But awe soon turned into scepticism, as vets wondered whether it was biologically possible for a canine to live for the equivalent of 200 human years.
Now, Guinness World Records has said it is investigating whether the claim the Portuguese mastiff lived to 31 years and 165 days is genuine.
Alongside widespread media coverage has been intense scrutiny of images from 1999 in which Bobi has different coloured paws to the dog that died in Portugal on 21 October.
Vets have raised other doubts: although Bobi's age had been registered on the national pet database, this is usually based on owners' self certification. In addition, genetic testing the mastiff had undergone merely confirmed that he was old, rather than his precise age.
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