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By Alice Gibbs
Senior Reporter
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A dog owner has captured hearts online after sharing how they adopted the oldest dog in the shelter, and had no idea what lay in store for them.
Despite initially believing they may only have a few months together, now nearly two years later, Labrador Oscar is still “going strong.”
In a viral post on TikTok with more than 197,000 views, Oscar’s owner Olivia Marriott Hodgson, from Sheffield, U.K., explained that he was the oldest dog at the rescue when she decided to take a chance on him.
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“To be completely honest I thought we’d have a few months with him but… nearly 2 years on he’s still going!” she wrote. “We’re so proud of him—he’s 13 this year!!”
Oscar arrived with three different recorded dates of birth—January 1, 2013, October 3, 2013 and October 23, 2013—and the family chose the one that seemed most likely. Despite his age, she said Oscar remains remarkably active.
“To say he’s a senior he has a bunch of character,” Hodgson told Newsweek, adding that he still manages a three‑mile walk each week and goes out three times a day for 20 to 25 minutes at a time. “He is just pure joy. He doesn’t have a bad bone in his body—he just loves everyone and everything.”
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Hodgson said there was a personal reason the name Oscar felt right. She explained that she grew up with a Labrador called Oscar, who belonged to her aunt. “Unfortunately she passed one month after we got Oscar so we thought it was a sign,” she said.
Before adopting him, she said she carefully considered whether rescuing a senior dog was the right decision. “We needed to make sure it was the right decision—finances, space, time—but we’ve got it all figured out now,” she said, adding that caring for him has not been as costly as she once feared.
Stories like Oscar’s come as older dogs continue to face steeper odds in shelters. According to data from Shelter Animals Count, senior dogs aged seven and older made up about 10 percent of dogs entering U.S. shelters in 2025, but were adopted at lower rates than younger dogs. While more than half of all dogs entering shelters were ultimately adopted, senior dogs had an adoption rate of 37 percent, compared with 54 percent for puppies and adult dogs.
Hodgson believes Oscar may have been neglected earlier in life, noting that when he arrived, his paw pads were “just like a puppy’s,” leading her to suspect he had rarely walked outside.
Now, she says, Oscar is thriving. “He hit rock bottom and now he is just living his best life,” she said. “Everyone deserves to know about Oscar.”
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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