LISBON: Bobi, who was this year ordained the oldest dog in the world by Guinness World Records, has died at the ripe old age of 31, Portuguese media reported Monday (Oct 23).
“We have better memories of a long life where he was happy and, above all, where he made a lot of people happy, especially his family,” Bobi’s owner Leonel Costa told local media from the little village in central Portugal where he lives.
A purebreed Rafeiro, a Portuguese livestock guard dog whose normal life expectancy is between 12 and 14, Bobi was not supposed to make it beyond puppyhood.
He was born on May 11, 1992, along with three other pups in a wood storage shed owned by the Costa family in the village of Conqueiros.
Because the family owned so many animals, the father decided they could not keep the newborn puppies and the parents took them from the shed the next day, while the mother dog Gira was out, said Leonel Costa, who was eight years old at the time.
But they didn’t realise they had left one puppy behind, and that puppy became Bobi.
“He died at the age of 31 years and 165 days,” according to the Guinness World Records.
His owner Leonel Costa attributed his longevity to a number of factors, including living in peace in the countryside, never having been chained up or kept on a leash, and always eating “human food”.
After he was declared the world’s oldest dog in February, media and curious onlookers from around the world paid Bobi a visit.
Prior to his death, Bobi still loved walks but had become less adventurous. His fur was thinning, his eyesight had worsened and he needed to rest more than he used to.
“Despite outliving every dog in history, his 11,478 days on earth would never be enough for those who loved him,” said Karen Becker, a veterinarian who met Bobi several times and who was the first to announce his death on social media. “Godspeed, Bobi.”