What is a reasonable life expectancy for a Poodle? ...or, for that matter, any domestic dog? This is not information readily available, as neither owners nor veterinarians are obliged to report deaths, and the kennel clubs keep no records. Where such data exists, it has been collected by surveys, and the results depend on how representative the sample is of the population. For example, a Swedish study (Bonnett et al., 1997) based on insurance claims ignores all past age 10 as they are no longer insurable, while an American study (Patronek et al, 1997) is based on deaths at veterinary teaching hospitals and will likely not include many that die of old age. Nevertheless, both rank the Standard and Miniature Poodle among the most long-lived dogs.Breed health surveys avoid these biases, but are not random samples and may also be biased by under-reporting of dogs that lived relatively problem-free lives.
About a year ago, I started collecting data in an attempt to determine the lifespan of the SP. The graph, below, shows the survivorship, based on 328 reports, compared to the results from two other breed surveys and some preliminary data for the Miniature Poodle:
The survivorship of the SP compares very closely to the results obtained for the Bearded Collie (N=214), in a 1996 survey. In both breeds, median age is ~ 11 years. Preliminary data for the MP (N=52) suggests that they live about 13.5 years. The St. Bernard data (N=246) is from a 1992 survey available at http://nbb.emory.edu/saint/Survey-html/SurveyTOC.html. 
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