Dogs are often regarded as a person’s best friend, but Mary Elias’ love for them has gone to another level.
With 1,496 items, the Syrian national now has the Guinness World Records title for largest collection of dog-related items.
Asked about her love of dogs, she said: "I believe that dogs are great pets, who fill our lives with joy, happiness and comfort nevertheless the unconditional love.
"I have two beautiful dogs, mini Pomeranian and black German shepherd. I love all dogs of different breeds in general, but my favourite ones are German shepherd and golden retriever."
Talking about her collection, she said the first two dog’s statues she had were gifts from a friend of hers. Not long after she started buying items to add to her collection.
The first one was bought in 1992 in Baku, Azerbaijan, which was a ceramic grey hunting dog.
Since then her hobby in collecting dog statues has continued and wherever she travels finds a new one, she snaps it up for her collection.
Soon enough, what started as a hobby became a passion and ultimately an addiction to Mary. Jokingly, Mary mentioned that it was easy for her husband to buy her gifts as he knows anything to do with dogs makes her very happy.
Mary has a unique collection of statues, pillows, keychains, mugs and jewellery. However she’s also has items such as a mini vacuum cleaner, tape dispenser, measurement tape and pencil sharpeners shaped as dogs.
As her collection grew the Guinness World Records title became a target for her to draw attention to her passion and unique collection globally.
Speaking about her record, Mary said: "It is a great achievement, when I think that out of seven billion people living on earth, I am the number one for the largest collection of dog-related items.
"I get such a great feeling that I cannot even explain."
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