golden retrievers key to lifetime dog cancer study [View all]

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In this December 17, 2012 photo provided by Colorado State University, Dr. Rodney L. Page, Professor of Oncology and Director of the CSU Flint Animal Cancer Center, sits on a sofa with a golden retriever, Winston, in the lobby of the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colo. Winston is a pet of a co-worker, and not part of the cancer study. The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study will be the largest and longest study of dogs ever conducted, said Page, the study's principal investigator. (AP Photo/Colorado State University, Joe. A. Mendoza)

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- When Jay Mesinger heard about a study seeking golden retrievers to help fight canine cancer, he immediately signed up 2-year-old Louie.

He and his wife know firsthand the toll of canine cancer: Louie is their fourth golden retriever. The first three died of cancer.

"They all had long lives but were taken by complications from one kind of cancer or another," said the businessman from Boulder, Colo.

For Louie and 2,999 other purebred goldens, it will be the study of a lifetime. Their lives - usually a 10-to-14-year span - will be tracked for genetic, nutritional and environmental risks to help scientists and veterinarians find ways to prevent canine cancer, widely considered the No. 1 cause of death in older dogs, said Dr. Rodney Page.