A Beagle cross named Lulu is the world’s oldest dog after reaching the age of 147 – in dog years.
Her owner, Travis Buckly, 60, has credited the dog's longevity to it's diet of freshly cooked fillet steak, veal and sausages.
Lulu, from Coventry, is now believed to be the world’s oldest canine after the previous record-holder died last summer and Britain’s most senior dog Otto, 20, passed away in January.
Mr Buckly said: "If there’s a steak and a sausage in the fridge you can guarantee she'll be having steak and sausage for tea. That's her favourite meal."
"Lulu always has the finest meats in the house. Sometimes it’s gammon or on the rare occasion it’s been veal. I’m sure that’s why she's lived this long – a really strong diet."
Dog years are calculated as one human year being equivalent to seven canine years.
The world’s previous oldest dog, Chanel, from New York, died last summer aged 21.
The title was then inherited by Britain’s oldest dog Otto, a Dachshund terrier cross, who passed away in January aged 20.
Mr Buckly has now applied to Guinness World Records and is awaiting their response.
A Guinness World Records spokesman said: “The world’s oldest dog category is currently vacant following Otto’s death earlier this year.
"We’re looking for a new oldest dog so what we need now is for the owners to make an application."
"But 21 years is certainly very old. We would have to investigate. The application takes around six weeks to verify." (Telegraph)
《字詞解析》
Beagle cross -- (n.) 雜種的米格魯。
dog years -- (n.) 狗年齡。根據第 6 段的敘述，狗年齡的計算方式是，人類 1 歲相當於狗 7 歲。
credit …to -- (v.) 把…歸因於。
longevity -- (n.) 長壽。
freshly cooked -- (adj.) 現煮的。
fillet steak -- (n.) 菲力牛排。
veal -- (n.) 小牛肉。
canine -- (n.) 犬，狗，犬科動物。
pass away -- (phr.) 過世。這個片語動詞是 die 的委婉語。
have -- (v.) 吃。在「have + 食物」中，have = eat。
for -- (prep.) 代替。
gammon -- (n.) 燻火腿。
inherit -- (v.) 繼承。
Dachshund terrier cross -- (n.) 雜種的達克斯獵犬。
apply -- (v.) 申請。apply + for (後接工作、職位、獎學金、簽證等)，如 He has applied for a post in England. (他已申請在英國任職)；apply + to (後接機關、部門、單位等) (+ for + 工作、職位、獎學金、簽證等)，如 You have to apply to the passport office for a visa. (你須向護照局申請簽證)。
Guinness World Records -- (n.) 金氏世界紀錄 (機構)。
vacant -- (adj.) 空缺的。
延伸閱讀：新聞英語的語法結構