I have had dogs most of my life. I just put down our Llewellin Setter because she just couldn't make it up and down our stairs with out help. Now listen to this..........She was over 22 TEWENTY TWO years old. She ate "Atta-Boy" el-cheapo dog food for about ten of those years. My dogs LOVED that stuff, (think they lace it with doggy crack). I had a Springer that had the itches and eye problems at 13 years (her buddy) and I started feeding them Purina One. His eyes cleared up with in a couple of weeks and he has some life back in him. The Setter seemed better, too, but she was in great shape anyway. I now have a Border collie and a Gordon Setter that like the Purina One. (They REALLY love the "Pupperonie" scoobie snacks the most, though) Our daughter has a Springer that also stays with us most days and he eats the same food, too. I think that as long as you buy decent food, genetics plays the biggest role in how long they live. My Llewellin setter never went to the vet (except to be spade) and she lived longer than ANY dog I have ever heard of. She probably would have lived another year If I was willing to carry her outside. We called her our Energizer Bunny.......she just kept on going and going. Just put her down on Memorial weekend. Best hunting dog I have ever had, too. Also was a great earth quake warning tool, too. She would go NUTS just before an earth quake. Funny story......we were watching Americas Funniest Videos years ago and there was a video of a dog looking into a flip top garbage can and then jumped into it. My setter was watching the dog on TV and when it jumped into the garbage can she went running (on her hind legs only) over to the TV and looked for the missing dog and was wimpering. Kinda like "WHERE DID HE GO???????? Wish I would have got THAT on video. Woulda been a $100,000 winner for sure. She loved to watch animals on TV. She lived a full life and it wasn't too hard to put her down. My Springer had a stroke when he was 14 or so and that was real tough to put him down. My hearts out to all of you who have had to do that.