show-winning offspring in the middle of the 20th century.

Poodle breeders in North America used these offspring and their descendants extensively, and they were exported to the UK, Scandinavia, Australia, and continental Europe.

It is probable that genetic diversity is being lost due to this artificial mid century bottleneck (MCB).

What all of this means is, even though it is just a theory that inbreeding might be causing certain diseases in poodles, you must still do your research and talk to the breeder before getting your poodle.

If you’re not sure about what questions you should ask your breeder. Here are two of the most important questions to ask your breeder before getting your poodle:

1. Could you provide me with the registration information for the sire (father) and dam (mother)? – This is one of the most important questions you need to ask your breeder. If you have the registration information of the parents, it will enable you to check the inbreeding coefficients and health checks of the parents.
2. What is the inbreeding coefficient of the puppy? – If you trust the breeder, you can ask them about the inbreeding coefficient directly,

An indicator of inbreeding is the Coefficient of Inbreeding (CoI), also known as the inbreeding coefficient. Using this method, we can determine the probability that an ancestor shared by both the parents has inherited two copies of a gene variant (they may have been inbred at some point in the lineage). The lower the level of inbreeding, the lower the coefficient of inbreeding.

Top 5 Things You Can Do To Increase Your Poodle’s Lifespan and Overall Health

1. Make Sure Your Dog Eats a Balanced, Healthy Diet – We are constantly told that our bodies are temples, and we can expect to get out of them what we put into them. This also applies to our dogs. It’s crucial to feed our canine friends a well-balanced diet to ensure their optimal health and longevity.
2. Ensure Dental Care – Your poodle’s teeth are the window to the rest of the body, just as eyes are the window to the soul. If you haven’t taken good care of them yet, now is the time.  By “invading” our dogs’ bodies through their teeth and gums, bacteria and disease can cause havoc without us even realizing it.
3. Maintain Your Dog’s Activity Level, But Don’t Overdo It – A dog’s mobility decreases dramatically if its muscles are not toned enough to support its joints. Early on in your puppy’s life, be sure to incorporate appropriate exercise, conditioning, and stretching. Don’t wait until your pup is a senior and unable to move around.
4. Inspire and Stimulate Mental Development – It is essential to keep our aging dogs’ minds sharp as they age, just as we do as we age. Cognitive function will decline just as it does with aging people.
5. Veterinary Visits On a Regular Basis – In general, your dog should see a veterinarian once every year. However, once they are senior you should visit them every 6 months in addition to their annual check-up. Although we find this difficult to comprehend, our canine buddies age faster than we do. In order to keep them as happy and healthy as possible as they age, we should be proactive.

While we are on the topic, I would like to stray from conventional science and present my theory on the subject. This isn’t based on any research, simply my research. I have been diving deep into how we as humans can live longer and healthier lives for over 6 months now.

What I have learnt in those 6 months of research is that there are multiple studies that teach us things that we can implement in our daily lives to live longer. I wonder if we implement those things in the day to day lives of our dogs, would it have any difference in their lifespan?

I had not planned to include these in the original articles but after receiving emails and facebook messages from you all asking what those things are, I have decided to include it in this article as well.

Keep in mind that these are simply my theory, while these habits have been shown to have an effect on the lives of humans, there have not been similar studies on dogs, yet.

Without further delay, here are the some of those principles I was referring to:

1. Eating less – Consuming less calories will slow down your metabolism and possibly slow down the aging process, develop less diseases caused by being overweight and put less stress on your heart, liver and other organs.
2. High Intensity Exercise – Exercising for a total of 180 minutes per week has been shown to keep you healthy by increasing your heart rate in a healthy way, making you sweat and burning those extra calories.
3. Consistent Sleep Schedule – Getting consistent sleep of around 7 to 9 hours everyday will help you relax, recover, prepare you for the next day and keep your mental health in check.

These are just some of the things that may help humans live longer lives. However, these are some of the things that are easy to implement in a dog’s life as well.

Feeding them less food or feeding them once instead of twice or thrice would seem like a cruel thing to do but I personally think that feeding them less food yet quality food would help them stay active, alert and happy.

Taking your dogs for a walk may not be enough to count as exercise. I understand how some of you may not have the time required to train your dog or play with them daily. The solution for that may be combining training within your walks. Simple activities like fetch, practicing sit and stay commands will do wonders for your dogs cognitive health and will only take a few extra minutes of your time.

Lastly, a consistent sleep schedule is necessary for humans as well as dogs. There is a thing called the circadian rhythm which can be disturbed by uncertain sleep and wake up timings. Dogs have a tendency to match the time their owners sleep and wake up at. Fix your sleep schedule and your dog is sure to follow.

Let me know what you think of this theory of mine, in the comments below. Whether you agree or disagree with this explanation, either way, I am curious to read what you people think on the subject. So, please let me know!

Can The Lifespan Of A Poodle Be Increased By Neutering and Spaying?

A dog may live a longer, healthier life if they’re spayed or neutered, according to Steven Austad, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Biology.

They found that neutered and spayed dogs live longer on average than intact animals in their study, “Do Female Dogs Age Differently Than Male Dogs?”.

Thousands of deaths and births of dogs were analyzed to determine how gender affects aging and longevity in dogs. Results suggest that gender has little effect on the cause of death or longevity of dogs. The majority of variation in dog longevity appears to be the result of spaying and neutering.

When your pet has been spayed or neutered, it will live longer, healthier, and happier because it has fewer behavioral problems and is less likely to become ill, suffer from degenerative diseases, or die of a traumatic/violent cause.

The act of spaying can also protect female dogs from mammary cancer if they are spayed before their first estrogen cycle.

Five years ago, if someone would have told me to get my dog spayed and the fact that it would help them be “happy”, healthy and live longer, I would have had this sudden urge to splash a glass of water right in their face.

Afterall, why would one go against the laws of nature? Don’t worry, I have been there with you. I was one of the people that hated mutating dogs in any way shape or form, be it docking or removing dew claws. But, after seeing how much my black female poodle had to suffer due to a condition that developed in her uterus, my stance on the subject completely changed.

It is worth it, it really is, to get your dog spayed/neutered if you want them to live as happy and healthy a life as they possibly can.

With that being said, my recommendation remains that owners spay or neuter their Poodles as soon as possible, but I recommend consulting with a veterinarian first because the impact may vary by size and breed.

Does The Size Of a Poodle Affect Their Lifespan?

Poodles are truly fascinating beings. While small, they can live an extraordinarily long life.

We’ve all heard “the bigger, the better” *wink wink* – but is that really that case? Let’s find out.

By now, you may be starting to get annoyed by reading again and again that  poodles generally live for an average of 12 to 15 years, but, here’s something new, does that apply to all the different poodle sizes available?

A large dog, such as a Standard Poodle, will typically have a shorter life expectancy, whereas a miniature or toy poodle can often live longer.

Data that charts “the schedule” of a species’ aging rate is what Professor Elgar believes is key to unraveling the puzzle of canine lifespans.

Life expectancy can vary a lot across different species, as it’s dependent on many biological factors like body size and ancestry. In general, larger species (ex: elephants) tend to live longer than smaller ones. However, within the same species, smaller individuals have been known to have a longer lifespan than their larger counterparts.

Professor Elgar has pointed out that studies comparing the mortality rates of large dogs and smaller dogs have shown that larger dogs die younger since they age significantly faster.

The professor suggests that a large dog, because it is larger, may put extra strain on its physiological processes, meaning that it will wear out sooner.

Thanks to science, we can now say for sure that miniature and toy poodles will outlive standard poodles by a few years.

Yet again, science has established the fact that it is not always about the size of your life, it is how you make use of it…

Does The Color Of a Poodle Have Any Effect On a Poodle’s Lifespan?

Research conducted by the University of Sydney has revealed that chocolate Labradors have a significantly shorter lifespan than black and yellow Labradors.

Despite this being a study conducted on Labradors, I believe it has relevance to poodles, making it worthwhile to discuss.

But, I am not one to claim such things out of the blue, I do have a study to back up my theory.

Scientists from Sydney and London studying more than 33,000 British veterinary records of this breed found that chocolate Labrador retrievers live shorter lives than other labs.

The study, which was published in Canine Genetics and Epidemiology on Monday, found that yellow and black-coated dogs live about 10 percent longer than chocolate-coated dogs.

Labradors on average live about 12 years, while chocolate labs live only about 10.7 years.

The cause of the problem is not the color itself, but rather the breeding for it, suggests new research.

Chocolate is a recessive color, which means both parents must carry the gene for the color to be present in a chocolate lab puppy.

It is therefore likely that breeders who are targeting this color will breed only Labradors with chocolate coats.

A narrowing of the genetic pool could result in a higher percentage of genes associated with ear and skin conditions and ultimately lead to a shorter lifespan.

But, what does that have to do with poodles, you might ask?

Well, poodles have a “chocolate” color that most probably requires breeding two chocolate poodles. What this might mean is a shorter lifespan as compared to other poodles.

The following speculations are based on my intuition and lack the support of studies specifically done on poodles, so please consider them with a grain of salt.

Poodle Mixes Average Lifespans

While the average poodle’s lifespan is roughly between 12 to 15 years, you might wonder what are some of the most popular poodle mixes?

Here are just a few of the most prominent poodle mixes, along with their average life spans.

• Bichpoo (Bichon Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 12 to 15 Years
• Bernedoodle (Bernese Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 12 to 18 Years
• Bordoodle (Border Collie Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 12 to 15 Years
• Cockapoo (Cocker Spaniel Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 12 to 15 Years
• Cyprus Poodle* Lifespan – 12 to 15 Years* Cyprus poodles are not a recognized breed, but instead, an umbrella term that refers to small dogs in any form, generally poodles crossed with other small dogs.
• Chipoo (Chihuahua Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 12 to 15 Years
• Maltipoo (Maltese Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 10 to 15 Years
• Goldendoodle (Labrador Retriever Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 10 to 15 Years
• Havapoo (Havanese Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 13 to 15 Years
• Huskypoo (Husky Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 10 to 13 Years
• Terripoo (Poodle Terrier Mix) Lifespan – 13 to 16 Years
• Newfypoo (Newfoundland Poodle Lifespan – 8 to 12 Years
• Shipoo (Poodle Shih Tzu) Lifespan – ~ 16 Years
• Royal Poodle Lifespan – 12 to 15 Years
• Pomapoo (Pomeranian Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 12 to 15 Years
• Schnoodle (Poodle Schnauzer Mix) Lifespan – 10 to 16 Years
• Aussiedoodle (Shepherd Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 10 to 13 Years
• Sheltidoodle (Sheltie Poodle Mix) Lifespan – 12 to 15 Years

Poodles have over 40 different mixed breeds on record, so to not make this article an entire book, I decided to only include some of the most popular poodle breeds. 

Not that we have this data, let’s dissect it and understand what it means in simpler terms.

Firstly, it is clear that most poodle mixed breeds have an average lifespan of twelve to fifteen years which is the same as that of a poodle. Why that is the case is unclear. If there are any studies that can explain why that is the case, I’ll be sure to link it.

The highest lifespan among all the poodle mixed breeds was that of the Bernedoodle, the Bernese and Poodle Mix, living upto the age of 18 years. Wow!

On the other end of the spectrum the poodle mixed breed with the least living years was that of a Newfypoo, the Newfoundland and Poodle Mix.

If you want me to do a deeper dive and create a report of all the data of all the poodle mixes and their lifespans to understand which poodle mix has the highest potential in terms of living years, let me know down in the comments below and I’ll get started ASAP!

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can all agree that poodles are one of the most amazing breeds.

There were many of my “theories” that do not have a scientific backing, please comment down your thoughts and let me know what you think of it. Whether I should stick to the facts or If you like my wild theories.

Lastly, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this post, especially if you’ve made this far. Thank you so much for supporting what I do and helping me achieve my dream of quitting my day job to pursue my dreams!

You people are amazing, have a great rest of your day!