World's oldest pooch stripped of his title by Guinness World Records

Bobi, a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, died last October at the reported age of 31 years and 165 days. The breed normally lives to around 12-14 years of age.

Bobi had been awarded the Guinness World Record's oldest dog ever title but now, after a dispute about his real age, Bobi has been stripped posthumously of his title.

Image of Bobi in the public domain. Overall image: MikeB.

Guinness World Records (GWR) said that the microchip which purportedly proved Bobi's age was not, in fact, sufficient proof for the dog to keep the award which his owner received in February last year.

Bobby lived on a farm in the village of Conqueiros in Portugal with his owner and four cats.

GWR said that it had not determined which dog was the new record holder. They also launched an investigation into Bobi last month after doubts about the reliability of the evidence which had been used to prove Bobi's record-breaking age.

GWR said:

"We are left with no evidence which can definitively prove Bobi's date of birth. Without any conclusive evidence available to us right now, we simply can't retain Bobi as the recordholder."

There's been no comment by Bobi's (former) owner after the stripping of his title. The owner, an unnamed man, had previously stated that suspicions about the true age of his pet were unfounded.

The owner had previously put his dog's longevity down to his laid-back lifestyle in the countryside of Portugal and the fact that he was only fed human food.

Wired magazine conducted an investigation and found that the dog's microchip had been registered only in 2022, a year before the dog had finally had his day i.e. had died.

His owner claimed the pooch was born in 1992. However, a database official had explained it had "no registration or data that can confirm or deny this statement."

Danny Chambers of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in the UK told The Guardian newspaper that "not a single one" of his veterinarian colleagues believed that Bobi had actually lived to the age of 31.

The previous holder of the world's oldest dog was Australia's Bluey. Bluey died in 1939 at the age of 29 years and five months.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.