Spike the Chihuahua is officially the world’s oldest dog after reaching the ripe old age of 23.
A 23-year-old rescued Chihuahua mix from Ohio, USA, has declared the Guinness World Record for being the world’s oldest living dog. Born in November 1999, Spike is a tiny and lovable pup from Camden.
According to Guinness World Records North America, the “su-paw-star” who was 23 years and 7 days old as of December 7, 2022, stands at 9 inches and weighs just under 13 pounds, or 5.4 kg.
Spike’s Mom, Rita Kimball, said she found him in the parking lot of a grocery store in 2010. He was already 10 years old at the time and was likely a victim of abuse.
“He had been shaved up his back, had blood stains around his neck from a chain or rope, and looked pretty rough,” Kimball recounted to Guinness.
“The clerk in the grocery told us he had been there for three days, and they were feeding him scraps… He followed when we left the store and entered the parking lot.”
Seeing no one to look out for him, she decided to take the canine home to join the rest of the herd on a small farm she owned.
For many, the name Spike would conjure up the image of a beastly dog. But since he’s a Chihuahua, Kimball said her four-legged companion has the “attitude of a big dog.”
“When he was younger, he tried intimidating the cows and horses by barking and trying to chase them,” she stated. In his grand old age, Spike is nearly blind and hard of hearing, but that hardly comes in the way of long walks, which he loves to take on summer weekends.
Evening baths follow the dog’s barn visits on Saturdays and his occasional favorite snack, crunched-up Dorito’s.
Spike is the fourth canine to hold the Guinness World Record title as the oldest living dog since 2022. However, the record can change hands while title holders are still alive as pet owners catch wind of it and get their furry friends verified.
TobyKeith, a purebred Chihuahua in Florida, has held the record numerous times in the past year. Pebbles, a toy fox terrier from South Carolina, took the title briefly before he died on October 3, aged 22.
In December, Gino, a 22-year-old chihuahua mix, who was previously named the world’s oldest dog, passed in Los Angeles.
