- Bobi, a record-breaking dog who was said to have lived until 31, is now having his age questioned.
- The Guinness World Records said on Tuesday that it suspended Bobi’s title while it investigates.
- Bobi died in October after being crowned the world’s oldest dog in February 2023.
In February 2023, the Guinness World Records announced that it had found the world’s oldest living canine and the oldest dog ever recorded.
Bobi, a Rafeiro do Alentejo in Portugal, was bestowed the accolade at the staggering age of, according to his owner, 30.
Bobi then died in October, making him 31 years old at the time. But the Guinness World Records is now putting his title on hold amid a wave of questions over the legitimacy of his claim.
“While our review is ongoing, we have decided to temporarily pause applications on both the record titles for oldest dog living and ever until all of our findings are in place and have been communicated,” a spokesperson told the Associated Press in a Tuesday report.
Indeed, living to 31 would have made Bobi the dog equivalent of around 170 years old, per the American Veterinary Medical Association’s calculating methods.
Dogs of his breed have a life expectancy of 12 to 14 years.
Bobi’s owner, Leonal Costa, told the Guinness World Records he credited Bobi’s longevity to a diet of human food and never being chained up or leashed.
However, observers say there are discrepancies in photos of Bobi from 1999 — when he would have been 7 — and 2022, noting that his paws are differently colored in the old and new images.
Bobi’s purported age was also challenged by Danny Chambers, a council member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, who told The Guardian that “not a single one of my veterinary colleagues believe Bobi was actually 31 years old.”
Chambers’ organization is a regulatory body in the UK that oversees thousands of veterinary practices.
Bobi’s age is registered in Portugal’s government database, which Guinness World Records said it checked before giving out the award.
However, an investigation by WIRED reported that an official said the database entry was based on information provided by Costa, the dog’s owner. The outlet wrote multiple times that Costa did not respond to its questions.
Bobi’s record came just after Spike, a 23-year-old Chihuahua, was named the oldest living dog by the Guinness World Records. Two weeks after Spike’s record was announced, Bobi dethroned the Chihuahua.
Per the AP, Guinness World Records’s spokesperson said the organization was aware of the public skepticism toward Bobi’s record and that it received notes from veterinarians concerned about the validity of his claim.
They told The Guardian that Bobi’s title was suspended, not taken away from him, as “no action has been taken about any record holders yet.”
If Bobi’s record is stripped from him, the accolade of the world’s oldest-ever dog would return to Bluey, an Australian cattle dog who lived to 29 years and five months old from 1910 to 1939, per the Guinness World Records.
The Guinness World Records’ press team did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
