Meet Boots, the Island dog who just turned 21

All the kids in Charley Burke's family got dogs as kids.

Burke received her dog Boots — a Jack Russell terrier and poodle mix — as a birthday gift when she turned five. Over two decades later, Burke is nearly 26 years old. 

She is a new mom with an infant daughter, she is getting married next summer, and her childhood dog is still alive.

"It's really weird. Nobody expects their dog to be around 20-plus years later," said Burke from her childhood home in the Mount Stewart area, where she and Boots still live. 

"I never thought the dog I got when I was five, I would have pictures with my four-month-old 21 years later, but I have them.

"Every day you wake up with him, he's still here, so I'll take it as a win."

Together since 1999

Boots turned 21 last week, on Aug. 11. The pup was the runt of his litter when Burke's family got him from Dingwells Mills in 1999. 

Both of his dominant breeds, poodle and Jack Russell terrier, have a life expectancy in the 12- to 15-year range, putting him well beyond that. 

"He's a country dog. He runs the show, pretty much. He gets what he wants," said Burke. "That's how you get to 21, I guess.

"Boots is sassy. He knows what he wants and he's not afraid to tell you." 

He still signals to the family members when he wants to go outside, and will sometimes lift his leg and threaten to pee on the floor if they do not immediately oblige. 

Burke says Boots used to love to run when he was younger, but now he is more of a napper. 

Despite his age, Boots is still rather spry — prancing around the yard with the occasional stop to sputter and cough. 

'He didn't leave me'

In their 21 years together, they've been through a lot.

"I have shed more tears with that dog, or over that dog, than I have with anybody else for any other reason," Burke said. 

Boots has been there for her through family deaths and new and lost loves.

I know that there's more years behind us than there is ahead of us.— Charley Burke

"Last year my grandmother died and he slept in bed with me for 18 hours. He didn't get up, he didn't leave me." 

Burke says that despite her dog being over two decades old, Boots' health is better now than it has been in past years.

Four years ago, when he was 17, he fell ill and had to be taken to the vet. Burke was told it was either heart or liver failure.

"Neither one was good. I was pretty sure he wasn't coming home from that trip," Burke said.

It was diagnosed as congestive heart failure. Today, Boots' condition is maintained with medication and a diet of strictly human food.

He's also had to have teeth pulled, survived Stage 2 kidney disease, had a heart murmur that has since disappeared, and in March had a tumour removed from his lip. 

Burke cites Boots' stubbornness and "unwillingness to pass on."

Burke and her partner are getting married next year. She hopes Boots will be there, donning a bowtie with the groomsmen. 

"He's been around for every other guy, he may as well see the end of the boyfriend trail," she said.

Three generations of dogs

Boots wasn't neutered when he was younger, and Burke says he was a roamer — often visiting the neighbouring farm behind their home. 

"He got fixed eventually, but he was like 10 and had been done having babies for a couple of years by then … fixing him got him to stay home, but at that point there was already 60 babies," she said. 

Out of these litters of puppies, Burke's family also came to own Zoey, another small, mixed-breed dog whose father was fathered by Boots. 

If you're going to get a dog, this is what you're in for.— Charley Burke

"She is annoying to him. He likes to nap and she likes to bite his ears."

Burke's sister also now has one of the dogs from a litter of Boots'.

"We have three generations of the dogs in the family."

'They're your family'

Burke said it's hard for her to imagine what life will be like when Boots is gone.

"I know that there's more years behind us than there is ahead of us, but he's still here. So he's beaten every statistic there is. I don't know, he's here until he's gone," she said.

"It'll be a long, long time before there's another dog, because, I mean, that's my best friend."

Burke credits Boots' long life to her finding a great veterinarian and taking the dog for annual checkups, his last one coming on his birthday last week.

"If you're going to get a dog, this is what you're in for … if I said the amount I've spent on vet bills, my family would kill me, if they knew the real number," she said.

"21 years and a day, he may not be here. Just take care of them; they're your family."

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