An investigation by the site WIRED revealed doubts about the true age of Bobi, a Portuguese Rafeiro do Alentejo, who was named the world’s oldest dog by Guinness World Records in February of last year.
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After the dog’s death in October 2023, experts raised questions about whether the Portuguese dog really reached 31 years and 163 days. The WIRED investigation revealed that a government agency that should have verified Bobi’s age had no evidence that he was born in 1992.
As questions about Bobi’s longevity began to arise, other issues surrounding the Guinness World Records helped create an even bigger scandal shaking the world of record-breaking dogs.
Amid the controversy, Guinness World Records states that it has temporarily paused the records for the world’s oldest living dog and the oldest dog of all time while reviewing the evidence behind Bobi’s record. For now, the title of the world’s oldest dog remains vacant.
Seizing the Throne
When the world’s oldest dog dies, the record reverts to the previous titleholder, if still alive. This was the case in October 2022 when Pebbles, the toy fox terrier, passed away, and the former record holder, TobyKeith, the Chihuahua, became the world’s oldest living dog.
However, TobyKeith’s second reign was short-lived when an even older Chihuahua mix named Gino Wolf emerged, and the title passed to him. After Gino but before Bobi, the record-holder was Spike, another Chihuahua, who was 23 years and 7 days old when he first set the record in January 2023.
Then, on October 23, the same day Guinness announced Bobi’s death, Spike’s owner, Rita Kimball, wrote to the company to inquire about what she needed to do to find out if Spike had regained the title of the world’s oldest dog.
Guinness confirmed that the record would go back to Spike and asked Rita to send a photo of the dog next to a newspaper from that day to verify if he was still alive. But after Rita replied with a photo of Spike, Guinness told her that they now needed more evidence.
Kimball explained that for Spike’s initial verification, she provided Guinness with veterinary records indicating his birthdate in 1999 and photos showing Spike over the years. But when Kimball asked Guinness about Spike’s new verification, those estimates were no longer deemed sufficient evidence.
Kimball found Spike in a parking lot in 2009, and when she took the dog to the vet for the first time, they said he was 10 years old, an age recorded in his medical records and vet bills. Six years later, Spike visited another vet after an encounter with a pit bull, and they agreed on 1999 as the birth year, according to Kimball.
Dubious Estimates
In a conversation with WIRED, Louise Allum, head veterinary surgeon for the UK Royal Veterinary College’s shelter medicine program, emphasized that accurately estimating the age of an adult dog is extremely difficult. Determining a puppy’s age is simpler because they lose their teeth in a predictable order. “After that it gets more and more tricky,” she said.
Older dogs may have more tartar buildup, but this varies greatly with diet and dental care. Older dogs sometimes develop cataracts, but this can occur as early as 5 years old. Some dogs gray, others do not. Some start to lose weight, while others retain chubby cheeks into old age.
All of this means that it is nearly impossible to accurately assess a dog’s age after it surpasses a certain age. The only way to be sure of a dog’s age is to have a record of it from birth or at least from when it is still a puppy. “Guinness is in a very sticky situation on this,” Allum said, admitting to being “deeply suspicious” of Bobi’s alleged 31 years and 163 days.
“I grew up reading that book, and it’s kind of a little heartbreaking”, if Guinness’ records can’t be trusted, said Alex Wolf to WIRED, whose dog Gino was crowned the oldest in the world in December 2022, before being quickly usurped by Spike a few weeks later. Gino died in September 2023, five days after turning 23.
Now that the long line of record-breaking dogs has been broken, Spike, the apparent heir to the throne, is still thriving, according to Kimball. Still, she can’t shake the feeling that her grizzled little dog isn’t getting the recognition he deserves. “It doesn’t seem fair that they’re going back on their past winners and coming up with new rules.”
