Following the death of purportedly the world's oldest dog this week aged 21, a German woman came forward on Wednesday claiming her dog was 25 - with a tattoo of her birthdate in her ear to prove it.
The death of Chanel the wire-haired dachshund - the equivalent of 147 for a human - in the United States made headlines around the world on Tuesday, prompting Verena Wulf from Bavaria to phone her local radio station.
"My Penny is 25," Wulf told SWR3, and came to her family in 1986. "The vet at the time put her age at about one and a half."
The radio station tracked down the vet, Johannes Pohl, who said Penny, a Bernese mountain dog, was his first patient when he opened his practice more than 23 years ago.
Penny, the equivalent of 175 years old for a human, has difficulty walking and her hearing and eyesight are no longer what they were. She shares her bed with the family cat.
But the vet was upbeat: "She has a strong heart - I think Penny will be around for a while longer," Pohl said.
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