One of my favorite dog movies is Turner & Hooch. It’s not a particularly good Tom Hanks movie, but it’s a pretty good dog movie.
The dog who played Hooch was actually named Beasley.
Beasley was a Dogue de Bordeaux, but when I first saw it, I thought he was a pit bull.
When I later learned about this breed from advertisements in Dog World, I realized that this film had essentially put this breed on the map in North America.
Now, as I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve been looking at dog longevity quite a bit. I often reference this site on dog longevity, and based upon the e the average lifespan for this breed is 5.21 years.
Beasley doesn’t look very old in the movie, but because he never appeared in any other films, I just assumed he died at an early age.
Well, I was wrong on both accounts.
It turns out that Beasley was about ten years old when this film was made, and he died at the age of 13!
Talk about an outlier!
I wonder how much quality of life has to do with longevity? He looks great for 10!
Pal, the dog who starred in “Lassie Come Home”, also was used in the pilot for the tv series in 1954, at the age of 14. He lived to be 18.
That dog was the must famous transgender actor of that era.
That is truly amazing! These giant breeds just don’t normally live that long.
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Wow, that does not look like a ten year old dog, much less a ten year old giant breed.
This reminds me of a patient I helped with today: an 18-year-old, 107 lb. labrador retriever.
Wow.
Is the information about his age reliable? I watched (and enjoyed!) that film and the dog did not look or move like a 10 year old. I suspect he was younger than that.
It’s as reliable as what his trainer, Clint Rowe, listed it as.
My Golden girl turned 16 this month and still seems to be enjoying life. I have adopted two male GRs from rescue as “grief insurance” against her death and she has outlived both of them.
Some good friends recently put down their female Pyrenees at nearly 14. Her male companions haven’t made it past 7.
We consider ourselves lucky.
My baby was a springer mix and lived to be 15.
I’ve had pugs all my life. 1 was 15, 1 was 13.5 the other 12.5. Unfortunately cancer interrupted however I now have frank 11. Beasley, gorgeous loved the movie and Tom Hanks. Bring on the movies with great dogs and a brilliant cast.