Gemma, mascot for Hailsham-based Computers for Charities, died aged 16 years nine months.
Charity director Simon Rooksby believed she was the 'oldest recorded' Sussex spaniel.

He said: 'I was speaking at an event in London and my parents who live in south London agreed to look after Gemma.

'She died in the arms of my mother, Barbara.

'Gemma will be dearly missed. 'We had known that given her age it could be anytime.

'But human or animal nothing can fully prepare you for when a death actually takes place.'

Mr Rooksby said Gemma had a 'very calm nature'. He believed heart failure led to the demise of the hound.

The Express asked the Sussex Spaniel Association if Gemma was the oldest of her kin. Sheila Appleby, honourary secretary, believed it possible Gemma had been the oldest in England.

But in Scotland she knew of a 17-year-old Spanish spaniel which had died.

She said: 'People do not tell us how old they all are. 'Normally they live to 14 or 15 years old.

'They are happy little brown dogs, one of seven spaniel gun dog breeds.'

Experts believe Sussex spaniels descended from another spaniel breed and they emerged in the 1800s. At the time they were kept as working dogs on country estates.

Many Sussex spaniels were slaughtered during The Second World War. People could not afford to feed them and there were only five of the kind in 1945.

The Kennel Club listed the breed as vulnerable in 2004. In 2007 only 61 Sussex spaniel puppies were registered in Britain. This compared to 25,000 labradors.