Meet the Family

This is Aspen. She's our why.

Big Dog Longevity is a family-run business. We're the Smiths — Mark, Debbie, Megan, and Austin — and we've loved three big dogs over the years: Corona, Stella, and now Aspen.

Aspen is two years old. She's an American yellow Labrador. We want to keep her with us as long as we possibly can. That's the whole reason this exists.

Aspen, a yellow Labrador, resting her head on a cream-colored blanket

Meet Aspen

The reason we're doing all of this.

If you've loved a big dog before, you know the math. Large breeds age faster. A seven-year-old Great Dane is already in the last third of his life. A Labrador at ten is a senior. The clock runs twice as fast as it should.

We've lived that math before. We're not going to pretend we didn't.

Aspen is two. She's got paws the size of softballs, a pool-float addiction, and the softest ears we've ever touched. We are going to stack every reasonable advantage in her favor — the evidence-backed practices that work today, the emerging drugs from Loyal that might buy her more healthy years, the right vet, the right food, the right weight, the right questions to ask.

Big Dog Longevity is the playbook we wish we'd had for Corona and Stella. It's the one we're using for Aspen. We built it because we wanted to share what we're learning with every other big-dog family who's racing the same clock.

🐾 2 years old 🟡 American yellow Lab 🏊 Lives for pool days

Aspen sitting on a blue pool float in the Florida sun, palm trees in the background

The family

Four Smiths and one very spoiled dog.

Austin, Debbie, and Megan with Aspen at a Christmas tree farm

Austin, Debbie, and Megan with Aspen at the Christmas tree farm · Mark's behind the camera, as always

Mark & Debbie Smith

Founders · The Parents

Mark runs the business. Debbie runs the house and is our first and best editor. They've been married long enough to have loved three big dogs together and lost two of them too soon. Aspen is the one they're not willing to lose a day earlier than they have to.

Megan Smith

Marketing Manager

Megan runs our brand, our social, and most of what you see on the internet. She's also the person Aspen would physically climb onto a shelf to cuddle with if given the opportunity. (The photo is not staged.)

Austin Smith

Team · UF Graduate Student

Austin is pursuing his MS in Information Systems & Operations Management at the University of Florida. He's also Aspen's favorite pool partner and an incoming KPMG Technology Advisory intern. (He says he's here for the dogs.)

🐾

And Aspen

The actual boss

Aspen Smith

Chief Inspiration Officer

She's two. She's eighty pounds. She has strong opinions about mealtime, pool time, and whose lap is currently available. Every decision on this site ultimately gets vetoed or approved by her. (She approves most things.)

Our dogs

Three big dogs. Three chapters. One mission.

We've had three big dogs in our family over the years. Each one taught us something about loving a breed that ages too fast. This playbook is what we'd tell our younger selves.

Remembered

Corona

Our first big dog. This is her first pool float — a red dumbbell toy, a puppy balancing on blue foam, and the start of a family tradition three generations of Labs have now inherited. She set the standard for everything that came after.

Remembered

Stella

Stella was the dog Megan and Austin grew up with — their first dog, really. This is Stella on the day she came home, wrapped in a Santa hat and a kid's arms. Losing her earlier than we expected is part of why we're doing this now.

Present

Here and now

Aspen

Two years old. American yellow Lab. Holder of every yellow pool toy we've ever bought. We're building this playbook in real time with her — every module reflects what we're actually doing for her today. The best measure of this site is whether she's still stealing pool toys in 2035.

Mark in Ireland with three Irish Wolfhounds on a forest path

A moment

When you love big dogs, they find you everywhere.

This is Mark in Ireland a while back. We went for the castles and the cliffs. We came home with a morning where we wandered a forest path and met three Irish Wolfhounds who looked at us like they'd been waiting.

Irish Wolfhounds live six to eight years. Six. To eight. They're one of the most beautiful breeds that has ever existed, and we get them for a handful of summers.

That morning is part of why Big Dog Longevity is not a business. It's a protest.

Family photos we couldn't leave out

The other side of serious.

Aspen in a quarterback costume holding a football

Aspen, QB1 A K9 jersey, a football, and absolutely zero regrets. She won the Super Bowl. (Unofficially.)

Aspen in a burnt orange Texas Longhorns jersey

Hook 'em, Aspen Mark is a Texas Longhorns fan. Austin is a Florida Gator. Aspen, diplomatically, wears orange for everyone.

If you love a big dog, you're in the right place.

We're going to help each other get them more time. That's the whole promise. The Playbook is $99 — less than a week of vet-recommended supplements and worth about a thousand times more.

Get the Playbook — $99 Back to Home