Extraordinary Old Dogs: this is a love letter to the beauty and grace of senior dogs

What is this about?

This is a collection of stories of senior dogs from around the world. It’s about how they brought love and laughter to their humans, and what the humans who did everything they could to make sure these senior dogs had the life they always should have had.

What else is this about?

This is a reminder to adopt not shop senior dogs, because they bring a wealth of love and laughter along with them just like puppies.

Blurb

Uplifting true tales of remarkable seniors

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. 

I cried even before I got through the introduction of Extraordinary Old Dogs.

This book is a love letter to the senior dogs that maybe aren’t as active as a puppy, and maybe they can come with health issues that will make some people balk – understandably so.

But the love they bring should never be in doubt.

Laura Greaves tells the stories of 15 dogs from across the world. There’s Chilli, an actor-dog on a show in Australia called A Place to call Home. He is beloved, with his own Facebook and fans that rallied around him when the show was cancelled and restored on a cable channel.

There’s Suzy in the US who snuck into a house to shelter from the cold and found a home with a family who could not give up on her.

Or Tamana who was found and rescued from Iran. She is paralysed and needs extra special care, and has been in a loving foster home these past five years.

There‘s the story of Magnus, a champion greyhound whose owners helped him complete a gorgeous, fun, bucket list before cancer claimed him. The community in which he lives rallied around him in order to make his bucket list happen.

Chaser’s story is another story in this book: she could identify and retrieve 1022 different objects by name, thanks to the patient teachings of her owner, John. But, at heart she was still just part of a family who adored her.

And Maggie, the unofficial oldest dog in the world who was based in Victoria i. She was a working dog on a farm who loved nothing more than her work. Her fame grew once people realised just how old she was, but at heart, she was always just Maggie.

These are just some of the beautiful stories in this book of senior dogs and the families they live with. In each, a senior dog brought something special to their families, and will never be forgotten.

I was a wreck by the time I finished this, because I just kept crying over the stories — don’t worry, they’re all happy stories, but I just couldn’t help myself.

Let’s admit it, senior dogs aren’t the dogs people look to first when they’re looking for a new dog, and in all honesty, I can understand that. This book is a reminder that seniors bring a wealth of love to families.