At 30 years and five months, Lazare was wearing diapers, could no longer hear, see and slept almost all day
A French spaniel named Lazere, considered “the oldest dog in the world”, died at the age of 30, informed his manager this Friday (15).
AFP contacted the organizers of Guinness World Records to find out whether Lazare had achieved the record before he died on Thursday (14), but did not receive an immediate response.
Lazare, a “toy spaniel” with upright butterfly-shaped ears, was born on December 4, 1995, according to dog shelter worker Anne-Sophie Moyon.
He spent a large part of his life with the same guardian, until she died, and he was taken to an animal shelter. Ophelie Boudol, 29, fell in love with the dog who was a year older than her and adopted him.
Boudol had initially planned to find a pet for his motherhe told AFP, but instead decided to add Lazare to his family. The animal died just a few weeks later.
“It was our little grandpa baby,” Boudol wrote in a farewell post on Instagram. “You chose to make your last flight in my arms on the night of May 14th, to reunite with your guardian, who loved you so much,” he said.
At 30 years and five months, Lazare was wearing diapers, I could no longer hear, see and slept almost all day.
However, Boudol said he had a charmingly vivid presence. “He really has a very captivating personality,” he told AFP as he cradled him at his home in Villy-le-Pelloux, southwestern France, earlier this week.
When Moyon discovered Lazare’s age, she and her shelter colleagues believed he “could be the oldest dog in the world.”
After checking his date of birth against two records, they filled out the paperwork to sign him up for a possible record, as a kind of joke, she added.
A Portuguese mastiff named Bobi was believed to be the oldest dog when he died in 2023, reportedly at age 31, according to the Guinness World Records website. However, a review in 2024 determined that there was insufficient evidence about his age.
