Puppies may be unparalleled for sheer adorableness, but as the pictures below illustrate, when it comes to personality they’re no match for older dogs. For her series Senior Dogs Across America, New York-based photographer Nancy LeVine spent years traveling the country to collect portraits of elderly canines. Inspired by her own dogs’ twilight years, which brought mortality to the forefront of her mind, and Robert Frank’s The Americans, the photos show everything from retired greyhounds revisiting the racetrack to a pair of two-decade-old farm dogs atop a hay bale to furry Manhattanites out for a walk in the snow. Click through to see some of our favorite shots from the series, which we spotted at Feature Shoot; visit LeVine’s Senior Dogs Across America blog for many more (and the opportunity to commission a dog portrait of your own); and if you’re in the area, see the photos in person at the Houston Center for Photography through June 23rd.
Lulu in Washington Square Park. Photo credit: Nancy LeVine
Java 14 1/2 years old Juneau, Alaska. Photo credit: Nancy LeVine
Breebee, 21 years old Nuny, 19 years old Ralston, Wyoming. Photo credit: Nancy LeVine
Jake in the Texas Panhandle, check-in time. Photo credit: Nancy LeVine
Joon, 16 years old, meeting the bounding Rocko, 13 years old, for the first time. Photo credit: Nancy LeVine
Carly, 16 years old Ralston, Wyoming. Photo credit: Nancy LeVine
Rosie, 13 yo, Bonnie, 14 yo, and Princess, 14 yo, back on the racetrack. Photo credit: Nancy LeVine
Cooper, 15 years old, resting in Central Park at 72nd Street. Photo credit: Nancy LeVine
Crystal, 12 years old, enjoys Bloomingdales. Photo credit: Nancy LeVine
Curley, 14 years old, Kanab, Utah. Photo credit: Nancy LeVine