I saw this on some pet news feed and felt the need to share it because for a dog to live this long is truly remarkable. It would be like a person living over 200 years.
The really nifty thing about this dog, whose name is "Bobi" is that even at this very advanced age, he is still quite mobile and goes on walks. Most of the time when dogs get to even half this age they are unable to move, eat, or even see properly, so this is extremely remarkable.
Bobi is also only 8 years younger than his owner, Leonel Costa.
There's more to this story than meets the eye though. Bobi's siblings were all put down by the now owner's father. His father had intended to cut Bobi's life short as well but Bobi was wandering around the barn when the father came by to collect all the puppies. Bobi was later found by Leonel and his siblings but they kept the pup's existence a secret from their parents until the pup opened his eyes. They knew that the parents would not put down the dog once this was the case, for some reason or another.
Leonel believes that the secret to Bobi's longevity is that they live in a rural area and Bobi has never been on a leash. Bobi wanders around the small village and is very well looked after. There hasn't been a lot of medical intervention in Bobi's life and he doesn't have any special dog food either. In fact, Bobi has always received "human food" which is something that I have always heard is a bad idea. I know that it isn't the best idea for my own dogs, but each little doggo is different I guess.
Bobi broke the nearly 100 year old record for longest living dog, which was previously held by Bluey, the Australian cattle-dog that died in 1939 at 29 years of age.
Bobi is a purebred dog called a Rafeiro do Alentejo, which is a breed that I have never seen or even heard of. Apparently they were bred to be cattle minders and are quite popular in Portugal.
Most dogs, including this particular breed, rarely live beyond 15 years of age, so this is an amazing thing indeed!
Happy Birthday Bobi!
