This book is a tribute to every dog who has made it to that time of life when the hearing and eyesight begin to go, when the step becomes uncertain, but when other, richer traits ripen and coalesce. It is when a dog attains a special sort of dignity and a charm all his own.

If you’ve known a favorite old dog, you’ll find him or her on these pages. Your dog might go by a different name and have a different shape, but you’ll recognize him or her by the look in an eye or the contours of a life story. There is the dog who thinks he is a house cat; the herder, the fetcher, the punk and the peacock, the escape artist, the demolition artist, the patrician, the lovable lout, the amiable dope, the laughable clown, the schemer, the singer, the daredevil, the diplomat, the politician, the gourmand, and the thief. Plus, as a special bonus, you will find the first Latvian elkhounds ever photographed.

Old Dogs is a glorious gift book and a fitting tribute to that one dog you can’t ever forget.

About the Author
Gene Weingarten, pictured here with Murphy, his Plott Hound, is a nationally syndicated humor columnist and a Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer for The Washington Post. He has written two books: The Hypochondriac’s Guide to Life. And Death. and I’m with Stupid (with Gina Barreca). Weingarten lives in Washington, D.C. He has instructed his family that he wishes to be buried in Washington’s Congressional Cemetery, because it allows dogs to run free. He wants his tombstone to include only his birth and death dates, and this: “A funny man who loved dogs.” The stone will be carved in the shape of a fire hydrant.

Washington Post photographer Michael S. Williamson was born and raised in Washington, D.C. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Williamson has covered a variety of global events over the last thirty years, including the wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, the Philippine revolution, strife in the Middle East, the Gulf War, and conflicts in Africa and the Balkans. At the Post, Williamson works as both a photographer and a photo editor. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his daughters, Sophia and Valerie.