Boris: best dog ever

Anyone who has a dog for a long time might be able to say that about their dog, but Boris certainly qualifies here. He has done just what he was supposed to do for us on the farm. He was a free dog to start with, from an oopsie litter with a mastiff mama. He grew big enough to keep folks mostly in their cars instead of wandering around the farm, and he usually only barks for a good reason. He is great with the kids, even if a little over protective of me sometimes. Boris is just an all-around great dog. Love you, Boris!!This photo taken in 2009

They say 10 is old for a mastiff, and so at 13 years old, time is taking its toll on our old buddy Boris. It has been a cold winter and he did not put on the weight last fall that he usually does before winter; in fact, he has been losing weight since fall and is quite thin these days. If we lived in town, I am pretty sure by now someone would have reported us to the authorities for neglecting our dog. We do feed him, and he is eating, but it is just not sticking to his ribs, which are now easily visible along with each bone of his spine. We tried to make it easier on him by allowing him to spend more time in the house during the very coldest parts of winter, including a couple of overnights inside. He has his spot on the kitchen floor where the heat duct runs underneath where he like to rest up. After a couple hours, he is usually ready to go back outside. It is now hard for him to stand back up from his resting position because the floor is too slick and he can't get his weakened rear legs back underneath him. Even his barker has left him in recent weeks -- he gives out this little 'woof' that is but a shadow of his former powerful warning bark. I have a recent photo or two of him, but it's really too sad to post.

I thought we were going to lose Boris last month when it became evident he was having trouble with his bowels, so to speak. Whether it is his metabolism slowing down or something he ate, he was 'plugged up.' We suspect he chewed on and swallowed fragments of a pig bone that caused his troubles, even though the pieces he swallowed were small. Once I noticed his difficulty, I decided he would die if he didn't get some help, just from the effort -- and I couldn't see him in such discomfort and not try to help -- so I took him to the vet. She did a few things (I'll spare you the details) and sent us home with some pills, some canned food, and laxative gel, and we hoped for the best. He was still drinking water and not vomiting, so she said that was a good sign. Formerly about 125 lbs, he weighed just 82 lbs. that day. He did recover, but still does not seem to be gaining any weight since then, even though I've been hand-mixing softened hard dog food with some canned stuff that he seems to really like. We will do the best we can to keep him comfortable and happy, but we know he won't be with us forever.

And so we decided that this spring or summer would be the time to get a new puppy. Research told us that what we wanted was a hybrid cross -- English Mastiff x Great Pyrenees -- the upside being a more hardy dog that wouldn't slobber, with the laid back personality of a mastiff and loyalty of both a mastiff and the pyrenees breeds. There is a man in Spokane who breeds them but his pups were ready too early (January) or too late (August) this year and were inconsisently colored, so we are going with a woman in Utah who has the recipe down: all her Maspyr dogs look Just.Like.Boris:Every.Time.

Ben and Kelli also decided this was the summer, with two little boys, to introduce a puppy to the family, so we ordered two. We decided the drive to Utah in March, during the heat of spring ground prepartion work, was not worth the (surprisingly little extra) money saved, so they will be flown into Spokane airport, ETA March 17th.
They were born on 1/18 ; with all the males already spoken for and just 3 females available, we will be getting females. We don't know which are ours, but here is the litter at just a few days old (even the darker ones will lighten up as they grow up):
So that is probably my spring and summer project for 2011. Some may think it's not very nice to replace a beloved dog even before he's gone, but despite slowing down, Boris is still the boss dog around here and we hope he can help teach the new one a few of the rules of the farm before he leaves us. Last week when Kelli set Eli down on the patio in his car seat, Boris stood guard and made sure Omar didn't get too close. The tired, stiff old dog had found a purpose, if only for a few minutes, and he did his job with head erect and ears at attention. I imagine he'll claim the puppy too and she can learn to respect him. Omar will be boss dog soon enough, but he's 10 yrs old now too, so he has just few years to teach her his ways.