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Our Saint Turns Ten


dogcop
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Hi our Saint turned ten today.

So he's had his once a year mud cake and half a stubby of stout with his birthday hat on.

I'll have to try and get some pics on here.

he still loves to sit at the back gate and see if I've caught any fresh salmon for his tea when I've been fishing.

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Awesome age :cry: Photos are a must! What's his breeding? Happy birthday grand old fella :)

Masjana The One And Only. I won't mention who bred him as I've never been impressed !

My son actually bought him and well the rest is history but when Matt comes home he's just like a puppy again.

I haven't posted pics for a long time and will have to work out how to do it again.

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Awesome age :cool: Photos are a must! What's his breeding? Happy birthday grand old fella :D

Masjana The One And Only. I won't mention who bred him as I've never been impressed !

My son actually bought him and well the rest is history but when Matt comes home he's just like a puppy again.

I haven't posted pics for a long time and will have to work out how to do it again.

Fantastic! According to our health survey its not that uncommon for saints to live and be healthy up to about 14!

Makes you wonder how stats were distributed that they only live for 4 years.

Hope you have added him to our saint survey http://www.mdba.net.au/breed_survey.php

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Hi our Saint turned ten today.

So he's had his once a year mud cake and half a stubby of stout with his birthday hat on.

I'll have to try and get some pics on here.

he still loves to sit at the back gate and see if I've caught any fresh salmon for his tea when I've been fishing.

A VERY SPECIAL :rofl: to your GRAND VETERAN Saint dogcop.

:rofl::):rofl::rofl:

It doesn't matter what your opinion of his breeding is, :D hey you still have him with you, so a huge congratulations to you both for the wonderful life you have shared together.

Fantastic! According to our health survey its not that uncommon for saints to live and be healthy up to about 14!

Makes you wonder how stats were distributed that they only live for 4 years.

Hope you have added him to our saint survey http://www.mdba.net.au/breed_survey.php

Don't know where you got those stats from Steve?

I was the secretary for the Qld Saint club for many many years and in the 90's we conducted a survey here that showed the average age being 4.5 years at that time.

This survey did include those euthanised due to HD along with other hereditary diseases, but they had to be included.

I have never known of anyone in Australia that had a Saint reach 14 years!

I wish I did, for what a wonderful feat.

There was a breeder at Coffs Harbour called Ann Wright, who bred under the prefix 'Jeaga' and Ann had a few saints that reached 12 and one that made 13.

A lady here in Qld called Jean Goodwin (who had Saints with lineage down from Ann's Jeaga prefix) also had a mother and daughter that reached 11 and 12 years respectively, but I have heard of few others.

I know that Debbi Egglestone's Lena reached 12 years and she was her oldest ever and she just made it too. Joanie Mae at nearly 10 is our oldest and I certainly consider 10 years a blessing. Joanie Mae and her litter sister Julia are the 2 oldest at Bernedale now.

The Qld club acknowledges and awards a veteran at 7 years and a GRAND Veteran at 10 years and I currently have the record book in front of me with only 4 having reached that staus in the clubs history. And I might also add that of those 4, none of them saw 11 years.

I certainly wish that our breed did have a longer life span as it is one of the negatives.

Yes, I have heard of Saints overseas in the colder climates living to be 14 years, although that too is VERY RARE, and I would not say that any had a wonderful quality of life at that age, I have been told that they were very slow and showing arthritic signs.

Yes, I participated in your survey as did others I have spoken to.

Sadly some have admitted that they only included their Saints that did NOT have health probs as they did not want the image of the breed portrayed poorly.

Yet another example of a survey that would not give factual stats:- which I know is not your fault, but only that of those who participated.

And I can also empathise with any enthusiasts protective traits towards one's own, even if they are inadvertently creating an injustice by doing so!

I have also sadly seen some hang onto their kids just to reach that 10 year milestone, and then let them go to the bridge having achieved it.

Right or wrong I am not passing judgement, it is a situation one can only make themselves when put in that position.

Our girl at very nearly 10 years has a relatively good quality of life other than she is a bit huffy and puffy. Her litter sister shows no huffy puffy signs but does not move around as much, but they are both incredibly wonderful for their age in our opinion.

I would be both naive and selfish to expect anything greater from this breed, but I do proudly acknowledge that every day they give to us, is OUR blessing! :rofl:

So yes it happens, BUT RARELY!

I would like to know if anyone in Australia has had a Pedigreed Saint reach a good quality of life at 14, I will also cut and paste this into the Saint thread to ask around?

Cheers and thanks for taking an interest,

Lesley

Edited by Lesley
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The figure came from our current breed health survey.

I havent had a chance to look who bred them [ registered breeders or non registered breeders] but the survey shows that 26% reach 10 years 12% get to 13 years and 9% are 13 plus.That may change between now and when we shut the survey down but thats what is showing now.

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WOW!

That response is amazing, and I am aware that you are unable to divulge facts, but quite incredible.

It would be interesting to do the same survey through the registerd breeders and owners, also with a lie detector on board! :):rofl:

As I said, many are protective of poor exposure in regard to health, so boost up the stats with the positives.

It will be interesting to see if anyone replies through the Saint thread.

It know it makes your job very hard Steve.

Thanks for your consideration in reply.

Lesley

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WOW!

That response is amazing, and I am aware that you are unable to divulge facts, but quite incredible.

It would be interesting to do the same survey through the registerd breeders and owners, also with a lie detector on board! :):rofl:

As I said, many are protective of poor exposure in regard to health, so boost up the stats with the positives.

It will be interesting to see if anyone replies through the Saint thread.

It know it makes your job very hard Steve.

Thanks for your consideration in reply.

Lesley

More pet owners have answered than exhibitors or breeders and the pet owners are eager to tell the truth.The more responses we get in each breed the less likely it is that real issues dont show up.

We knew the risks involved in collecting the data but that goes for any survey and there are a couple of things in there which give us a good look at what might be going on.

Its disappointing that some people didnt care enough about the breeds to tell the truth but in all but a few breeds we are getting a good look at those things which are more prevalent in some breeds than others.

Across the board breeders are very under represented and we can break down the figures to see whether the dogs are coming from registered breeders too so we can see where breeders decided not to participate and where breeders may have tried to load the data and we will factor that in when the results are in.

We have had over 6000 responses so far and around 84% are from ordinary everyday pet owners ,many of which own registered purebred dogs who have no hidden agenda to protect the breed and just want to tell us about their dogs.

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A big happy birthday and may there be plenty more to come!!

My Evie turned 10 last January and is still fit and jumps up and down onto the deck without bothering to take the stairs. :)

Her Auntie Penny was with us until almost 12 years of age (bone cancer :rofl: ), her grandpa Mitchie was 11 plus when he passed. Still trying to catch a magpie until the week before. I'm fairly sure Ian's first girl, Shawnee, was 13 but I will check that and confirm it.

What was wonderful about these doggies was that they stayed well and highly mobile until close to the end of their lives. Quality of life is so important. :rofl:

Sags

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There was a breeder at Coffs Harbour called Ann Wright, who bred under the prefix 'Jeaga' and Ann had a few saints that reached 12 and one that made 13.

A lady here in Qld called Jean Goodwin (who had Saints with lineage down from Ann's Jeaga prefix) also had a mother and daughter that reached 11 and 12 years respectively, but I have heard of few others.

I know that Debbi Egglestone's Lena reached 12 years and she was her oldest ever and she just made it too. Joanie Mae at nearly 10 is our oldest and I certainly consider 10 years a blessing. Joanie Mae and her litter sister Julia are the 2 oldest at Bernedale now.

My girl Victoria, reached 11yrs and was fit as a fiddle. Went running around the park and for a decent walk each day right until the sudden end. People often mistook her for a pup as she was such a loon.

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All great ages and wonderful to hear about.

You seem to have longevity in Evie's lines Sags.

Sadly it is Osteosarcoma and Heart probs that seem to take most of our aged giants to the bridge.

Come on everyone who responded to the survey please add to this post.

I am on a mission now and want to find at least one Saint down under who hit the 14 years mark in good health.

Edited to apologise to dogcop for the course of this thread.

Birthday pics of your boy are a must please! :thumbsup:

Edited by Lesley
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thanks for all the congrats and input simply fantastic. our oldest saint romisaints amber was 13.5 when we said enough is enough she told us and we knew and we obeyed HER WISH. I swore after Amber no more saints yhen Matt bought Boogie and he is a sheer delight to have as a mate. he is a mate in the true sense of it because he actually disagrees with me at times like a real person does.

think I may have located where my pics from mobile are will get OH to put them up swoon

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thanks for all the congrats and input simply fantastic. our oldest saint romisaints amber was 13.5 when we said enough is enough she told us and we knew and we obeyed HER WISH. I swore after Amber no more saints yhen Matt bought Boogie and he is a sheer delight to have as a mate. he is a mate in the true sense of it because he actually disagrees with me at times like a real person does.

think I may have located where my pics from mobile are will get OH to put them up swoon

Looking forward to pics dogcop.

Below is a response that I received after pasting the original post of Steve's into the Saint thread.

Not sure what ya want me to comment on Les, as far as I know the oldest saint ON RECORD is 14yrs and two months so I find those claims questionable and also I doubt even if it were the case that it would be good quality of life.

I think rather than look for a mean score in lifespan, the backgrounds should be examined more closely. Also the way they are cared for throughout their lives also is a factor rather than it being a short lived breed. Not to mention hereditary and familial illnesses. Regular 14 year olds??? NAH!! Regular 10 year olds from good kennels YES!!

D.

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Just a quick note to add that its unlikely the saint health survey will be utilised at this point unless over the next week or so more dogs are entered as we have a cut off point where if there are not enough numbers we are not proceeding to look at them the way we are other breeds. Thats because if you only have [say] 20 responses then 2 listed for anything makes it look like 10 percent and in our opinion its not enough to get a clear view of whats really going on in the breed.

2 of the dogs [saints] listed as living to 14 are reported as not papered and were reportedly not bred by a registered breeder.

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