A French toy spaniel named Lazare died at the age of 30 years and five months on May 14, 2026, in France [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Lazare was a Papillon dwarf spaniel known for his distinctive butterfly-like ears [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
Born on December 4, 1995, Lazare lived most of his life with the same owner until she passed away [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. After her death, Lazare was found lying next to her body and taken to a charity shelter [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
In April 2026, 29-year-old single mother Ophelie Boudol adopted Lazare from the shelter [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Despite being deaf, blind, wearing nappies, and sleeping most of the day at 30 years old, Lazare retained a spirited and endearing personality, Boudol said. "He really has such an endearing personality," she added [1].
Lazare died in Boudol's arms just weeks after the adoption. "He was off to reunite with his first carer," Boudol said [1]. She repeated in Chinese, "牠昨晚在我怀里溜走，它要和前主人团聚," meaning he passed away in her embrace and was going to be reunited with his previous owner [5].
Lazare's age makes him one of the oldest dogs on record. However, Guinness World Records did not receive any application or evidence to officially verify Lazare's age or recognize a record before his death [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
The previous contender was Bobi, a Portuguese dog reported to have died aged 31 years and 165 days in October 2023. Guinness revoked Bobi's record in 2024 due to insufficient evidence [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
