Boris

Boris is my Doberman and he just turned 9 years old this past February. I wasn't sure if he'd make it to his 9th birthday... he has osteosarcoma. It was in his left front distal radius (that's his "wrist" to you and me) and it made his leg pretty much unusable and oh so painful. I still can't believe how quickly the cancer showed itself. It pretty much showed up in full fury almost overnight. But that's typical of the disease, as I now know. The usual treatment is amputation followed by chemotherapy. And the survival rate for dogs that undergo this protocol is approximately 50% at one year after amputation & chemo. Boris just passed the 10 month mark after amputation. All things considered, that's excellent. He has his big chest xray and bloodwork checkup at Southpaws tomorrow. The xray is to see whether there is any metastasis of tumor into his lungs. As of his last checkup in January, his lungs looked clear. I always feel sick to my stomach in the days before his big xrays. My biggest fear is having his doctor tell me the cancer has spread. But, so far the news has always been good. I have to keep believing that it will continue to be good for a very long time. That is, after all, why we put him through all of this in the first place.... to give him the best chance possible at a long and happy life.

I got Boris when he was 8 weeks old. He was the little puppy standing on a cinderblock, barking his head off, that just melted my heart. I've always loved dogs, but I had no idea of the depth of the bond that we would come to have. He seemed to be a difficult puppy, very destructive, into everything, always demanding physical/mental activity. I didn't know it at first, but the secret to having a good dog is EXERCISE! A tired dog, is a very well-behaved dog! So once I figured that out, things got a lot better. We did obedience classes, too, pretty much on a weekly basis starting when he was about three months old. My goal was to get an AKC Companion Dog title (CD) on him, and we accomplished that goal in the spring of 2001.


My crazy puppy who was shy and wary of strangers morphed into this amazingly well-behaved obedience dog! Ok, well he didn't just morph into an obedience dog. That was the result of years of hard work and training on both our parts, if I do say so myself!! Bottom line is, Boris did pretty much everything I asked him to, even when he didn't want to, because I asked him to. It's very humbling to have that kind of respect and devotion from a being. Consequently, I have that much respect and devotion for my dogs.

With Boris by my side, I pretty much "grew up." I finished my second college degree, got my first real job, first apartment, moved to a different state, changed jobs, got married, got a house.... well, you get the idea. He was there for all of that. I was 24 when I got him as a puppy, so who I was then and who I am now are very much all tied into him. He's given me so much and I've learned more from him about life than I could ever have imagined. It's weird, I know, but that's how it is, and I'm perfectly fine with that.

Boris is a very sweet, affectionate and smart dog. He's not a fan of people he doesn't know, but will warm up to regular visitors to our house after a few visits. Strangely, he took to my hubby on their very first meeting... I guess the fact that hubby had some bacon in his pocket didn't hurt his cause! Boris has a sense of humor, too. He's goofy and does silly things. He's also very stubborn... if he wants something, he'll get it.
The best example of this stubbornness is when he marks trees balancing on only TWO legs! It took him more than a few attempts to get the hang of it, but he kept trying and now he's fairly adept at this two-legged balancing act. It's rather amazing. All in all, he's rather amazing and I consider myself blessed for having him in my life.


"The fidelity of a dog is a precious gift demanding no less binding moral responsibilities than the friendship of a human being. The bond with a dog is as lasting as the ties of this earth can ever be." - Konrad Lorenz