Meet Chanel, The World's Oldest Dog

They say every dog has its day, but this one has had more than most: Chanel, a dachshund mix, is going to be celebrating her 21st birthday (that’s 120 in human years, according to Chanel’s veterinarian). And though she wears “doggles” for cataracts and gets cold easily, there’s life in the old dog yet.

The birthday girl, looking sporty in a pink sweater and the trademark red goggles she wears because of her cataracts, visited the TODAY show set in New York Wednesday with her owner, Denice Shaughnessy.

“She’s doing fine,” Shaughnessy said of Chanel. “The vet says he’s never seen a dog her age do so much.”

Actually, he’s probably never seen a dog her age period, at least not one whose age has been certified as the oldest living pooch on the planet by Guinness World Records.

Chanel might not have gotten her place in Guinness World Records had it not been for Denice’s husband, Karl Shaughnessy, who was paging through the record book one day and realized he didn’t see a category for the oldest dog. He called Guinness and sent in Chanel’s birth certificate showing her birth date: May 6, 1988.

Chanel is undeniably remarkable. At almost 21, she’s in fine fettle, still likes to play, and has just a few physical issues that can be expected at an age that translates to 120 for a human. (Veterinarians say that the first year of a dog’s life is equivalent to 15 years of a human’s. The second year is equal to 10 human years. After that, every year is five human years.)

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