When Rita Kimball and her family first encountered a stray dog in the parking lot of a grocery store and decided to adopt him, they never would have guessed that he would one day go on to be certified as the world's oldest living dog. But... is he actually? As is the case with many rescued animals, Spike's exact date of birth is unknown, and in addition to his rescue story, we'll also be exploring the controversy around that. But regardless of how old he actually is, Spike's story still deserves to be told in it's own right. Older rescue animals often have a much harder time finding forever homes than younger ones, but Spike is proof that adopting a senior pet can still give you - and them! - years of joy and love.
((Apologies for the background noise in this week's episode - I was pet-sitting for my parents and their puppy wouldn't let me record unless he was with me!))
Original air date: 16th February 2026
Important note: Unfortunately I wasn't able to import my show when I was switching hosting platforms, and as a result I'm having to re-upload my podcast from the start. Because of that, these early episodes are not indictive of the show's current quality - both in terms of the equipment used and my own skills as a writer & presenter - so apologies for that! Hopefully before too long I'll have caught up to my current output. In the meantime, you can check out my full back catalogue of episodes, and catch up with my newer content, over on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp6MWEI1w5ZrPiEM7zZKmgvtqhmWWbpeB
Show notes: (for content warnings, sources used, related non-profits, etc)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lcE0a6mefG5ne8Lq9v2Lz8fdqxGUJG8LaJHSU1TlptM/edit?usp=sharing