A 30-year-old Portuguese dog has been named the world’s oldest canine by Guinness World Records, shattering a record that had stood for a century.
The previous record-holder for the oldest dog was Australia’s Bluey, who passed away in 1939 at 29 years and 5 months.
Bobi is a Rafeiro do Alentejo, a purebred dog with a typical lifespan of 12 to 14 years.
Bobi, who was 30 years and 226 days old as of February 1, is thought to be in good health considering his age, according to the BBC.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, his ripe old age has been verified by the Portuguese government’s pet database, which the National Union of Veterinarians manages.
He spent his entire childhood with the Costa family in the village of Conqueiros, close to Portugal’s west coast, where he was born with three siblings in an outbuilding.
According to eight-year-old Leonel Costa, Bobi managed to elude his parents’ efforts to put the puppies to sleep because they had too many animals.
The dog was kept a secret from Leonel and his brothers’ parents until he was eventually discovered and taken in by the family, who fed him the same food they did.
Costa, who always soaks the food in water to remove the seasoning, said that when given a choice between a can of animal food and a piece of meat, Bobi doesn’t think twice and chooses our food.
According to Costa, Bobi had reportedly led a relatively trouble-free life, except for a scare in 2018 when he was hospitalized after suddenly collapsing from respiratory problems. Costa thinks his long life is due to the “quiet, pleasant environment” he lives in.
It may run in the family, given that Bobi’s mother lived to be 18 years old.
The passage of time has taken its toll on Bobi; he is now finding it difficult to walk, and his vision is failing.
As the “last of a long generation of animals,” Bobi, the family dog of Costa, is, in Costa’s words, “one of a kind.”
Spike the Chihuahua, who is 23 years old, was named the oldest living dog two weeks ago by Guinness World Records. The oldest dog ever is currently Bobi.
The oldest dog ever and the oldest dog to ever live, according to Guinness World Records, is Bobi.
