Extraordinary Old Dogs

Elderly dogs are doing extraordinary things.

Puppies are wonderful, but there is something truly special about an old dog. It’s the grey muzzle and salt-and-pepper eyebrows; the face that says ‘been there, sniffed that’. More than anything, it’s the lifetime of love, laughter and licks.

Most dog lovers wish their four-legged friends could live forever, and yet senior canines are surrendered to shelters and rescue groups in heartbreakingly high numbers. But every day, all over the world, elderly dogs are doing incredible things.

Dogs like Maya, a rescue dog who pioneered the technique used to save koalas after the Black Summer bushfires. Or Haole, who continued working as a surf therapy dog while battling cancer, and eighteen-year-old Holly, who survived for days lost in the outback. There’s Chilli, who found television fame as a senior, and Chaser, the ‘talking’ dog who even in old age could identify over 1000 different objects.

From saving lives and breaking records to leading online movements and surviving against the odds, stately seniors are wringing every ounce of joy and adventure from their lives. In Extraordinary Old Dogs, meet the geriatric tail-waggers proving there’s plenty of life in the old dog yet.

Laura Greaves is a multi-award-winning journalist, author and proud ‘crazy dog lady’. She has spent more than twenty years writing for newspapers and magazines in Australia and around the world and is the former editor of Dogs Life magazine. She is the author of the collections Incredible Dog Journeys, Dogs with Jobs, The Rescuers and Miracle Mutts, the children’s book Amazing Dogs with Amazing Jobs, as well as three romantic comedy novels, Be My Baby, The Ex-Factor and Two Weeks ’Til Christmas, all of which feature an extensive supporting cast of cheeky canines. She has twice won the Dog Writers Association of America’s Rio Award, which recognises the best book about a dog that has impacted a human’s life in a profoundly positive way.