A Chihauhua mix from the US state of Ohio, named Spike, has been named the world’s oldest living dog by Guinness World Records (GWR). Spike was born in November 1999, and entered the woofy twenty third year of life last year.
Spike achieved the milestone on December 7, 2022, when Guinness World Records (GWR) certified him as the oldest living dog in the world at the age of 23 years and 7 days.
Spike’s pet-parent Rita Kimball has had him for nearly 14 years, after he was found abandoned in the parking lot of a grocery store in 2009, CNN reported.
“He had been shaved up his back, had blood stains around his neck from a chain or rope, and looked pretty rough,” Kimball said.
After a grocery store clerk told her the dog had been there for three days, Kimball took the then 10-year-old pooch home to her farm.
“Spike jumped right in and sat on the seat, as if he knew where we were going. It was meant to be,” Kimball said in an official statement.
Kimaball named him Spike after being inspired by the big, aggressive dog from the “Tom and Jerry” cartoons, reports said.
“Spike was a name for a large dog. My guy was small, but he had the attitude of a big dog,” Kimball’s official statement adds.
A Guinness World Records statement says that Spike, who weighs just 12.9 pounds, has “survived multiple attacks” from other animals and managed to “come back stronger each time.”
Kimball said that she first realised Spike had a shot at becoming world’s oldest dog when she heard ‘The Tonight Show’ host Jimmy Fallon talking about a former record holder, toy fox terrier Pebbles, who died in October 2022.
Now, Spike is regarded in their family as a bit of a celebrity, Kimball is reported to have said, adding that the elderly dog, who is nearly blind and hard of hearing, prefers spending time with people he knows and visiting the animals on her farm.
According to Guinness World Record, the longest-lived dog reliably recorded was an Australian cattle dog called Bluey, who died in 1939 aged 29 years and five days.
