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The Age
16-05-2025
- General
- The Age
‘Ambitious but possible': The project that might boost your dog's lifespan
This story is part of the May 17 edition of Good Weekend. See all 13 stories. It's the eyes. Whether they are the excited peepers of a puppy whose whole body is shaking with joy at the thought of licking your face or the wise, old ones of a shelter dog, abandoned by the family he loved his entire life, those soulful, expressive eyes will get to you. Look into a dog's eyes, and you'll see a being, some may say a soul, yearning to love and be loved. The truth is, dogs are capable of unconditional love. And it's only through bonding with a dog that the wonder of this fully reveals itself. Who is this furry creature that greets you when you've been out to the shops for an hour as if you've come home from a year in Alaska? Who can tell the sound of your car engine from a hundred others on the street and whose heart practically explodes with joy at the mere sight of you? Who will curl up in your bedding when you're out, just to be immersed in your scent like a lovesick teenager? And no matter how long you've been absent, there are no remonstrations, just a madly wagging tail and jumps for joy that you have come home, indeed that you exist at all. And if you encourage it, the bond grows, through thousands of walks, road trips, games, swims, adventures, naps together, in sickness and in health. The wordless engagements, the shared understandings created through hours spent just hanging out, make the bond ever stronger. The physical affection, the toothy smile, the gorgeous nose leather, the general cuteness and doggie smell all work their spell on you. But all too soon the pace of the walks begins to slow, the energy winds down. The happy dance of gratitude when dinner hits the bowl is reduced to a wag or two of the tail. The puppy face, once golden, tan, jet-black or brindle, grows frosty, the jumps of joy less convincing as arthritis and other conditions inhibit movement. Dogs, as we know to our cost, age much faster than humans. Sometimes it's as if you can see it happening in real time. And while they have their own canine-exclusive ailments – such as distemper, parvovirus and leptospirosis – they are also prey to those general complaints we see in humans, such as cancers, anxiety, diabetes, even dementia. Perhaps it's no wonder the love of dogs has inspired scientists to look into why they age as quickly as they do, and to see if anything can be done about it. Advances are being made in understanding the physiology of dogs and in drug treatments designed to prolong what is called the 'healthspan' – the number of years a dog lives a healthy, disease-free life – and overall longevity, or the total number of years lived. So are scientists close to finding the doggie fountain of youth and, if they are, what implications might that have for extending our own lives? Well, the truth is that progress is slow – but promising. Founded in 2018, the US-based Dog Aging Project is the largest and most ambitious canine health study ever undertaken, with more than 50,000 dogs enrolled. Broadly, the goal is to understand how genes, lifestyle and the environment influence dog health and ageing. Speaking to Good Weekend from the University of Washington in Seattle, Professor Matt Kaeberlein, co-founder of the project, explains that there are essentially two components to it. 'The largest is a longitudinal study of ageing,' he says. 'All that means is that it's purely observational. We're following dogs living with their owners over time and collecting data, with the aim of understanding the most important genetic and environmental factors that influence health and longevity. The other is a clinical trial of [the drug] rapamycin, to test whether it can slow ageing and increase lifespan and health span in dogs.' The project is engaged in a huge double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial of the drug. Originally developed as an immunosuppressant for organ-transplant patients, rapamycin has found recent scientific favour as a potential anti-ageing drug. Isolated in 1972 from a bacterium found on Easter Island (Rapa Nui), rapamycin was found to significantly extend the lifespan of worms, yeast, flies and mice in the early 2000s. Loading There are other studies and treatments as well, notably from the San Francisco-based biotech Loyal, which has three dog longevity drugs awaiting full US Food and Drug Administration approval status. LOY-001 and LOY-003 are focused on extending the lifespans of larger dogs, who – for reasons thought by Loyal to be linked to an overactive growth hormone – live far shorter lives; and LOY-002, which will target almost all dogs except the tiniest of breeds. When it comes to longevity in dogs, size really does matter. Closer to home, Dr Jack Da Silva – a senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide – has an explanation for why larger breeds live shorter lives. 'Larger breeds have shorter lifespans mostly because they have higher rates of cancer,' he says. 'Bigger animals are the result of more cell division. The more cell division there is, the more likely mutations are to arise.' This could be bad news for tall humans as well. But there is a twist in the tale. While bigger mice, for example, have higher cancer rates than their smaller counterparts, bigger species – such as elephants – don't. Da Silva says this is down to Peto's paradox. 'It's a simple idea,' he says. 'Larger species have evolved greater cancer suppression mechanisms. They invest more in searching for DNA damage that might cause cancer, in DNA repair and repairing mutations that may lead to cancer. They invest more in the immune system that helps suppress cancer.' So why are bigger dog breeds more susceptible to cancer and therefore live shorter lives? 'It's probably because we produced these large breeds fairly recently, and they haven't had time to evolve these cancer-suppressing mechanisms that you see in big species,' says Da Silva. In the US, unlike the relatively straightforward university research-funding processes we have in Australia, the funding of large scientific projects is a mélange of government research grants and philanthropy. You get the sense Matt Kaeberlein has struggled with funding – and won. 'We'll get to the end point and be able to unblind [revealing which dogs received the drug] within this funding period,' he says. 'The longitudinal study hasn't had its funding renewed by the National Institutes of Health yet. There is a lot of effort being put into a large grant to fund that whole project and individual smaller grants to fund pieces of it, as well as efforts towards philanthropic funding.' 'In dogs, seeking a 25 per cent increase in lifespan might be ambitious but possible.' Matt Kaeberlein Kaeberlein and his colleagues recently set up a non-profit organisation called The Dog Aging Institute to support the Dog Aging Project's research. 'We secured a couple of million dollars in philanthropic funding in the last year to keep the infrastructure in place and to support it,' he says. 'So, that's the state of the project right now; it's still going. We're able to maintain all of the dogs that are currently in the study, but we've really had to slow down on new science, sample collection, processing, things like that.' And what does he make of the funding landscape under what is looking to be the most unpredictable and capricious president in US history? 'It's too early to tell,' he says. 'Obviously, there's a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen with federal funding for research. I would say at this point people are carrying on, trying to maintain some cautious optimism that things will work out.' Assuming the huge rapamycin trial survives the current US funding uncertainty and proves effective at increasing healthspans and lifespans, how much benefit might we reasonably expect? 'When you target the biology of ageing, it seems like you slow multiple functional declines in diseases simultaneously; it's called compression of morbidity,' says Kaeberlein. 'The idea is you push the diseases back a little bit later in life. In dogs, seeking a 25 per cent increase in lifespan might be ambitious but possible. However, it wouldn't shock me if you could get a 20 per cent increase and maybe a little bit more, which is not insignificant. For a dog who's going to live 12 years, you're talking about another 2-2.5 years of healthy life.' Not the fountain of youth, then. At least, not yet. 'Part of me would say the science is going to keep maturing,' says Kaeberlein. 'With new tools, like AI, who knows what's going to happen. There are lots of reasons for optimism.' If you look up Kaeberlein on the internet, you'll find a fit-looking man in his mid-50s who takes care of himself. Among the images that come up, many feature his beloved German shepherd, Dobby. He goes quiet for a moment when I ask how Dobby is doing. 'Dobby passed in October,' he says. 'It was one of the toughest things in my life. Anybody who's a dog person understands just how tough it is. It was brutal. Just yesterday, I was driving back from the grocery store and I suddenly missed him terribly. The grief comes and goes. We had 14 years with him, which for a German shepherd is pretty good.' Such is the desperation to keep our beloved animals, that those with the means to do so have had their pets cloned. Singer Barbra Streisand did this with two of her dogs in 2018, but the star said she was a little disappointed. A dog's personality is formed through all kinds of genetic and environmental quirks and through unique experiences. 'You know, the clone is not going to be your dog,' says Kaeberlein. 'But I'm certainly not going to judge [Streisand] for that. I'd be lying if I said that didn't pass through my mind when we lost Dobby. I can totally see why somebody would do that. But if you're expecting that clone to be your original companion, they're not. It's going to be a different individual.' Loading If we can't clone them, and all we can expect in the near future is just a couple of years – at best – of drug-enhanced longevity, what can we do to prolong our dogs' lives? 'Don't let your dog get obese is the starting point,' says Kaeberlein. 'And exercise them. One thing that has come out of the longevity project is that dogs who get more exercise are much less likely to develop dementia. So those kinds of lifestyle factors are super-important. 'And data shows that when people interact lovingly with their companion animals, both lives are improved. Pet your dog, cuddle your dog, love your dog. These interactions have a positive effect on the physiology of both the dog and the human.'
Sydney Morning Herald
16-05-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Ambitious but possible': The project that might boost your dog's lifespan
This story is part of the May 17 edition of Good Weekend. See all 13 stories. It's the eyes. Whether they are the excited peepers of a puppy whose whole body is shaking with joy at the thought of licking your face or the wise, old ones of a shelter dog, abandoned by the family he loved his entire life, those soulful, expressive eyes will get to you. Look into a dog's eyes, and you'll see a being, some may say a soul, yearning to love and be loved. The truth is, dogs are capable of unconditional love. And it's only through bonding with a dog that the wonder of this fully reveals itself. Who is this furry creature that greets you when you've been out to the shops for an hour as if you've come home from a year in Alaska? Who can tell the sound of your car engine from a hundred others on the street and whose heart practically explodes with joy at the mere sight of you? Who will curl up in your bedding when you're out, just to be immersed in your scent like a lovesick teenager? And no matter how long you've been absent, there are no remonstrations, just a madly wagging tail and jumps for joy that you have come home, indeed that you exist at all. And if you encourage it, the bond grows, through thousands of walks, road trips, games, swims, adventures, naps together, in sickness and in health. The wordless engagements, the shared understandings created through hours spent just hanging out, make the bond ever stronger. The physical affection, the toothy smile, the gorgeous nose leather, the general cuteness and doggie smell all work their spell on you. But all too soon the pace of the walks begins to slow, the energy winds down. The happy dance of gratitude when dinner hits the bowl is reduced to a wag or two of the tail. The puppy face, once golden, tan, jet-black or brindle, grows frosty, the jumps of joy less convincing as arthritis and other conditions inhibit movement. Dogs, as we know to our cost, age much faster than humans. Sometimes it's as if you can see it happening in real time. And while they have their own canine-exclusive ailments – such as distemper, parvovirus and leptospirosis – they are also prey to those general complaints we see in humans, such as cancers, anxiety, diabetes, even dementia. Perhaps it's no wonder the love of dogs has inspired scientists to look into why they age as quickly as they do, and to see if anything can be done about it. Advances are being made in understanding the physiology of dogs and in drug treatments designed to prolong what is called the 'healthspan' – the number of years a dog lives a healthy, disease-free life – and overall longevity, or the total number of years lived. So are scientists close to finding the doggie fountain of youth and, if they are, what implications might that have for extending our own lives? Well, the truth is that progress is slow – but promising. Founded in 2018, the US-based Dog Aging Project is the largest and most ambitious canine health study ever undertaken, with more than 50,000 dogs enrolled. Broadly, the goal is to understand how genes, lifestyle and the environment influence dog health and ageing. Speaking to Good Weekend from the University of Washington in Seattle, Professor Matt Kaeberlein, co-founder of the project, explains that there are essentially two components to it. 'The largest is a longitudinal study of ageing,' he says. 'All that means is that it's purely observational. We're following dogs living with their owners over time and collecting data, with the aim of understanding the most important genetic and environmental factors that influence health and longevity. The other is a clinical trial of [the drug] rapamycin, to test whether it can slow ageing and increase lifespan and health span in dogs.' The project is engaged in a huge double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial of the drug. Originally developed as an immunosuppressant for organ-transplant patients, rapamycin has found recent scientific favour as a potential anti-ageing drug. Isolated in 1972 from a bacterium found on Easter Island (Rapa Nui), rapamycin was found to significantly extend the lifespan of worms, yeast, flies and mice in the early 2000s. Loading There are other studies and treatments as well, notably from the San Francisco-based biotech Loyal, which has three dog longevity drugs awaiting full US Food and Drug Administration approval status. LOY-001 and LOY-003 are focused on extending the lifespans of larger dogs, who – for reasons thought by Loyal to be linked to an overactive growth hormone – live far shorter lives; and LOY-002, which will target almost all dogs except the tiniest of breeds. When it comes to longevity in dogs, size really does matter. Closer to home, Dr Jack Da Silva – a senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide – has an explanation for why larger breeds live shorter lives. 'Larger breeds have shorter lifespans mostly because they have higher rates of cancer,' he says. 'Bigger animals are the result of more cell division. The more cell division there is, the more likely mutations are to arise.' This could be bad news for tall humans as well. But there is a twist in the tale. While bigger mice, for example, have higher cancer rates than their smaller counterparts, bigger species – such as elephants – don't. Da Silva says this is down to Peto's paradox. 'It's a simple idea,' he says. 'Larger species have evolved greater cancer suppression mechanisms. They invest more in searching for DNA damage that might cause cancer, in DNA repair and repairing mutations that may lead to cancer. They invest more in the immune system that helps suppress cancer.' So why are bigger dog breeds more susceptible to cancer and therefore live shorter lives? 'It's probably because we produced these large breeds fairly recently, and they haven't had time to evolve these cancer-suppressing mechanisms that you see in big species,' says Da Silva. In the US, unlike the relatively straightforward university research-funding processes we have in Australia, the funding of large scientific projects is a mélange of government research grants and philanthropy. You get the sense Matt Kaeberlein has struggled with funding – and won. 'We'll get to the end point and be able to unblind [revealing which dogs received the drug] within this funding period,' he says. 'The longitudinal study hasn't had its funding renewed by the National Institutes of Health yet. There is a lot of effort being put into a large grant to fund that whole project and individual smaller grants to fund pieces of it, as well as efforts towards philanthropic funding.' 'In dogs, seeking a 25 per cent increase in lifespan might be ambitious but possible.' Matt Kaeberlein Kaeberlein and his colleagues recently set up a non-profit organisation called The Dog Aging Institute to support the Dog Aging Project's research. 'We secured a couple of million dollars in philanthropic funding in the last year to keep the infrastructure in place and to support it,' he says. 'So, that's the state of the project right now; it's still going. We're able to maintain all of the dogs that are currently in the study, but we've really had to slow down on new science, sample collection, processing, things like that.' And what does he make of the funding landscape under what is looking to be the most unpredictable and capricious president in US history? 'It's too early to tell,' he says. 'Obviously, there's a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen with federal funding for research. I would say at this point people are carrying on, trying to maintain some cautious optimism that things will work out.' Assuming the huge rapamycin trial survives the current US funding uncertainty and proves effective at increasing healthspans and lifespans, how much benefit might we reasonably expect? 'When you target the biology of ageing, it seems like you slow multiple functional declines in diseases simultaneously; it's called compression of morbidity,' says Kaeberlein. 'The idea is you push the diseases back a little bit later in life. In dogs, seeking a 25 per cent increase in lifespan might be ambitious but possible. However, it wouldn't shock me if you could get a 20 per cent increase and maybe a little bit more, which is not insignificant. For a dog who's going to live 12 years, you're talking about another 2-2.5 years of healthy life.' Not the fountain of youth, then. At least, not yet. 'Part of me would say the science is going to keep maturing,' says Kaeberlein. 'With new tools, like AI, who knows what's going to happen. There are lots of reasons for optimism.' If you look up Kaeberlein on the internet, you'll find a fit-looking man in his mid-50s who takes care of himself. Among the images that come up, many feature his beloved German shepherd, Dobby. He goes quiet for a moment when I ask how Dobby is doing. 'Dobby passed in October,' he says. 'It was one of the toughest things in my life. Anybody who's a dog person understands just how tough it is. It was brutal. Just yesterday, I was driving back from the grocery store and I suddenly missed him terribly. The grief comes and goes. We had 14 years with him, which for a German shepherd is pretty good.' Such is the desperation to keep our beloved animals, that those with the means to do so have had their pets cloned. Singer Barbra Streisand did this with two of her dogs in 2018, but the star said she was a little disappointed. A dog's personality is formed through all kinds of genetic and environmental quirks and through unique experiences. 'You know, the clone is not going to be your dog,' says Kaeberlein. 'But I'm certainly not going to judge [Streisand] for that. I'd be lying if I said that didn't pass through my mind when we lost Dobby. I can totally see why somebody would do that. But if you're expecting that clone to be your original companion, they're not. It's going to be a different individual.' Loading If we can't clone them, and all we can expect in the near future is just a couple of years – at best – of drug-enhanced longevity, what can we do to prolong our dogs' lives? 'Don't let your dog get obese is the starting point,' says Kaeberlein. 'And exercise them. One thing that has come out of the longevity project is that dogs who get more exercise are much less likely to develop dementia. So those kinds of lifestyle factors are super-important. 'And data shows that when people interact lovingly with their companion animals, both lives are improved. Pet your dog, cuddle your dog, love your dog. These interactions have a positive effect on the physiology of both the dog and the human.'
USA Today
19-04-2025
- Health
- USA Today
From tail wagging to lip licking: Decoding your dog's emotions
From tail wagging to lip licking: Decoding your dog's emotions Show Caption Hide Caption Excited dog gets a spring in his step when owner comes home In Peterhead, UK, an energetic pup named Broxi greets its owner by leaping up and down, whether he's been gone for five minutes or five days. Understanding a dog's body language can strengthen the human-animal bond and help identify potential health or behavioral issues. Dogs make a range of noises – from barking to growling and panting – to communicate. Much like their human owners, they also rely on nonverbal body language to convey their emotions. By listening to these cues, including tail wagging and lip licking, humans can deepen their relationships with their canine companions. 'When we learn to recognize our dog's communication, we can set them up for success within their boundaries and also identify situations where they may need more support or training,' Harmony Diers, a veterinary technician and project manager for the Dog Aging Project at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, said in a news release. Here's a few tips on how to read your dog's body language. Signs that your dog is content There is no single telltale sign that indicates whether a dog is feeling relaxed. Instead, the American Kennel Club recommends that pet owners look at all indicators across the dog's body, from the way it is moving its tail to the shape of its eyes, to decipher its mood. For instance, people often mistake a dog's wagging tail as a sign of happiness, but the American Kennel Club suggests that the wagging movement only indicates that the dog is emotionally aroused. A slower, side-to-side tail wag shows that the dog is relaxed, while a faster, twitchy wag might mean that the dog is experiencing negative emotions. If a dog is wagging its tail in a circular motion, Diers said it's a good sign that the dog is happy. A good way to confirm the dog's emotion is by looking at its eyes. If the dog is relaxed, it may have soft eyes, making it look like it is squinting, Diers said, according to the news release. More: The cost to own a dog or cat can be extensive. It's about to get more expensive. How to know when your dog is agitated Identifying an anxious or aggressive dog can be tricky, as negative and positive emotional indicators can often be confused. In her book On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals, Turid Rugaas notes that dogs yawn to calm themselves down in stressful situations, not because they're tired. She recommends that humans yawn back at dogs to provide them emotional support. Lip licking is another confusing signal from canines. It could mean they're hungry, or that their anxious, according to the American Kennel Club. Diers recommends looking for tense lips that are pulled back or lifted over the teeth. Those signs, accompanied by a menacing growl and a hard stare often suggest that the dog is feeling threatened. Red flags to recognize in a sick dog Reading your dog's body language can also help you identify potential health concerns. Sick dogs may sleep more and hide from their owners because they are feeling vulnerable. Other signs to look out for include limping, a tucked belly, tense posture and whimpering, Diers suggested. More: Adopting or own a senior dog? Here's how to help them live a long life 'Ultimately, if your normally active and happy dog starts to isolate and show lethargy and/or decreased appetite, this is a sign that something has changed with their overall health,' Diers said.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Yahoo
Scammers target local families with missing pets
A local animal shelter is warning residents about a scam targeting people with missing pets. The Humane Society of Catawba County says someone is calling people who've recently lost a pet claiming the animal has been found and needs emergency surgery. The agency says it's received several calls from victims who were contacted by the scammers. Dog Aging Project enrolls 50,000 dogs to study longevity They say many of the pet owners are vulnerable after posting online about their missing animals, which provides the scammers with the information needed to make the calls. The caller ID shows the number as belonging to the Humane Society of Catawba County. The scammers ask for $1,000 to be sent through Chime or PayPal for the supposed surgery. 'The fact that they are calling these specific people and giving them false hope and also asking them to give money when they would feel obligated to do anything for that animal is inhumane,' said Emily Buckland with the Humane Society Catawba County. The Humane Society urges people not to pay the money and has posted information on its Facebook page about the scam. VIDEO: Action 9 warns of online puppy scam after woman is tricked out of $1,000
CBS News
09-02-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Texas A&M study aims to help dogs live longer – and possibly humans too
FORT WORTH — A new study is exploring ways to extend the lifespan of dogs, potentially paving the way for similar treatments in humans. The Dog Aging Project, led by researchers at Texas A&M and the University of Washington, is studying canine aging with a focus on the drug rapamycin, commonly used during human organ transplants. Early studies suggest the drug may improve heart and cognitive function, mobility and even extend a dog's lifespan. Dr. Kate Creevy, co-founder of the project, emphasized that while the drug isn't a miracle cure, the goal is to help dogs not only live longer but also remain healthier in their later years. "This is a really important example of community science," Creevy said. "The people collecting this data are dog owners, everyday folks. Science doesn't have to happen in some ivory tower or a research institution. Science is happening every day all around us." So far, 170 dogs are participating in the trial. With a new $7 million federal grant, researchers hope to expand the study to 580 dogs. If successful, the research could provide insights into extending human lifespan as well. Ron Beiswanger, a North Texas dog owner, enrolled his 9-year-old pit bull, Krull, in the study two years ago. He won't know until the study concludes whether Krull has been receiving rapamycin or a placebo, but he has no regrets about taking part. "They're only here for a short time, and it's not fair to us," Beiswanger said. "The longer they are here, the better. If I can be a statistic to help future dogs, this is worth it." Results from the study are expected in about four years. Dog owners interested in enrolling their pets in the trial must have dogs over 7 years old, in good health, and weighing at least 44 pounds. Owners will also need to bring their dogs to one of the participating clinical sites, such as Texas A&M, every six months for three years.
