I’m sure he deserves a far batter fate than all this human speculation as to how old he really was.😀

The world’s “oldest ever dog” Bobi, who died in October reportedly aged 31, has provisionally lost his title as Guinness World Records.

It's definitely progress to see this, I think. While obviously the main intention of Guinness is profit and media attention, not scientific accuracy, records like this spread a lot of misinformation because it touts claims as being true with little to no actual evidence. You'd be laughed out of any scientific convention if you attempted to prove Bobi's age as true with the alleged evidence Guinness accepted. 

The realistic answer to the question of who is the oldest dog is that we just don't have the capabilities to currently provide one. There is some research into dog mortality though, which could help provide a ballpark figure as to how old the oldest dog could be:

This study shows that in a study of over 30,000 dogs who died in the UK between 2016 and 2020, only 23 were 20 or over. The oldest dog in the entire dataset was 21 years and 10 months old. And even then, some of those ages could be slightly exaggerated perhaps due to approximations on the vet's part. The mortality rates are also incredibly high at this age (rising to over 75% from ages 19 to 20). Given this data, extrapolating, and making some calculations, I would say it is very unlikely for the oldest dog in the UK to be 25 or over, and very unlikely for the oldest dog in the world to be 26 or over. Even then these estimates are generous. 

Obviously though, this should all be taken with a grain of salt as there's not been much research into this area. Maybe dog mortality plateaus at around 80% and doesn't continue to increase as I imagined it would. Perhaps human mortality statistics are completely inapplicable and dog outliers really can reach extreme ages like 29. But I'd argue we just don't know enough at this point. 

The world’s “oldest ever dog” Bobi, who died in October reportedly aged 31, has provisionally lost his title as Guinness World Records.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRZWMftr9Ks at the very end of this video from 1998 (as it mentions Granpa Rexs Allen as having passed away that April)

I will say however, that I still do think it is definitely possible for a dog to reach 31. The record had been held since 1939 and I think it's bound to be broken one day. Strangely, Bobi may not actually be the record holder after all, as there is another dog under investigation who claimed to have lived to 31 years & 177 days. I'm not sure I am allowed to say his name, but he passed away in the 2000s, and his case was re-opened in May 2023, and is also currently under investigation. 

- A.C.

EDIT: My apologies. The Anonymous dog who passed away in the 2000s was actually 31 years & 191 days. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/29/claims-about-genuine-age-of-bobi-worlds-oldest-dog-to-be-investigated

Unfortunately I can't say I find this too surprising - it's clear that validation of animal longevity is still leagues behind that of human longevity. Guinness World Records especially, has had a questionable past when it comes to validating the ages of animals (i.e, the 'oldest cat ever', Creme Puff - who turned 29 in 1998 yet died aged 38 in 2005 - and that's not even the biggest red flag when it comes to that case). Without an actual scientific publication scrutinising the evidence from the case it's difficult not to at least come at these claims with a very questioning attitude.

On the other end of the stick though - unlike what the above article claims, I don't think there's really a valid way to directly equate dog years with human years - especially once you start getting into extreme longevity.