It’s a story of canine longevity that we find told everywhere, in all the newspapers and in all the languages: in China, in the United States, in Poland, in Thailand, or even in Brazil… Bobi is 30 years old, he is a Rafeiro from the Alentejo, a cross between a mastiff and a mastiff, a fairly robust mountain dog. And Guinness World Records has just awarded him, not the title of oldest dog alive, but that of “oldest dog of all time”. Until now, we had never seen a dog live more than 29 years, which was already extremely rare.
Bobi was born on May 11, 1992, in Portugal, on a small farm in Conqueiros, a rural village between Porto and Lisbon, where he still lives with the same family, the Costas. A dog that should never have lived more than two hours, as the son of the family, Leonel, tells us. “My father was a hunter he said. He thought he had too many dogs when his dog Gira gave birth. So he immediately took the little ones away from her to bury them alive, it’s terrible, but it was common to do that at that time. Except that he forgot one, Bobi, and when he discovered it a few weeks later, he decided to keep it..”
No leash and a busy social life
In 1992, Leonel Costa was 8 years old. he is now 38, and he tries to answer the question that everyone asks him: what explains the longevity of his dog? “If he could speak, he would give us the answer! But maybe the calm, peaceful environment of the countryside, away from the stress of the cities.” Leonel also notes the fact that Bobi has never had a leash, that he has always roamed where his flair took him, without barrier, that he has never eaten industrial kibble, but rather leftovers of meats and vegetables from the meals of his masters, “without sauce” specifies Léonel who finally adds that Bobi has a lot of social interaction, especially with the four cats on the farm who adore him. A simple life, made of freedom, friendship, nature.
And we understand that this dog story responds to very human questions that obsess our time, that of happiness, well-being, and that this is precisely what has led, including major newspapers such as the washington post to talk about: Bobi is old, but not bedridden, happy and in great shape. Isn’t that all we want?