He was a bicentennial man’s best friend.
Pet lovers were devastated to learn that Bobi, the world’s oldest dog, passed away over the weekend — just months after his 31st Birthday.
The long-lived canine’s death was confirmed on Facebook by Dr. Karen Becker, a veterinarian who met Bobi on several occasions.
“Last night, this sweet boy earned his wings,” she wrote in the touching tribute. “Despite outliving every dog in history, his 11,478 days on earth would never be enough, for those who loved him. Godspeed, Bobi…you’ve taught the world all you were mean’t to teach.”
The mutt everlasting — a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo — reportedly passed away on October 21 at his home in Conqueiros, Portugal where he lived his entire life with the Costa family, Guinness World Records reported.
Born on May 11, 1992, Bobi was reportedly an eye-popping 31 years and 165 days old at the time of his passing (for reference, the average dog’s lifespan is 10-13 years).
This came months after Guinness had officially recognized the herding dog as both the world’s oldest living and oldest ever pooch on February 2, 2023.
“We see situations like this as a normal result of the life that they have, but Bobi is one of a kind,” owner Leonel Costa, 38, said after Bobi was awarded his record.
His advanced age was also confirmed by the Veterinary Medical Service of the Municipality of Leiria, which originally registered the canine in 1992, as well as by the SIAC, Portugal’s National Union of Veterinarians.
The previous record was set by an Australian cattle dog named Bluey, who died in 1939 at the age of 29 years old and five months.
It’s safe to say Bobi waited a long time to go to heaven. During his exceptionally long life, the veritable mutt everlasting lived through both World Trade Center attacks (1993 and September 11, 2001), six presidencies and the ascension of King Charles III to the British throne.
This feat of longevity was especially impressive given that the pooch was lucky to make it to his first birthday.
According to Guinness, Bobi was born into a litter of four puppies, which the Costa patriarch had decided not to keep on account of having too many animals already.
“Unfortunately, at that time it was considered normal by older people […] to bury the animals in a hole so that they would not survive,” owner Costa revealed.
However, when the then-eight-year-old’s parents took the puppies away, they accidentally left Bobi behind in a woodpile.
He lay there hidden from view until he was spotted by Leonel and his brother, who kept his existence a secret from their parents.
By the time the parents discovered the straggler, it was too late to put him down, so they welcomed Bobi into the Costa family.
Leonel attributed his dog’s exceptionally long life to “good nutrition, constant contact with nature, freedom to discover his environment, consistent veterinary care, and love,” per Dr. Becker’s Facebook post.
According to Guinness, Bobi was never tied up or leashed and ate a diet of exclusively human food.
“What we ate, they ate too,” said Leonel, who reportedly soaked the food in water to wash off the seasonings.
Longevity could also be in Bobi’s genes: His mother Gira lived to the age of 18 and another one of the family’s canines, named Chicote, made it to the ripe old age of 22.
Nonetheless, Leonel described this bicentennial man’s best friend as “one-of-a-kind.”
“We are very happy and grateful to life for allowing us, after 30 years, to have Bobi in our daily lives,” the proud owner gushed in a statement following Bob’s 31st birthday in May. “[He] has been a warrior for all these years, only he knows how he’s been holding on, it must not be easy because the average dog’s life span is not that high and if he spoke only he could explain this success.”