15!

He made it!  My sweet Parker is now 15 years old!  Time to party!

My friend tortured Parker with this hat at her dog birthday party.

I have had different Boston Terriers in my life over the past 28 years and never had one live past about 13 & 3/4 years until Parker.  But then Parker has never been an average Boston Terrier.

Even though his litter was registered for April 4, 1997 because the majority of the pups were born on that day, Parker was actually born on April 3rd at about 11:30pm.  After having owned several Boston Terriers over the years, my family had decided to take on the challenge of breeding a litter of pups ourselves.  Wouldn't you know it, the very first pup born is still the largest pup we've ever seen even after a half dozen more litters that we birthed over 10 years.  Parker was so big that we ended up going to the vet to get him out as he was stuck and his mother was in major distress.  When the vet finally yanked him out he was blue and needed resuscitation.  Thank goodness we had the famed and eccentric Dr. Jeffrey Mayo to help us out.  Dr. Mayo just laughed and said it was a good thing we were able to save this one as he was about the best specimen of the breed he had ever seen! 

Parker as a pup a few months old.  You can see him on the right and still about a fourth larger than his sister.

 

 

Throughout his life Parker has continued to be remarkable.  He has had boundless energy and people have always been attracted to him.  Everywhere we go people stop us and tell us how handsome he is.  Then when they find out how old he is they just can't believe it. 

Parker still loves to play with a squeaky ball, be near one of his people whenever possible, give his opinion of any situation and sleep in the warm sun. 

Parker has slowed way down with his recent health and age related issues, but things have leveled off in the last ten days or so and he seems pretty comfortable for now.  Although he won't be able to travel anymore, the list of places he made it to is none too shabby.  Outside of his home here in the Northwest, Parker has been to Vancouver B.C., Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and most recently California.

Parker has been such a source of energy, love and fun.  I'm so glad we have been able to have him in our lives these past 15 years!