At the age of 11, Stanley the rescue dog is the king of the world for consecutive catches

He loves his food and he loves catching (in his mouth, as the paws aren't practical for that kind of thing) but he doesn't like to move around too much these days.

After all, at 11 he's a bit old in the dog world and the arthritis is beginning to bite.

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But Dederang's reasonably dynamic dog well and truly has the world at his feet, all thanks to a thought that came to his owner Heidi Josipovic one day.

Surely there was a mark he could beat in the vast swathe of listings in the Guinness World Records book? She found one she fancied, the record for the most consecutive items caught by a dog.

The record was 23, a number she thought Stanley would reach with ease.

"I thought 'Stanley can easily beat that'," she said. "And he did. He got about 50 in one of our trials."

Officially, for the record purposes, Stanley notched 27 consecutive catches. The tricky part in the rules was that the dog and thrower had to stay a minimum of three metres apart. Neither was allowed to cross the line. If either did, it was back to attempt No.1.

"With Stanley he just stands in the same spot and doesn't move, which is good," she said. "My husband was the thrower, only because I'm not a very good thrower.

"He stood behind the line and just kept throwing dog treats one after another and Stanley just ate them.

"We've had Stanley since he was probably six months old. We got him from the pound. And he's just amazing at catching anything - if it's a ball, a frisbee, but food especially.

"He loves food, which makes it easy as well."

A two-day trip last week to the vets, in the wake of his recent record-breaking attempt, has meant another go might not be possible.

"He's back home now but he's inside all the time, he's getting a bit old to be outside," she said.

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