Guinness World Records (GWR) has revoked the title of the “World’s Oldest Dog” that it awarded to a now-deceased Portuguese dog named Bobi last year, after finding no conclusive evidence that he had, in fact, lived more than 31 years. Following complaints from veterinarians who raised doubts over the dog’s age, GWR started a formal investigation. Bobi was said to be 31 years and 165 days old, and winning the title broke the record held since 1939 by Bluey, an Australian cattle dog that died at 29 years 5 months. Bobi, a purebred Rafeiro Alentejano, died in October. His breed, traditionally used as sheepdogs, has a life expectancy of 12-14 years. Mark McKinley, Director of Records at GWR, said in a statement that microchip data sourced from the official Portuguese database had been central to Bobi’s evidence, but it turned out that the chipping didn’t require proof of age for dogs born before 2008. "Without any conclusive evidence available to us right now, we simply can't retain Bobi as the record holder and honestly claim to maintain the high standards we set ourselves,” said McKinley. Guinness did not say who the new record holder might be.
