We all want our pups to live forever.  After all, any dog owner knows that your dog is not your pet, it's part of your family.  (Thankfully, Pope Francis made the claim last week that all dogs go to Heaven ... phew).  

But what dogs actually live the longest?  Here are a few of the dog breeds that live the longest.

Chihuahua

Chihuahuas long life expectancy could be due to the fact that it's one of the smallest breeds, but these little guys and girls live anywhere from 15 - 20 years.  As a matter of fact, the longest living chihuahua ever documented passed away at 20!

Miniature Schnauzer 

Miniature Schnauzers, we'll call them MS's, live 12 - 15 years on average.  We love these feisty little buggers, esp their mustache-looking facial feature makes them look like wise old men out of the womb!  They are definitely old souls at heart.

Yorkshire Terrier

YT's aka "Yorkies" typically live anywhere from 17 - 20 years.  Some resources will say between 10 - 15 years, but we seem to notice they live a little longer.  And that's a great thing for Yorkie owners, because this breed is one of the cuter, more lovable breeds out there.

Toy Poodle

Barring any irregular health issues, you can be almost certain a toy poodle will make it 12 - 15 years.  They are incredibly smart and easy to train, too.  Maybe that big brain makes for healthy aging!

Dachshund

Aka the "hot dog" (for obvious reasons), these pups have been known to stand the test of time.  The oldest purebread dachshund recorded in history (that we could find, at least) lived to be 21!

Beagle

The longest living purebread Beagle ever recorded was Butch, who lived to see his 28th bday!  And the longest living dog ever recorded happened to be a mutt ... but it was a Beagle, Dachshund, Terrier mix named Max who died in 2013, after 29 years and 282 days!  Almost made it to 30!  We'll cheers to that...

Other dogs with long life expectancies include:  Australian Cattle Dogs, Pomeranians, Pugs, Lhasa Apsos, and Maltese.  You'll notice that every dog on this list is a smaller breed - we need to figure out ways to make our bigger dogs live long too.  Which is another reason why all of us here on Team SportLeash are all about leading a healthy lifestyle with our pups!

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