A 31-year-old dog in Portugal who had been named the world’s oldest ever, has died, his owner said on Monday.

The guard dog, called Bobi, died over the weekend in a veterinary hospital, Leonel Costa told The Associated Press.

Bobi lived on a farm in the village of Conqueiros in Portugal with Mr Costa and four cats.

He was born on May 11 1992, when his owner was just eight years old.

In an interview earlier this year, Mr Costa told the Associated Press that the secret of Bobi’s long life was good food, fresh air and lots of love.

“Bobi eats what we eat,” said Mr Costa. What’s more, Bobi had never been put on a lead.

Bobi claimed the Guinness World Record from Bluey, an Australian cattle dog, who died in 1939 aged 29 and had held the record for almost a century.

Officials at Guinness World Records on Monday said they were “saddened to learn of the death of Bobi, the world’s oldest dog ever”.

In a statement on their website, they said Bobi lived to be 31 years and 165 days old and died on Saturday.

Bobi was a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, a breed of Portuguese dog that has an average life expectancy of some 10 to 14 years.