Rival for Boris in Hollywood

Spartanacus · April 22

Long story (semi) short...my best friend, my favorite dog ever, my not even 5 year old beautiful husky, Boris, is hanging by a thread. Life has hit him hard the last 6 weeks, first with one leg going lame (neurological issue?) and secondly, he developed an abscess on his other elbow that is infected and is not healing. The combination (per the vet) is basically a quality of life death sentence (I don't have $20K extra for an MRI and surgeries).

This was supposed to be a great week for me...going through my normal pre-show routine of listening to all the studio albums in order...feeling nothing but excitement for what will be my 20th and 21st PJ shows, and staying in a great beach town for three nights with my wife of almost 25 years.

Now all I can think about is Boris. It's a fine line trying to not give up too soon, but also trying to not hang on too long...and now we're about there. We first had to decide if he'd be better off at home with my two older daughters, or if he'd be better off at his fun 'Doggy Camp' for three nights, watching his husky brother Loyal play with the other dogs (my girls will watch my other two less high maintenance dogs).

We decided to hold out hope for a miracle (to see new tissue growth around his exposed bone) and not put him down until at least we get in a few good days with him after the show. I hope that's the right decision. He's not suffering, but he's definitely not feeling good either.

I've joined a pet grievance page on Facebook, which is sad in itself, but somewhat healing hearing that I'm not alone (though most of those pets have lived full lives).

I don't know if anyone will read this or can relate with preparing to lose, or losing a young dog...but it really sucks. I guess I'm lucky that I still have my parents and I haven't went through many terrible things in life, but I tell you what...this is hitting hard.

I know it will be virtually impossible for me to remain composed during the two Hollywood shows, especially when tear jerkers like Release come on...so I'm not going to ask for a sad song. The happier the better I say. That being said...

It would make my weekend to finally be able to experience an older song or two that I've never seen live. I'm not going to jinx it again and ask for the last song on Ten I haven't seen (rhymes with Jeep)...but instead I'm going to go out on a huge limb and hope for a song that has hardly ever been played (22 times), with the last time being in 2016...and the song is one of my favorites off of Binaural, and I believe the only PJ song that opens with dog sounds. If this isn't doable, I'd definitely stop crying long enough to jam to Satan's Bed.

#Rival4Boris

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021252/uploads/editor/5b/snmlr6au8fn7.jpg

CROJAM95 · April 22

sorry to hear this...beautiful dog. Ill say a prayer and wish you guys comfort

Spartanacus · April 22

CROJAM95 said:

sorry to hear this...beautiful dog. Ill say a prayer and wish you guys comfort

Thanks Bro. He's the best. He doesn't deserve it and it kills me thinking maybe I did something wrong...like not noticing his wound sooner for example.

GlowGirl · April 22

What a beautiful dog. Your post made me tear up. I lost my cat, Tristan right before the shows in Texas in 2023. He was 17 so he did live a full life, but it is never easy. Don't beat yourself up about what you could have done. We all do that. I am sure you have done everything you can to care for him. Maybe he will start to heal up. Sending good thoughts your way.

CROJAM95 · April 22

Spartanacus said:

CROJAM95 said:

sorry to hear this...beautiful dog. Ill say a prayer and wish you guys comfort

Thanks Bro. He's the best. He doesn't deserve it and it kills me thinking maybe I did something wrong...like not noticing his wound sooner for example.

Anytime! Don’t entertain those thoughts, you can see he is loved. My Sonny died before my dad in 2007… was 8 , Golden Retriever… had tail cancer… we tried it all, it was a cruel year as Dog passed in Sept… Dad week before Xmas. Couldn’t tell my dad cause that was his Everything, I didn’t even mourn the dog proper cause of my dad succumbing to cancer . Life isn’t explainable many times … pets Hurt like hell

my Dog Matty passed day after Xmas 2 years ago…. So that’s my Xmas these days. Thinking bout my dad and dog (s)

we leave ourselves vulnerable by even getting a pet… but as much as it hurts, it’s so worth it

i hope you get Rival… I remember hearing it in Boston 2010, was really good

peace n love

CROJAM95 · April 22

I love Huskies btw

Spartanacus · April 23

CROJAM95 said:

Spartanacus said:

CROJAM95 said:

sorry to hear this...beautiful dog. Ill say a prayer and wish you guys comfort

Thanks Bro. He's the best. He doesn't deserve it and it kills me thinking maybe I did something wrong...like not noticing his wound sooner for example.

Anytime! Don’t entertain those thoughts, you can see he is loved. My Sonny died before my dad in 2007… was 8 , Golden Retriever… had tail cancer… we tried it all, it was a cruel year as Dog passed in Sept… Dad week before Xmas. Couldn’t tell my dad cause that was his Everything, I didn’t even mourn the dog proper cause of my dad succumbing to cancer . Life isn’t explainable many times … pets Hurt like hell

my Dog Matty passed day after Xmas 2 years ago…. So that’s my Xmas these days. Thinking bout my dad and dog (s)

we leave ourselves vulnerable by even getting a pet… but as much as it hurts, it’s so worth it

i hope you get Rival… I remember hearing it in Boston 2010, was really good

peace n love

Man, that's rough. Yeah, my father in law died in February too, so it's been a year so far. Despite Boris's status, I am getting stoked for this weekend! I hope he somehow miraculously starts to heal up.

PJNB · April 23

Bump!

Bart.niessen · April 23

Breaks my heart brother.

Loujoe · April 23

❤️
(Might want to request evolution or something) they never play rival!

Love to you and family. We all love our animals so much. Gifts in our lives for a short time.

we-were-but-stones · April 24

Bump for Boris

Spartanacus · April 24

Bump for my fur buddy!

kaw753 · April 24

Handsome Boris is demanding they play drop the leash, drop the leash.

Spartanacus · April 24

kaw753 said:

Handsome Boris is demanding they play drop the leash, drop the leash.

Hah, I would take that too. The biggest question of the weekend will be, am I going to drop more money than I probably should for the leash they’re selling? Even if Boris doesn’t make it much longer, he does have 3 siblings who need walking…

Spartanacus · April 26

Amazing show last night with me finally getting Deep! It helped me keep the sad tears away and almost traded them for happy ones.

Rival tonight for Boris, and let’s not lie, Boris’s Daddy, would be amazing!!!!

Peace and enjoy tonight folks!

Rival for Boris in Hollywood

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