The connection and companionship between dogs and humans have been a fact for ages. Now, scientists are researching dogs and hoping to find out more about us in the meantime.
The Dog Aging Project collects data that will potentially help scientists to prolong the years without health issues for both dogs and people. For this, they need assistance from all dog parents.
Researchers at fourteen partner institutions, including the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and the University of Washington School of Medicine, started to involve dogs in their studies in 2018, and have since gathered heaps of health and genetic data. They have already received help from over 35,000 dogs and are looking for more.
The objectives of this research are quite a few. Identifying the lifestyle and genetic factors in the aging of a dog, as well as discovering the molecular mechanisms which are responsible for it are some of them. They also aim to increase dogs’ lifespan.
Dr. Daniel Promislow, who is a biology professor at the UW College of Arts and Sciences and laboratory medicine and pathology professor at the UW School of Medicine, shared in an interview that believes that this is an opportunity to take a look at and identify the factors behind it all. Home dogs and humans share the same environment, both have a highly complex health system, but have different lifespans.
This is why this is the best time to identify what are the genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors connected to a healthy lifespan.