Bobi now holds 2 records for the oldest living dog and the oldest dog ever.
Guinness World Records
At thirty years and 266 days old, a Portuguese dog called Bobi was crowned the world’s oldest dog ever on February 1, breaking an almost century-old record, per Guinness World Records (GWR). The previous titleholder, an Australian livestock dog called Bluey, was born in 1910 and lived for 29 years and 5 months.
Bobi has actually resided in Conqueiros, a little Portuguese town, for more than 3 years. But he almost didn’t make it through previous infancy, Leonel Costa, his owner, informs GWR.
Costa was simply 8 years of ages when Bobi’s litter was born in the family’s woodshed in 1992. Costa’s daddy, a hunter, chose the family had a lot of animals already, so they couldn’t keep the puppies.
“Unfortunately, at that time it was considered normal by older people who could not have more animals at home … to bury the animals in a hole so that they would not survive,” Costa informs GWR.
The day after they were born, Costa’s daddy rapidly got in the woodshed and took the puppies while the mom dog, Gira, was out. For the next couple of days, Costa and his siblings were ravaged. But then they observed Gira continued to go to the shed, in spite of her puppies apparently no longer existing. Curious, the siblings followed her and found a single small puppy securely concealed in a stack of logs. They kept the puppy, Bobi, a trick from their moms and dads till his eyes were open.
“We knew that when the dog opened its eyes, my parents would no longer bury it,” Costa informs GWR.
Bobi is a pure-blooded Rafeiro do Alentejo, a breed typically utilized to secure property and animals. These dogs generally live about 12 to 14 years, however Bobi has actually made it through for two times as long—and after that some.
“That really is an unusual thing,” Erik Olstada vet the University of California at Davis, informs the Washington Post’s Andrea Salcedo. “Owners will always ask me, ‘How can I make my dog live the longest life that they can?’ That’s a loaded question because there are so many variants that go into life expectancy.”
Costa characteristics Bobi’s long life to his diet plan of unseasoned human food, his liberty to stroll released through the forests and farmland near to home and the calm countryside in which he matured.
“Of course our love and affection throughout his life has also helped,” Costa informs Reuters’ Catarina Demony and Miguel Pereira. Apart from one health scare in 2018, Bobi has actually lived a reasonably healthy life.
The dog’s durability has actually been verified by the SIAC, an animal database licensed by the Portuguese federal government and handled by the National Union of Veterinarians. The Veterinary Medical Service of the Municipality of Leiria likewise verified Bobi’s birth date, per GWR.
In addition to making the record for the oldest dog ever, Bobi has actually likewise ousted Spike, a 23-year-old chihuahua mix, as the oldest living dog simply weeks after the title was given to Spike.
“It’s a feeling of pride we can’t explain,” Costa informs Reuters. “Some people told us we wouldn’t make it … but we knew Bobi’s age and were sure the exams would only prove what we already knew.”
