World's 'oldest dog' dies in Australia

Melbourne: Maggie, said to be the world's oldest dog, has died in Australia aged 30. The Kelpie was owned by Victoria dairy farmer Brian McLaren. He told a local newspaper that the Australian sheep dog died on Sunday night in her basket aged 30 - or 133 in human years.

"She was 30. She was still going along nicely last week. She was walking from the dairy to the office and growling at the cats and all that sort of thing," Brian told the Weekly Times. "She just went downhill in two days and I said yesterday morning when I went home for lunch, 'She hasn't got long now.'

"I'm sad, but I'm pleased she went the way she went. Maggie's age cannot be verified because Brian says he lost the dog's paperwork when she was a puppy. Brian says his youngest son, Liam, was four years old when they bought Maggie. He's now 34.

Before she died, the farm dog was deaf and had been losing her vision. The official holder of the world's oldest dog is held by an Australian Cattle Dog called Bluey who died in 1939 aged 29, the BBC reported.

Guinness World Records says he was bought as a puppy in 1910 in Victoria and worked among cattle and sheep for nearly 20 years before being put to sleep. Most dogs live for between eight and 15 years. Authentic records of dogs living for more than 20 years are rare and generally involve smaller breeds.