Editorial: March 1, 2024

Last week’s Dog News editorial reported on a study in Britain that examined the average ages of flat-faced and long-faced dogs. It then went on to list the average ages of various breeds. While going through other articles of interest, we found one that we had put aside for a while but now seems to complement last week’s article. Bobi was a Rafeiro do Alentejo, a large-breed dog native to Portugal. Bobi died at a reported age of 31: In February 2023, he was declared to be the oldest dog ever and was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records, surpassing the record set by Bluey, an Australian Cattle Dog that passed away at the age of 29. Now the claim, made by Bobi’s owner, Leonel Costa of Conquerios, Portugal, is being questioned, and his title has been put on hold until a “formal review” can confirm that he was the oldest dog ever to have lived. Danny Chambers, a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, was quoted as saying, “Not a single one of my veterinary colleagues believe Bobi was actually 31 years old.” Bobi’s life story gained interest when his owner told stories of his near death as a puppy when some of his littermates were euthanized; Bobi was saved by the owner and his brother when he was hidden in wood pile. Costa also claimed that roaming free and eating human food aided Bobi’s longevity, and that four cats were his best friends. Now, we can’t claim that our dogs roamed free, although one did get over the fencing once or twice. But we are guilty of feeding them cooked food good enough for human consumption, and we did have cat-friendly dogs. But we were never lucky enough to have any one of our dogs reach the age of 20. The best we ever had was almost 16 years of age. It would be interesting to compare the age of your longest living dog to that of the list of breeds of dogs and their life expectancy in last week’s Dog News editorial. And so, in keeping with this article, we’ll ask our readers to tell the age and breed of their dog that lived the longest. Let’s see how we compare to 29-year-old Blue and the claimed 31 years of age for Bobi.