Golden retriever celebrates her milestone 20th birthday, double the average age

Her owners claim she is the oldest golden retriever “in history”

August the golden retriever celebrates her 20th birthday (Facebook/GoldHeart Golden Retrievers Rescue)

A golden retriever has proven she still has a lot of pep in her step, celebrating her 20th birthday, which her owners claim make her the “oldest golden retriever in history”.

According to pet insurance company PetPlan, the average golden retriever has a lifespan of around 10 years, while healthy golden retrievers can reach 16 or 17 years old.

It is therefore a significant achievement for August the golden retriever to have reached the ripe old age of 20, all the while being “surprisingly healthy”.

GoldHeart Golden Retrievers Rescue, an organisation based in Maryland, US, shared a post on Facebook in honour of August’s milestone birthday.

The organisation explained that August, who is affectionately known as Augie, was adopted when she was 14 years old in Nevada and lives with her owners Jennifer and Steve Hetterscheidt in Oakland, Tennessee.

In an article shared on golden retriever blog Golden Hearts, it claimed that “Augie is the oldest golden retriever in history”.

“There are many accounts of 17 or 18-year-old goldens, and even a few stories about 19-year-old goldens, but Augie is the first golden retriever to ever reach the big two-oh,” it said.

The blog post stated that in the six years since Augie was adopted, she has been taken on RV trips around the US and has several “canine and feline siblings”.

To celebrate her birthday, Augie was treated to “dog-friendly carrot cake and some quality time with her golden retriever siblings, Sherman, Belle and Bruce”.

Although Augie is “a bit shaky when she first gets up”, her owner, Jennifer, said that she is “surprisingly healthy”, going on daily walks around her garden.

On the Facebook post, which includes several photographs from Augie’s birthday celebrations, several golden retriever owners shared pictures of their own canine companions.

“Happy Birthday from our sweet buddy, Sam! He is about to turn seven in August. We would be thrilled to have that long with him,” one person wrote.

“I adopted my senior golden mix at age eight and it makes me so happy to hear that Augie has gotten to have so many wonderful years with her family,” another commented.