Dog aging research may help canines, people live longer and healthier

This is an updated version of a story first published on March 422, 2026. The original video can be viewed here . Everyone knows the old adage about dogs being man's best friend, but you may not know that dogs might also be one of man's best hopes to treat age-related illnesses. That's because our canines develop many of the same diseases we do, including dementia. As we first reported last March, dogs' brains are a lot like ours, so studying how dementia and other diseases naturally progress in them, may also help us. That's what the Dog Aging Project is all about: unlocking secrets to a longer, healthier life for humans, and our four-legged friends. At hundreds of vet clinics and hospitals around the country -- including here at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, people are bringing in their dogs. The Dog Aging Project is a collaboration of dog owners, scientists and veterinarians studying dogs -- more than 50,000 of them so far -- by collecting data on their diets and exercise, analyzing blood samples and doing MRIs of dogs' brains. Matt Kaeberlein, a biologist who has spent decades trying to understand -- and reverse -- the causes of aging, co-founded the project in 2014. Anderson Cooper: Where did the idea of the Dog Aging Project come from? Matt Kaeberlein: I had this lightbulb moment, which I still remember vividly. I realized, "Oh my God, we know about three or four or five ways to slow aging in laboratory animals. …