Wow this is a huge undertaking. I wish you luck and I don't mean that sarcastically! If you can do that to a dog, it seems trivial to extend to humans. Have any drugs or supplements extended dog lifespan in the literature? Rapamycin I guess?
* https://www.rejuvenatebio.com/ (Gene therapy for mitral valve disease in dogs)
* https://dogagingproject.org/ (Involved rapamycin which is already known to increase lifespan in model organisms)
* https://www.vaika.org/ Reverse transcriptase inhibitors in dogs to increase healthspan/lifespan.
So solving the problem for dogs first might be a clever way round much of that!
we’ve cured MS and sepsis in rats like 20 times now. Doesn’t mean much for us.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4068608/
"The most notable benefit of using the dog for genetic studies is that dogs get many of the same diseases as humans, with a similar frequency, and the same genetic factors are often involved."
My home field uses chinchillas a lot. Cardiologists use pigs. etc.
Nothing about taking treatments that work in one species and transferring them to another is trivial. You really can’t even assume that it would remain effective. Every single failed clinical trial of a drug was back up by previous animal studies showing efficacy, but it’s just not guaranteed to translate.
Increasing a dog's lifespan by 5 years is massively noticeable. I've never seen a 20-year old dog.
Adding 5 to a human's health is beneficial but isn't nearly as noticeable.
This is ignoring the magnitude of differences between dogs and humans. They're mammals, sure...
I can't recall just how many "successful trial on rats" stories have we gotten on HN that have to be tempered by reality in the comments.
Edit- As a dog owner myself, I'm also hoping the OP succeeds of course! Nearly every day I have a "memento mori" thought about my pet, and it's extremely depressing.
Little dogs can live to 20.
I met a woman in the park who said she had a dog like mine that lived to 20, then drowned in a swimming pool. I didn't know whether to offer congratulations or commiserations.
It's true that a lot of people (all over the world) make lifestyle choices which probably shorten their lifespan. Although I think you're understating the simplicity of losing significant weight / quitting smoking / drinking less, all of which are things which are notoriously difficult.
It does not follow that those people wouldn't notice an additional five years of lifespan. Of course they would, it's five years!
If someone was selling pills you could take twice a day to add five years of lifespan, the number of people who would take them is broadly limited by the number who could afford to.
Extending lifespan is less useful than extending the healthy/active part of the lifespan. Like reading the fine print on the side of the packaging or the bottom of the contract, you need to pay attention to the details. This is why lifestyle changes tend to be more important than pills which treat conditions that used to kill our parents or grandparents, the former usually increase the odds you will still be walking around and taking care of yourself in your late 80s while the latter might just mean that you add five years to the amount of time that some nursing home will drain your estate while you are bed-ridden in some warehouse for the elderly.