World's oldest dog dies at 21 -- or 147

[snopes]

A wire-haired dachshund that held the record as the world's oldest dog and celebrated its last birthday with a party at a dog hotel and spa has died at age 21 -- or 147 in dog years.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

[Xia]

I am confused about how they said there was no Guinness record for "world's oldest dog" when I have heard of several dogs who were older than that and included in the Guinness books.
Also it annoys me that they say the dog is "147" -- in fact people repeating that "1 year = 7 dog years" thing annoys me in general. That is a very oversimplified and often incorrect conversion, especially when you are talking about small breeds. It is just not correct in most cases.

[candy from strangers]

She also liked chocolate, usually considered toxic to dogs, Shaughnessy said.

"She once ate an entire bag of Reese's peanut butter cups, and, you see, she lived to be 21, so go figure," Shaughnessy added

I really wish they wouldn't phrase this like "See? Chocolate for dogs is no big deal!", when you've got to consider that 1) it happened once 2) Reese's cups are mostly peanut butter 3) there's a big difference between the chocolate used for Reese's and, for example, baker's chocolate. My late dogsister stole and ate a pack of mini chocolate donuts once, that doesn't mean my mom could have given her M&M's everytime she high-fived.

[DawnStorm]

Originally Posted by Xia

I That is a very oversimplified and often incorrect conversion, especially when you are talking about small breeds. It is just not correct in most cases.

That it is.
I've heard that the 1:7 ratio isn't that accurate until the dog is about 5 years old. I'm not sure. IMO, it is a breed thing, the smaller breeds having it all over the large ones in the longevity department.

[Artemis]

I've heard of older dogs, too. I had thought the oldest dog had been something like 26 or 27. Or maybe they mean the dog that had been holding the record at this moment.

[DaGuyWitBluGlasses]

Originally Posted by Artemis

I've heard of older dogs, too. I had thought the oldest dog had been something like 26 or 27. Or maybe they mean the dog that had been holding the record at this moment.

The article mentioned a (living) 26 year old that was awaiting verification.
Oldest Dog ever (confirmed) was 29 years 5 months (Bluey, male Australian Cattle Dog)

I've personally met 2 dogs that were 22 when i met them. Airedale and Pitbull, don't know if they're still around this would have been 6 and 5 years ago respectively. And this is just from neighbours dogs, i'm not involved with anything that introduces me to many dogs.