Meet 30-year-old Bobi, the oldest living dog according to Guinness World Records
The Guiness World Records has found a new furbaby that takes the title for the world's oldest living dog.
Bobi, a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, broke records for being the oldest dog to be living at 30 years and 266 days as of Feb. 1. This is considered outstanding, as the breed only has an average life expectancy of 12-14 years.
According to the world's authority on record-breaking achievements, he takes the spot from the previous titleholder Spike, a chihuahua who was 23 years and seven days old as of December last year.
Bobi also managed to beat an almost century-old record set by the previous oldest dog ever, Bluey, an Australian cattle-dog who lived to be 29 years five months old.
He has spent his life living in the rural village of Conqueiros, in Leiria, Portugal together with his loving family. His current owner, Leonel Costa, revealed that Bobi had some emotional scars that he carries with him, sharing that he was set to be euthanized as a puppy with his three other siblings when they were found in an outbuilding where the Costa family stored wood.
As the family already had many dogs, Leonel's father said that they couldn’t keep the newborn puppies and decided it would be best to just put them down.
“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,” he explained.
When the puppies were taken, however, one was accidentally left behind. Leonel and his brothers discovered him when they noticed that the puppies' mother would still return to the outbuilding.
They then made it their mission to hide Bobi from their parents so that he wouldn't suffer the same tragic fate as his siblings.
"We knew that when the dog opened its eyes, my parents would no longer bury it. It was popular knowledge that this act could not or should be done," Leonel said.
But no secret can stay locked away forever, and once their parents found out, they received an earful from them and were even punished, but Leonel underscored that "it was worth it and for a good reason."
The miracle dog has since lived a trouble-free life, and Leonel speculated that the factors that contributed to his long age is him living in a "calm, peaceful environment" and being "far from the cities."
He is set to celebrate his 31st birthday in May.