Woman adopts a puppy without knowing that he would enter the Guinness World Records years later

Gisela adopted a Chihuahua puppy named TobyKeith from Peggy Adams Animal Rescue while she was volunteering there. At the time, the Chihuahua was only a few months old.

By Emilie Heyl

Published on the 21/04/2022 21:00, Updated on the 03/05/2022 17:55

Gisela said in a video she shared on Instagram that Toby Keith was born on the 9th of January 2001.

This means that Toby Keith has been living with his owner for 21 years! Guinness World Records verified and confirmed TobyKeith's title on the 16th of March, when the dog was 21 years and 66 days old.

This makes him the oldest living dog in the world!

A healthy dog

The dog spends a lot of time sleeping, but other than that he is in pretty good health, considering his age.

On average, the life expectancy of a Chihuahua is between 14 to 16 years. Gisela believes that TobyKeith's healthy diet of vegetables, rice and chicken and no sugary treats, as well as his daily walks, have kept him healthy.

Gisela and TobyKeith celebrated the dog's record with a day of care, a leisurely walk and a nice reward.

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World record unbroken

At the moment, the Guinness World Record for the oldest dog of all time belongs to an Australian dog named Bluey from Australia.

Bluey was born in 1910 and worked as a sheepdog for almost 20 years. He died on the 14th of November 1939, aged 29 years and five months, according to Guinness World Records.

Want to adopt an old dog? Here's everything you need to know

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Emilie Heyl

Emilie Heyl is the UK country manager at Wamiz. She was born in Southampton and has studied communications and journalism in Paris. She has always loved dogs and cats and she knows she will have a dog one day, when the time is right. In the meantime she loves to take care of her colleague’s dogs and has been voted best pet-sitter at the office. She feels lucky to be able to write about pets all day and she never stops being amazed about these wonderful creatures.