Alas, the world’s oldest dog couldn’t last forever.
When a brown-and-white puppy called Bobi mewled into the world on 11 May 1992, Yugoslavia was tearing itself apart, LA was still smouldering from riots, the ink was drying on the Maastricht treaty, Sharon Stone was baiting Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct and REM were five months away from releasing Automatic for the People.
The late canine, who has died at the spectacular age of 31 years and 165 days, has not so much broken the record for the world’s longest-lived dog as shaken it violently from side-to-side, torn it to pieces, buried it and then cocked a triumphant, if elderly, leg over it.
Bobi, a Portuguese mastiff, or Rafeiro do Alentejo, shuffled off his mortal collar on 21 October in the Portuguese village of Conqueiros, where he had lived his entire life with Leonel Costa and his family.
One of the earliest tributes came from Guinness World Records, which said it was “saddened to learn of the death of Bobi, the world’s oldest dog ever”. Bobi was awarded the title of world’s oldest living dog in February this year, effortlessly snatching the crown from the paws of Spike the chihuahua, a young pretender from Ohio who was then a mere pup in comparison at the age of 23 years and seven days.
Good rest, old man. You were the most fortunate of boys.
