Labrador Retriever Lifespan – How Long Do Labs Live?

My baby passed away at 15 years old. Didn’t have any problems. A very happy dog, friendly, loving and amazing dog. He was the best! I have a basset hound and another lab which I love to pieces, but they don’t substitute Chester. He will always be missed… A part of my heart died when he passed away…

My Molly was with me until January of this year. She was just shy of 14. She was the longest lived of my labs. Also probably the healthiest. I learned with maturity that a heathly lab is happy! I watched her weight especially. I will miss her always. She was smart, loveable, funny and irreplaceable. What I learned from her I share with my younger family members , hopefully they can enjoy their pups as long as I did Molly.

My Black Lab Bob turns 15 in June and he still thinks he is 5! He Fetches his ball to play.. And then wobbles off slowly to get it as he has arthritis. He can’t go upstairs anymore and needs help getting into the sofa. I hope he’s got a few more years in him yet.. I wonder what the oldest Labrodor has lived to?

My Charlie Brown had to be put down last night. He was only 7yrs 2months and 3 days. My heart is breaking. I was told yesterday afternoon that he had leukaemia.
I miss my baby boy so much

On 15 Jan I posted about my Lab girls aged 14y 9m and 7y 2m and my choc lad who died last year at 14y 8m. I’ve just lost my old girl, four days short of her 15th birthday. She was a wonderful dog and I miss her dreadfully. She succumbed to a kidney infection related to an accidental oversose of Metacam. Our new rescue dog managed, in my absence, to pull her 180ml plastic bottle of meds onto the floor, bite off the bottom and share the contents with my girls. Five days’energency inpatient care for all three dogs followed but my eldergirl never fully recovered. Her previously well-functioning kidneys were severely damaged. NSAIDS like Metacam can clearly be deadly when not stored and administered properly. She had a good long healthy life but would still be trogging around the Kent countryside if I’d taken more care .. the guilt is just awful.

Lexi is my Yellow Lab. She is 11 years old. Her hips are not working like they use too. Her balance is off, and her left side kind of pokes out now. She has those little tumors on her in many areas now. She has even slipped and fallen several times now. I have wood floors in my house which isn’t making it very easy for her. I have bought her several ortho beds and placed them through out the house. She also has constant yeast infections in her ears that I battle all constantly now. She also has n unpleasant smell to her at times. I know she is getting near the end of her life span. before my mother died, she gave my son Lexi weeks old. We all love Lexi so much, however making such a decision is hard too because my mom gave my son that dog before she died. It breaks my heart to see Lexi down like this. I don’t want her to suffer or be in pain, but my husband will have to be the one to take her to the Vet. I just cannot be there when she gets that shot.

We said goodbye to our beloved Sydney and Jersey (Yellow Lab litter mates) four weeks apart earlier this spring. Jersey was 15-years, 3-months and 4-days and Sydney was 15-years, 4-months and 2-days. They were amazing friends their entire lives, wonderful companions for our family and even helped my wife and me transition to an empty nest.

We are looking forward to bringing home Murphy and Roxy (Black Lab litter mates) in two more weeks.

I have a beautiful 12 yr old named Georgia. She is the first dog I have ever owned & has taught me so much, I hope she won’t be the last.
She now has a swollen & mis-shaped front foot, which the vet says is due to arthritis & also has a numer of ‘jelly’ lumps, which the vet says is down to age & not harmful. She has short walks now, longer than about 15 minutes leaves her limping for the remainder of the day.
My absolute fear is that I will not know how to tell when she has had enough & I dread sitting with her in her last moments, although I will certainly do so. My fears are compounded because unfortunately my husband is in pretty much the same situation & I am so worried about taking my eye off the wrong ball at the wrong tme!
What I do know is that Georgia is my best friend in all the things I face & I am glad I discovered what lifelong dog owners everywhere have known for years.

My 13 year old Black Lab Gus was put to sleep yesterday, April 3, 2016. He had been having some breathing difficulties for the past couple of months and after yesterday’s walk he had a severe episode and could not breathe. The emergency room vet said his larynx was paralyzed. What a great friend he was and a total blessing to our family. He is the second Lab that I have raised from a pup to old age. RIP G-Man!

My Coco was put to sleep on April 2nd, 2016. Chocolate Lab, female. She was 11 years old and strong to the last second. She had a lump on her mamarian glands and was diagnosed with cancer on Aug 2015. Tumor kept growing to the size x2 of a baseball. Her cough kept getting worse, on April 2nd I notice she was drooling from her left side of her mouth and her left ear was flat, she started to loose her balance. She is gone and I can not deal with the pain. I miss her so much.

Halley, the sweetest pooch I have ever known, willbe 11 years old on the first of April. She has slowed down a lot in the last few year’s, but she can still get going if the occasion calls for it (just throw that ball!).
I love this dog. She has been my best friend since she was 8 weeks old.

My Labrador – “Riptide” is ten years old. My ex fiancee had broken his leg when he was young, so he has trouble now. We take shorter walks and he has trouble sitting, but I am thankful for having him this long. I am hoping I get to have him another year. I have started him on pain meds for his leg though, and I am not thinking he will make it to twelve.

I have a 10 year old yellow lab. You can’t really tell his age though! He has no health problems other than a very rare limp from a deep laceration he had as a one year old. It only bothers him once or twice a year. He is still very active and loves fetch. He can still jump six feet in the air to catch his frisbee. He is a healthy weight and extremely well behaved. He never destroys anything and leaves people food alone unless it’s dropped on the floor. He doesn’t beg or jump on people or anything. He can’t smell as well as he used to, and his vision isn’t quite as sharp, but according to his vet we can expect several more years out of him based on his health.

Our Frankey is a slim but very large dog. He weighs 110 lbs. he is 12 years old and is a bit slower as of late. Arthritis in his hind legs and reduced hearing, but relatively healthy and the best dog I have ever known. He is gentle, sweet, kind, and very obedient. Yesterday he took off like a lightening bolt after a deer in our yard (he usually stays within our yard) and I was hearted to see some spry in him. He is without a doubt the best dog we will ever have. He never enters or leaves the house without invitation. We don’t feed him table scraps except extra peas or cooked carrots on occasion. I believe having him neutered and keeping him slim have been very beneficial to his longevity.

I had a choc. Lab that passed away last night he had a ruptured tumor in his stomach and cancer in his liver his liver shut down he wasn’t over weight. He was my best friend, he protected and loved me like I loved him he was my everything why he just turned 7 the 11th of jan. It’s not far

My “rescued” black lab is 16 going on 17. While I appreciate the info, please broaden the range to ADOPTED from a shelter- labs, not just bought ones. I rescued my girl at 8 months one day before she was to be killed ( sorry euthanized). At almost 17 she has made my life the best it could be, my constant companion, my loyal friend, my forever baby girl. The world is changing and compassion for strays, mutts and “abandoned at the shelter” dogs is growing… Thank you.

My labrador, the black one lived 16 years. She passed away on 13th of January ?

I have a black lab he was12 on the 14th of febuary werve got up the last three morning and he has left a mess ive tried taking him out longer and just as were going to bed we work during the day and hes left in the house sometimes for longer and hes fine cant manage to vets until tomorow apart from this he is perfect any idea why

i have a 8 mo. old yellow lab that is suffering from OCD. we have had one surgery…and yet, he is still limping and is now holding that rear leg up, and hopping on 3 legs. in his short life, he has been restricted to no play,no jumping, no running…just laying ,healing and medicated. It breaks my heart to see a lack or quality of his life. We also have an 8 mo. old boxer…and she doesnt understand, any more then Ernie does, on why they can’t play. The surgery was 2 weeks ago, and i would of thought we would see some improvement. I will not be able to pay the large amt of $ for another surgery, that apparently isn’t guaranteed. I am at a loss on what to do. Ernie is so good at just going with the flow…but i don’t want a puppy in pain. If amputation is the only option…i am at a loss. I know he could survive with it..and deal with it….but my heart is torn. I want him to be a happy playful live life to the fullest puppy…and yet, no one knows how to give him that.

Hello Stacy – So sorry to read about what you went through with Molly. Please don’t feel like you did the wrong thing!! You did the right thing. You followed the advice of the vets who know more about which dogs can recover and which dogs won’t be able to. When a person is injured, they know what they need to do to get better. But a dog doesn’t know that – that’s why they have to wear the shield so they don’t hurt themselves licking their stitches. Since a dog doesn’t know enough to do what’s good for it, sometimes they can’t recover from injuries a person would survive. You did the right thing for Molly. Please accept you did what you could, and don’t feel guilty!!

Our second Black Lab, Trajan, lived to be 14 1/2. He was our gentle giant, 100 pounds of pure sweetness and empathy who loved the ocean. If we’d let him, he would have swum till he dropped. My husband and I got him 3 months after we started dating, and he died a little over 5 years ago on his own terms here at home. He was there for all of our milestones, in all of our pictures – when we got engaged, when we got married, when we had our son, when we moved, when we had our daughter. He was the constant around which 4 other Labs came and went (and our first Black Lab was nearly 14 when he died). We miss him every day, even with our current pups, a Yellow Lab named Amy who’s almost 8, and a Lab-Pit mix named Angus who’s 5 today and a ball of complete insanity. Labradors are the best!

Thanks Pippa…..I may go the titre route and the only compulsory vaccine here is the rabies every 2-3 years. I changed vets after Jake died and this new vet is more understanding of my quandary.

Our first Lab, Ginger made it to 16. She became diabetic at 12 but never went blind, and was in good physical health until about 15. She got a couple of insulin shots a day and occasional blood sticks but was very active, swimming and hiking until about 15. She could still get around but slowed down a lot the last year. She had several fatty tumors but they did not affect her much.

Our current older Lab Tilly is 10 and still going strong, although her hearing is not very good, and she gets stiff after a workout. We got our pup Cooper last Summer and she helps keep Tilly young. We thought we ought to get a new pup while Tilly was young enough to “defend herself”.

I am curious Pippa as to whether or not you believe in vaccination after the usual puppy shots. My last dog Jake was vaccinated every year for everything and he died at 8 of lymphoma. I now have two labs, a black named Jynx and a chocolate named Jazz. They are just over a year old and will be due for boosters in a few months. Not sure if I want to put more chemicals into their bodies?? They are so healthy and I want them to stay that way. They are slim and just get their food and carrots and apples…..no hand outs!! I am really in a quandary as to what to do.

So far out of 4 Labs our Gwen, Yellow Lab, lived to 14 1/2. Our first Lab we put down a couple months before her 11th birthday. She had lymphosarcosa. Sadly the previous Spring her vet missed a spot between her lungs when we took her to have a weak bark checked. We were told it was laryngeal paralysis which is normal in older dogs. By summer she would fall on her knees when drinking or eating and was losing weight. When taken to an emergency room and checked by an internist the xray showed that spot had grown into a massive tumor that had also grown into her windpipe. Surgery was not viable and we tried chemo but to no avail. We then purchased two Labs, black male and yellow female (Gwen). Sadly Jake died in ’08 at the age of 8 1/2 also from lymphosarcosa. Six weeks later we bought home two six week old black Lab brothers and on 1/26 we lost our beloved Zeke from bone cancer. As of July 2015 he was in perfect health and within four months of being diagnosed in October we lost him. His brother Zeus is in great health and we are praying he will live long. We have always taken great care of our Labs from dog food, regular check-ups, etc. The only table food they have gotten is carrots, apples, bananas, blueberries, sweet potatoes, peppers, spinach, Greek Yogurt, etc. And a good holistic dog food. Some experts suggest neutering males before a year old or spaying a female before her first heat or litter increases their chances of cancer. Also larger breeds over 80 lbs are more prone to cancers. We have gotten our Labs from reputable breeders with good bloodlines but Labs fall in the range of larger dogs. We are hopelessly hooked on Labs and are trying our hand in a couple of weeks of fostering a 2 year-old yellow female Lab. Her owner works at night and sleeps during the day and has not had the time to train her properly plus give her attention. We are hoping she will be a good match for us and perk up our Zeus who misses his brother and playmate. He still has plenty of spunk in him and hopefully Lola will help. We treasure our Labs and our memories of each one. When I look at the four treasure boxes of ashes I am brought back to happier times. And they are enrolled in the Rainbow Bridge site. Hopefully future research will help find a cure for canine cancer or ways to prevent it or delay any onsets. In the meantime we will continue to fill our lives with the most wonderful breed on the planet!

Thank you all for sharing. I feel your pain. I lost my chocolate lab three years ago. He was 16 years and 11 months. He was mostly blind the last two years of his life, but learned his way around the house, yard, beach, etc. pretty well. His name was Mud and he was a dear friend. We put down our yellow lab, Rocko, in November 2015. He was 15yrs, 3 months. I loved he and Mud like children. The rear wheel drive on both of my dogs started going out when they turned about 13. At that point, we took them to a local vet for acupuncture. The results were amazing. I think it extended their lives a couple of years. The hardest thing I have ever done in my life was call the vet to euthanize my dogs. You don’t want to be too soon, but you don’t want to be too late. Because you love your dogs so much, you have an obligation to make that decision for them. I hope you have the strength. Since you love your dogs, do not second-guess yourself. While the pain of losing them is often unbearable, I have found that having another dog makes it easier. Share your love with another one and make both of your lives better. Hang in there people and smile when you think of your departed pets. 🙂

Our black lab shadow lived to be 15 years old. About 3 months before he passed away he started having seizures.. At 1st medicine controlled them but eventually the medicine stopped working and the seizures got worse. Finally one day he had a seizure that he did not come out of, the vet had to put him to sleep. He was a great dog, we miss him. Now we have a 7 month old yellow lab and he is our pride and joy! He has brought so much happiness to our family!

Our lab, Casey will be 11 in the spring. He is amazing. Just a few days ago his eating habit has changed. Today he didnt eat where he usually gobbles down asap. Hes had a growth on his abdomen for about a year now…smaller ones have developed. Drs say its only fat. He does not seem to be in any pain. Now he just sleeps. His nose is warm sometimes, and he just seems that old is creeping up on him. Ive never been closer to an animal than Casey. It will be terrible….

My Chocolate lab is going to be 12 this year! I love him so! He has been through thick and thin with me! He has arthritis in his hips and shoulders. He gets slower at night and had problems getting up sometimes. But other than that he is healthy and a good boy!

My black lab is 15 and 1/2 years. She sleeps a lot, I have her on troxcil that helps with the arthitis.other than her hearing has gone, still wags her tail, and loves her food. Her food is a mobility one.

I lost my Yellow Lab, Archie on the 19 Dec 2015 he was 12. He had a tumor of the spleen, he had a blood test. Urine test X-ray, Ultrasound, & the vet was going to remove his spleen,but then decided not to.The vet came to our house & put Arch to sleep.
We buried Archie in the Garden, over looking the wood that he played in,I miss him very much, but he had a great life walking around the Hills of Shropshire,& taking him to the Coast, he loved swimming in the sea.The house seem’s empty without him.?

Mine is 16 and 1/3rd

I have to put him on on Thursday ( 1-21-16)

It’s now 1-19-16

I’m his hind legs won’t support him when he sqwatts to poo
So he pretty much makes a bowl movement when he lays down and sometimes lays in it ‘

It’s breaking my heart

His bad eye is cloudy
His good eyes is now cloudy
His hearing is going
And his hind legs are really giving out
Sometimes he can’t stand up

I have to help him

Now I think it’s time
For the past week i have done nothing but cry not wanting to make the decision
But I think it’s not finally time

I’ve cried so much

I got him st 5.5 weeks old

A part of me is already missing !

YESTERDAY, WE HAD TO PUT OUR DEAR DUDLEY DOWN. HE WAS A YELLOW LAB. WE GOT HIM AT 6 WEEKS,
HE WAS 14 APPROXIMATELY, LOST TRACK OF HIS PAPERS. HE DEVELOPED A GROWTH UNDER HIS CHIN THE SIZE OF A BASEBALL. IT WAS HARD RATHER THAN SOFT LIKE A CYST. GIVEN HIS AGE, WE DECIDED NOT TO PUT HIM THROUGH SURGERY. WE GAVE HIS REMAINS TO OSU VETERINARY TEACHING HOSPITAL. MAYBE THEY CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT THE GROWTH WAS AND HELP ANOTHER DOG. THEY SAID THEY WOULD ALSO LET US KNOW WHAT IT WAS. THEY DID A CLAY PAW FOR US WITH HIS NAME ON IT. THEY WERE SO WONDERFUL AND CARING ABOUT US AND OUR PET. I WILL MISS HIM, BUT I WAS ALLOWED TO STAY WITH HIM AND PET HIM TO SLEEP BEFORE THE INJECTION. HE WENT TO SLEEP PEACEFULLY WITH MY ARMS AROUND HIM PETTING HIM. THANKS TO GOD FOR CREATING THESE CREATURES TO BRING SUCH JOY TO OVER LIVES. RUBY

Over the years I have had a lab cross samoy. He lived to nearly 15 passing after 2 strokes. He had no health issues throughout his life. We thought we would lose him from a broken heart after he lost his partner when he was 12 but he rallied and gave us nearly 3 more years of love.
We lost our next beautiful yellow lab while young from poisening.
We lost our big yellow pure boy lab 15 years ago at 11 years old. He was very active right up to the last months of his life. He had multiple tumours towards the end, and after 2 operations we decided no more. He was still happy and quite energetic although he was slowing and beginning to show his age. He passed in his sleep which was easier for us as facing putting him to sleep was hard.
We are now facing the same decision with our pure yellow girl lab. She is nearly 14 and has a large mass which is affecting her eating and toilet. We probably have only a few more days which is really hard to accept. Even though her senses have declined over the past few years and she sleeps more she has still been happy and fairly active. The decline has been rapid over a couple of weeks, so hard to to come to terms with.
Up till these events none of them had any health issues. No arthritis, weight issues, etc. Our big boy who was a garbage guts had eaten a plastic bag which entailed an operation to remove it but still was healthy and never overweight. Our girl was a fussy eater so had no weight issues and except for failing senses was healthy up to these last week or so.
We have been lucky to have had their wonderful love for the time we have but still dont want to let our girl go.

I share my life & home with two Lab girls aged 14y 9m and 7y 2m. Thankfully both are active and in very good health. My old girl, though she’s carrying considerably more weight than she should, is still inquisitive, playful, wet-nosed and glossy-furred. She quite slow & stiff now but can still enjoys our 800m walks on the beach once or twice a week. My vet says her blood screen scores are “fantastic for her age”. Is her longevity down to 75% raw food diet, her genes, low-stress country lifestyle or having constant canine companionship. I don’t know, but count myself very, very lucky to still have this beautiful, grizzled dowager dog with me. In June we lost her life partner, my entire choc lad who was the “love if my lfe”. He died peacefully and painlessly in his own bed with us all beside him after a paralysing seuzure. He was his irrepressible self til the very end, despite beginning to lose his back legs to DM He made it to 14y 8m …

I had a wonderful black lab named Apollo who we just put to sleep two days ago. I’m so heartbroken. He was 13, had large masses on his chest and had raw spots on all his paws. He would lick and lick his paws all day and night due to itching, the last year of his life. We treated him with meds for the itch spots but after the meds, they came back and always bled and lost hair on them. Ohh I miss him so much but I’m glad he’s not in pain anymore.

We have a yellow lab that just turned 13 at Christmas. He is slim (58 lbs) and is fairly active. He is on a senior dog food and does get a few table scraps, but not many. He really only has one problem and that is recent lipomas that have come up. One is quite large on his back leg, but the vet seems confident that it is benign. It doesn’t seem to affect his activities.

I had a yellow Labrador retriever which lived for 11 years 8 months and 10 days and I live in Mumbai, India. He was under regular checkup with the same Vet since he was 5 weks old. I observed his health started deteriorating after he turned 10. Initially, he had arthritis in right hind leg, later he developed hypertension, heart enlargement and prostrate enlargement. We were treating him for all the symptoms. In mid Nov 2015 his appetite reduced drastically and when we did the blood test, i was noticed that his Creatinine and Blood Urea Nitrogen had shot up alarmingly. He was sustained for 38 days by daily Intravenous fluid supplements hoping the fluid therapy would help. During the course he also became anemic and on the fateful day Dec 24th we did fresh blood transfusion. Unfortunately, he didn’t live to see Christmas of 2015. While for human beings we have well researched medical help, even simple dialysis is not available for our pets and most of the remedy suggested is on trial and error basis. As a pet parent we al should encourage facilities for better care for our pets in which ever pat of the world we live in.

My black lab, Val, will be sixteen on February 14, 2016. Aging and slowing down considerably but still wagging her tail a lot!

Thank you Pippa that’s good to know as we’ve also noticed that Nell is almost deaf so that may explain the barking. We’ve noticed a few lumps and bumps too but they don’t seem to be bothering her..?!

My chocolate lab, Nell, is going to be 15 this year. She’s doing ok and still as greedy as ever! She’s definitely slowed down and sleeps a lot more, her back legs are stiff when she first gets up. Otherwise she’s still going strong and always happy to see us! On a footnote… I have noticed that she barks more for absolutely no reason- that’s a bit bizarre!

Great article! I am glad you mentioned about obesity. Some studies show it can reduce lifespan by about 2 years. The suggested amounts on some of the dog food bags is about 25% too much for most dogs.

My lab will be 16 in three weeks and she still acts like a puppy

Our lovely black lab Rua is 12 in March and we have had him since he was 8 weeks old. Still healthy although have noticed him slowing down in the last few months. Visitors to the winery are surprised to hear his age as he still gets excited when people arrive. He is carrying a little bit of weight now which I am working on to try and keep down. Hope we have him for a lot longer yet.

I had a Lab that was 16 years! What a lovely dog! Now I have one who is already turning 11! What a pleasure!

My Lab Hanna was 14 when she was put to sleep. It devastated us as we had her since she 6 weeks old. We now have a black boy called Hamish who is so different to all my gold ones we had.

My yellow lab Daisy is 15.5 years old.

My chocolate lab is 12 years young!

I had a large pure black lab that lived to be 19 1/2. He was healthy and fully mobile until about 3 months before we euthanized him. He had 3 spells where his back legs appeared to be numb. The first lasted several hours. the second happened about a month later a lasted about the same amount of time. We thought perhaps it was a pinched nerve given he seemed to have no residual effect from the spell and walked and ran just fine afterward. However, when it happened the third time, it lasted through the night. He would not eat and would only drink water when his legs went numb which I suspect was because he felt he wouldn’t be able to poop. He could stand if lifted but when he tried to walk his back feet would turn under so we would hold his back end and let him walk out to the yard on his front legs and then let him stand to pee. We took him to the vet the third time and he suspected he had some bone degeneration or something like that in his lower spine. Because of his age we didn’t feel surgery would be the right thing to do, so we sadly said goodbye. Never had a dog live that long but every one of my dogs has lived 17+ years and most have been labs.

I had beat dog molly she was a black labrador n I loved her so.much I had her since she was 8 weeks old n I Ave an illness which she knew abt n when I needed her she come up 2 me n put her nose under my arm n help me.up n get me up.as I Ave a mental illness so she sensed all.this n Ifor i felt lonely I culd hug her n stroke her soft ears abt 5 weeks ago my dog got ran over n she was badly injured she went 2 emergency vets they did temporary splint n put 1 of these Shields rund her face she shook.it off even knocked a xmas tree down she wanted 2 b herself she even tried 2 get up.stairs.with temp.splint but she culdnt I ended up.laying with on the floor nxt mornin took her 2 my vets they sedated her n did a lot of xarays on her n found few badays injuries they said they culd put steel.rods in her leg tht was broken but culd.get infected in 6 mths or amputate but labroders dnt normally survive long with 3 legs n also the teeth she broken 2 wuld b along op 4 her so they rang me.in the afternoon tell.me how she was n kept goin through my head Wat the vet said I just culdnt c molly bein.my dog she was n with rods in her leg teeth missing n the long op she b in so.I decided 2 Ave her put her 2 sleep.I now I think I did the wrong.thing n I feel so bad n miss her so much it’s like losing a.part of my family like a child. N I dnt knw.who.2 talk 2 abt it I feelove. So stupid being like this I’m. Sorry shuldnt of wrote but I didn’t knw who else 2 talk 2 abt it n I dnt knw how 2 deal.with it in culdnt even say good bye