Swedish firefighter needs advice for his beagle

Three years a go on a day like this, my beautiful Persian neighbor, Amitis, knocked on the door asking me if I could keep Benji for a week since she had to go on a road trip with her video production team working on their new art project. She knew I would agree because I and Benji had spent time before and enjoyed each other’s company. Benji is this wonderful beagle and probably the most affectionate dog I’ve ever known. Amitis never came back though. She died in a tragic car accident two days later. It was a very sad story, given the fact that Amitis moved from Iran to Sweden a few years before when Benji was one year-old. They left everything behind and moved to a new country, full of hopes and now she was gone…
I decided to keep Benji and this cute lovely creature has been making my life more meaningful and my moments more memorable, and as a matter of fact reminded me of Amitis like she was always around. I am writing and deleting every bit of this post since as an introvert it’s not easy for me to talk about such stuff, but I feel like I need to talk this out and get some help. Benji is now 7 years old and he is healthy, happy, and energetic as he has always been, but if there is one thing that keep me awake sometimes (if I am not hammered of hard work), it’s the idea of him not being around one day. I am a firefighter and having a flexible personal life is not something firefighters are famous for. I have to train hard, work hard, and when I have some extra time do some voluntary work for the community I was raised in. Yet, I never compromised Benji’s well being and always tried to provide him with the best care I can afford. So I started doing some research just to understand why dogs don’t live longer and if it’s possible to prolong their lives. First thing I found was this Ted talk on . I watched it a few times and then tried to get the facts right so I checked on all those research that he pointed to and they all checked out. I sent a few email to two vets I knew and they also confirmed that it would be really beneficial for Benji’s health or any other dog to have fresh and healthy ingredients with their food every day. This was when I realized that I need to change Benji’s diet from his Orijen Adult Dog Grain-Free portions to something fresh like what Rodney shows in his TedTalk video. I started buying fresh and organic and put a lot of time and effort to prepare the food for Benji and even though he was not so sure about the taste, I tried to make it work. It didn't though. I am a firefighter and we don’t get that much of salary and I have never been a “chase the money” type of guy in my whole life. The truth is that I could not keep on doing the “prepare fresh” thing for more than two weeks. It was very pricey, and very time taking and I don’t get that much of time. I looked on the web and found Ollie which is a great service by the way, but it’s very expensive and they are not active in Europe. Similar services in Europe are even more expensive and I am not sure if they are as good. So I sent more emails and asked here and there if I can add vitamins or supplements to Benji’s regular meals to make it healthier, and what they told me was that vitamins and minerals are not necessarily good for Benji, but if I can find the real extract of human-grade healthy stuff like parsley, sweet potatoes, peas, cod liver oil, and add it to Benji’s diet it can make his diet healthier.
I kept on looking for more advice, and then checked this forum to learn more and then I thought I have to tell my story. So after sharing all the details of my story, I would really appreciate if you tell me whether I got this right and if I am on the right track to improve Benji’s diet. I look forward to all tips and hints if you know of ways that can save me time and money to make this happen.I am sure Benji and Amitis are thankful too. With warmest regards from a cold and snowy-bright scandinavian night // Lucas

Hello Lucas, you said "to understand why dogs don’t live longer and if it’s possible to prolong their lives."

That's one huge project which animal research laboritories and unniversity's with millions (Krona/Dollar/Pound whichever you want to use) have not yet found an answer to.

By all means try to give Benji good wholesome food but in my opinion trying to get human food type extracts into his bowl will not prolong his life. It's all in the genes.

I will put my hand up and say I am not an expert in any field of human or cannine life expectancy but I'm failrly certain that if a dogs life could be extended by any significant amount it would have been done before now. And it would have been done for humans first

Give Benji the best food you can afford, make sure he has plenty of walks and meets / plays with other dogs, and of course lots of TLC, thats what he wants and he'll reward you for the whole of his life which will be less than a humans but that's how the world was made.

You need a new Beagle, not just for you but for Ben...........then another, this way the love is there forever