The life of Maggie: walking and napping

Time to share a few photos of Maggie I’ve taken over the last few weeks. (You’re welcome.)

Turning a corner

Photo of a red/brown dog walking down the residential footpath, with just its head and one if its forelegs visible from around the corner of a fence.

Comfortable afternoon nap

Photo of a red/brown dog asleep on its side in a dog bed that’s lying in a carpeted room.

Ready for her daily walk

Photo looking down at a red/brown dog wearing a black and red harness. The dog has its nose to the front door of a house, waiting for it to open so she can run out.

Maggie, around the house

Maggie is enjoying the return of summer. She has arthritis so she needs to be warm, and she she’s always loved soaking up the sun. I think her bones also appreciate the memory-foam dog bed we have for her our living room.

Scratching her back after napping in the sun

Photo, taken through a window pane, of a red/brown dog in a residential garden. The dog is twisting around in the garden, all four legs up in the air, while she scratches her back on the dirt and grass.

Fast asleep after her morning walk

Photo of a red/brown dog fast asleep in a large grey coloured dog bed on the floor of a living room. The dog's face is smushed into a blanket lying on one side of the dog bed.

Blearily noticing that I just took her photo

Photo of a red/brown dog in a large grey coloured dog bed on the floor of a living room. The dog is looking blearily into the camera because she has just been woken by her photo being taken.

When she is tired but still follows you from room to room, so you pee with the door open

Photo of a red/brown dog lying on her side, with her head right in front of an open bathroom door. The photo is taken from inside the bathroom.

When we got Maggie all those years ago, we’d take her for hour-long walks every day and she’d still have an endless supply of energy afterwards.

As she got older, she’d start to get tired after forty-five minutes of walking, so we dropped her walk time down to thirty-ish minutes.

These days she still has the mental enthusiasm for half-hour walks, but if we walk for too long in one go, her body pays for it the next day. So we’re now down to fifteen-ish minute walks every morning; with maybe a five or ten minute walk in the evening if she’s up for it.

Not that she minds. She still loves walking through our neighbourhood and foraging for whatever she can eat. But she’s become a lot more chill as she’s gotten older, with fewer fucks to give about the world. And, as long as she knows where we are, she’s no longer in a mad rush to follow us from room-to-room as we move around the house. Unless it’s nearing her walk time or dinner time, of course, in which case she’ll make her presence know no matter where we are and what we’re up to! But otherwise she’s content with her slower pace of life.

Happy 10th birthday to Maggie!

When we adopted Maggie in 2016 we were told she was probably two-and-a-half to three years old. And since we needed to nominate a date of birth for her registration, we ended up picking 5 December 2013.

So, at least according to that guesstimate, our now-not-so-little Maggie is ten years old today. Happy birthday!

Here she is making the most of her middle-agedness:

Photo of a red/brown dog fast asleep on her side in a round, fuzzy, orange dog bed. One back paw and one front paw is sticking out over the edge, and the dog’s head is also resting on the edge. The bed is lying in the corner of a carpeted room.

Red heelers like Maggie tend to have a 12-15 year lifespan, though healthy, well cared for, non-working heelers can easily live for 18-20 years. So we have many, many years with her yet.

That said, here’s a side-by-side comparison of how much greyer her muzzle has gotten over the years. ❤️

Nadia and I have gotten greyer over the last decade too, of course, so we’re all a happily middle aged family now :)

Asleep, but alert

Maggie takes an afternoon nap in the retreat that’s between my study and Nadia’s study – where we each work from home – so she can keep an ear on both of us.

Photo of a red/brown dog on a dark brown towel that's been placed on the seat of a dark grey sofa. The dog is asleep, with its head nestled between its front paws; however its ears are pricked.

Maggie in her downstairs bed

As dogs tend to do, Maggie follows us everywhere we go in the house. Unfortunately, she also lives up to her ‘Underfoot’ middle name and is always in our way. To minimise her underfooted-ness, we’ve got a dog bed for her in pretty much every room of the house. This helps contain her a little.

Here is a series of photos of Maggie sleeping in what is probably her most comfortable bed (a memory foam bed, to help manage her early-stage arthritis).

Maggie in bed

Maggie has a comfortable, fuzzy bed in the corner of my room where she sleeps for much of the day.

Gentle snores, lethal farts

Photo of a red/brown dog asleep inside a round, fuzzy, orange coloured dog bed in the corner of a room. The dog’s head and one of its paws are lying on top of the side wall of the soft bed.

Fast asleep in her bed

Close-up photo of a red/brown dog asleep inside a round, fuzzy, orange coloured dog bed in the corner of a room. The dog’s head and one of its paws are lying on top of the side wall of the soft bed.

Snoring gently

Close-up photo of a red/brown dog asleep inside a round, fuzzy, orange coloured dog bed in the corner of a room. The dog’s head and one of its paws are lying on top of the side wall of the soft bed.

Snuggled up in a fuzzy bed

Photo of a red/brown dog asleep inside a round, fuzzy, orange coloured dog bed in the corner of a room. The dog’s head and one of its paws are lying on top of the side wall of the soft bed.

Asleep, but with one ear still up

Photo of a red/brown dog asleep inside a round, fuzzy, orange coloured dog bed in the corner of a room. The dog’s head and one of its paws are lying on top of the side wall of the soft bed.

A dog in the garden

Taking a sniff

Photo of a red/brown dog standing in a garden, sniffing a spot on the grass.

Maggie in the bushes

Photo of a red/brown dog peeking its head out from some bushes next to a fence in a garden.

A dog in the bushes

A snail in the weeds

Routine vet visit

Routine vet visit; routine sniff of the speciality dog food on display.

Photo of a red/brown dog on a leash in the waiting room of a veterinary clinic. The dog is sniffing at a set of display shelves on which there are several large bags of specialty dog food (eg for digestive, gastrointestinal, and kidney issues).

Maggie is not amused

I slept in and delayed Maggie’s daily morning walk. She was not amused.

Close up photo of a red/brown dog sitting on a bed next to the photographer, who is lying in the bed. The dog has a resigned expression on its face as it stares into the middle distance.

She was even less amused after I took that first photo :P

Close up photo of a red/brown dog sitting on a bed next to the photographer, who is lying in the bed. The dog is looking at the photographer, and is not looking particularly pleased that the photographer took her photo instead of getting out of bed.

Successful tooth extraction

Maggie’s tooth extraction went well, but she was on ketamine not too long ago so the poor thing is still a little out of it!

Photo of a red/brown dog with an orange crepe bandage on its foreleg. The dog, who looks like it’s dissociating quietly, is sitting on a brown towel that’s been spread out on a dog bed on the floor of a living room.

The folks at Fawkner Veterinary Hospital in Melbourne are both lovely and excellent at their jobs, by the way. 10/10 would recommend.

Photo of a red/brown dog that’s fast asleep with its face smooshed against the wall of a dog bed that has been covered with a brown towel. The dog itself has been covered with a small, fuzzy blanket.

Sleeping with both ears open

Maggie, sleeping with both ears open.

Close-up photo of a red/brown dog asleep inside a fuzzy, orange dog bed. The dog's head is resting on raised edge of the bed. The tip of one of the dog's ears is folded along the side of a cabinet that's next to the dog bed.

You can’t let sleeping dogs lie, you have to take their photo.

Close-up photo of a red/brown dog asleep inside a fuzzy, orange dog bed. The dog's head is resting on raised edge of the bed. The tip of one of the dog's ears is folded along the side of a cabinet that's next to the dog bed. In the foreground of the photo, and out of focus, is one of the dog's forepaws, which is also resting on the raised edge of the bed.

Maggie being Maggie

Maggie, majestic

Striking, low-angle photo of a red/brown dog framed against a clear blue sky. The dog is looking at something off camera with a faraway look in her eyes.

Maggie, noticing

Photo of a red/brown dog standing in a residential garden looking up at the photographer, who she has just noticed is taking her photo.

Maggie, chilling

Low-angle photo of a red/brown dog framed against a clear blue sky, with the sun behind the dog’s years. The dog is sitting comfortably on some grass.

Maggie, straining

Photo of a red-brown dog on a wide nature strip by the side of a road. The dog is wearing a walking harness and is pulling on a red leash that’s being held by the photographer. On the grass in front of her are a few dozen pieces of torn-up bread, which she is staining to get to.

Anticipation

Maggie waits for Nadia to come up the stairs.

Low angle photo taken from behind a red/brown dog crouched in anticipation at the top of a staircase in a carpeted house. The dog, who is facing away from the photographer, has its ears pricked and looks ready to jump up in an instant.

Win-win

I thought this was a nice, shady spot for a 1 Jan 2023 selfie…

Selfie of a man wearing a t-shirt, sunglasses, and straw hat walking a red/brown dog on a residential street. The dog is sniffing around in the grass of the nature strip.

Evidently she thought this was a nice, grassy spot where she could scratch her back :)

Selfie of a man wearing a t-shirt, sunglasses, and straw hat walking a red/brown dog on a residential street. The dog next to him is upside down and is rubbing her back on the tall, scratchy grass that's on the nature strip.

Win-win!