Meet Bobi, the new oldest dog in the world
MANILA, Philippines — Guinness World Records (GWR) have received confirmation that Bobi, a 30-year-old purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo from Portugal, is the oldest dog in the world.
The announcement comes two weeks after Guinness heard of a 23-year-old Chihuahua in the United States named Spike.
As of this writing, Bobi is 30 years and 269 days old — his breed of livestock guardian dogs has a life expectancy of 12 to 14 years — breaking the nearly century-old record by Australian cattle-dog Bluey as the oldest dog ever.
The dog has lived with the Costa family in Leiria's Conqueiros in Portugal, having been registered at the municipality's Veterinary Medical Service, who confirmed Bobi's age along with the Portuguese pet database Companion Animal Information System.
Bobi was the first of four male puppies and the Costas almost did not keep the dog because of the huge amount of animals they already had.
"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," Leonel Costa told Guinness. He was eight years old when Bobi was born in 1992.
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Leonel's parents quickly took the newborn puppies — forgetting Bobi — while the mother named Gira wasn't around. She would continue going to the area where she gave birth, and that's when Leonel and his brothers realized that Bobi was luckily spared.
"We knew that when the dog opened its eyes, my parents would no longer bury it," Leonel said. "It was popular knowledge that this act could not or should be done."
Leonel shared his parents punished the brothers when they found out about Bobi, adding that it was worth it.
He thinks the reason Bobi has lived so long is because of a "calm, peaceful environment... far from the cities," has never been chained or put on leash, and was sociable with others; his mother Gira lived up to 18 years old.
As he turns 31 in May, Bobi spends less time walking — especially as his eyesight causes him to bump into objects — to instead lie in bed or by the fire after a meal of water-soaked human food and play with four cat friend in the backyard.
"Bobi is special because looking at him is like remembering the people who were part of our family and unfortunately are no longer here, like my father, my brother, or my grandparents who have already left this world. Bobi represents those generations," Leonel said.
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