Our sweet Boris passed away a month ago and I still can’t believe it. For weeks straight I just cried and cried. He was my baby boy. My constant source of joy. And now he’s gone.

I’ve been spending a lot of time being sad and grieving his loss. So in this post, I want to share about the special dog that he was.

HOW BORIS GOT HIS NAME

Jason had picked out the name Boris two years before we even got him. I’m not entirely sure how he came up with it, but we knew we wanted a Dogue de Bordeaux someday and the name just fit with the breed. 1.5 years later after a cross country move to Pennsylvania, we met with a breeder in Ohio and told her to let us know next time she had a litter of pups available. Five months after that we got the call. One of her dogs was pregnant! Boris was born on March 9, 2016 and 8 weeks later we picked him up! As a puppy, he was very cuddly, clumsy, and bity. His little teeth were razor sharp and hurt so bad!

OTHER NAMES WE CALLED BORIS OVER THE YEARS:

• Baby Boy
• Sweetie Baby
• Buddy
• Burrito
• House Hippo
• Stinky

We went on many fun trips with Boris over the years. We drove cross country with him twice, visited Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Outer Banks, Carolina Beach, Charleston, Savannah, Atlanta, Gatlinburg Tennessee, and many more places that I can’t think of right now. He loved seeing new places with us.

Boris loved getting his belly rubbed and his butt scratched. He gave the best and most slobbery kisses. I personally loved rubbing his soft velvety ears, massaging his shoulders, and kissing his jowls.

BORIS FUN FACTS

• Boris loved the water. Swimming in the ocean and even getting sprayed in the backyard with the hose. He also loved the snow. Eating it, digging in it, laying in it.
• He hated walks. He’d run and hide anytime he thought we were gearing up to take him on his walk. I contribute it to us taking him on too long of walks as a puppy. Trash trucks driving around the neighborhood also freaked him out. The only way he would go on a daily walk is if I drove him to the park early in the morning while it was quiet and cool out.
• Boris was excited to see anyone that came to the house. He’d plow into them and gave them kisses. He was a joy for anyone to be around.
• Boris was very memorable. Strangers would stop us while out with Boris and would want to meet him. They’d always comment about the size of his feet, the size of his head, how handsome he was. How sweet he was.
• He was very expressive. I loved how his ears would take a funny shape when he’d come running up to say hello. Or how his eyebrows would shift when you started talking about him while he was “sleeping” ha!
• Boris loved tearing apart boxes. He thought all packages that came to the house were for him and he couldn’t wait for us to give him the box to tear up.
• He was never very food driven. Most days he could take or leave food, which was super frustrating!
• Out of all the toys, he loved his tennis balls most. He was terrible at playing fetch though. He just loved chasing the balls, but not bringing them back. So we had about 15 tennis balls in the backyard at any given time.
• Boris loved drinking out of the tub faucet. He’d patiently wait in the bathroom until we got there to turn on the water.
• Boris has his own instagram! I loved sharing fun videos and photos of him.

Fast forward 6 years and after a scary trip to the emergency room in Charlotte, Boris got diagnosed with heart failure. We were told he’d have maybe 6-9 months left to live and was being put on 5 heart medications that he’d take for the rest of his life. We were devastated, but also determined to enjoy as much time as we had left with him. We started letting him on the couch with us, letting him bring tennis balls in the house, giving him lots yummy people food and basically letting him do whatever he wanted (within reason).

Our daily schedule involved walking up at 7am, heart meds with breakfast. 8:30am walk at the park. Lots of trips to the backyard to play ball and lay in the shade throughout the day including an afternoon stroll around our cul de sac to “get the mail”. 5pm dinner with heart meds followed by lots of lounging around the house and a evening ball play when Jason got home from work. At 9:30pm we’d get ready for bed and Boris would get his last heart meds for the day.

Our last day with Boris was also our last day in our home North Carolina. Most of our belongings were already moved to the new house in South Carolina, and we were packing up the last of our things to bring to the airbnb we’d be staying in for 6 weeks. Jason had the day off work so we took Boris on his morning walk together. For the rest of the day, Boris either snoozed on his bed or relaxed in the backyard shade while we packed the last of our things and cleaned. That evening I brought him over to the airbnb and we settled in for the evening. The next morning, Jason and I had an early doctors appointment, so we fed Boris and took him potty before heading out. He seemed completely normal. I remember petting Boris’s head and rubbing his jowls before telling him that we’d be back soon. 90 minutes later we walked through the door and found him curled up in what looked like his typical relaxed, sleeping position. When he didn’t respond to our calls, we rushed over and found that his heart had stopped. I couldn’t believe it. I kept thinking that I didn’t even get to say goodbye. We cried and hugged him and cried some more. I just never expected his passing to be that sudden and unexpected. It feels like such a huge loss in our family.

That was on June 21st, 2023, 13 months after his heart failure diagnosis. I’m so grateful that he lived as long as he did. Boris brought so much joy to our lives. After his passing, a friend told me that even though he was only with us for a short time in our lives, we were with him for his whole life. I’m so glad that he got to feel happy and loved by us his whole life.

I miss you so much baby boy, and I love you deeply. I look forward to seeing you again.