World's oldest dog filmed taking her last nap

If you own a dog, you may be wondering how long you can expect it to live. That’s a common question veterinarians hear all the time. Of course, it’s not possible to determine how long an individual dog will live, but there are some averages that will apply to most breeds, and some guidelines for mixed breeds, too.
Then, of course, there’s the idea that one year for a dog is equal to seven years for a man. That means that a one-year old dog is still just a kid, but a 10 year old dog is the equivalent age of a seventy year old man. And that makes the subject of this video—Maggie, an Australian Kelpie—a very old dog, indeed. She was the oldest dog in the world at 30 years old (210 in man-years).
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Inseparable from her master, Brian McLaran, Maggie enjoyed the title of oldest dog in the world. She was one of a breed that was developed to herd sheep and cattle in the Australian outback, where she lived with her owner until her death at age thirty. Kelpies are one of the smartest breeds of dogs, and are very active, requiring a job to do.
Without a place to run and exercise, Kelpies can become very destructive, so they don’t make great house pets for those with a slow or sedentary lifestyle. Fortunately for Maggie, she never had to worry about that.
Though at the end of her life Maggie spent about half her time sleeping, even then she stayed busy shadowing McLaren around his farm. The only dog there, Maggie had the companionship of about 30 cats.
A local vet, Dr. Jack Ayerbe, says it is remarkable that a dog could live that long. However, as veterinary medicine improves, we do have the ability to keep pets alive longer, he says.
Apart from being deaf, Maggie lived a remarkably healthy life. When this video was made, she hadn’t been to the vet in fifteen years.
McLaren often joked that Maggie might outlast him!
Now that Maggie’s gone, her legacy lives on in videos like this one.
What do you think? Does Maggie look thirty years old in this video? Sure, she’s a bit grey around the edges and she moves a little stiffly, but I bet if you live to be 200, those things will mark you, too!
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