Boatie is a 2-year-old Jack Russell mix living the life, but he wasn't always this way.
When he was only an 8-month-old puppy, he was found on the streets of Tijuana, Mexico, with a startling disfigurement.
The puppy's face had dark splotches spread in between his two eyes. When doctors took a closer look, they realized the lumpy pieces of skin on his face were actually venereal canine tumors, a form of cancer usually spread through mating.
A woman named Jenny Armour of Open Arms Rescue took the little guy in to stabilize his condition and raise him back to health. The best and most proactive option was chemotherapy, which Boatie endured for months. Finally, his tumors were all gone and he was given a clean bill of health.
Then Boatie met a man named Tristan Mangaeden, and both their lives changed forever.
In the video below, posted on February 7, 2017, Tristan recalls, "We kind of looked at each other and he looked up at me and I just kind of knew, like yeah, this is going to work."
Tristan heard Boatie's story and quickly realized how similar he was to the survivor dog. He was a survivor too.
Tristan has beaten testicular cancer.
"I had, um, seven rounds of chemo and he's had 10, so he's had more than me," he explains.
The duo relate to each other in a way that not every pet and their owner can and that has strengthened their bond.
Boatie's condition spreads through mating and licking active tumors. It is important to identify these tumors and give dogs suffering with the condition the proper care they require.
In the end, Tristan is just glad to have met his survivor dog.
"It's just unbelievable the contrast, the original, to see what he's gone through," he says. "So, there is this kind of a grateful loop between us that, you know, we found each other."
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Warning: The video below contains content that may be too graphic for some viewers. Please watch at your own risk!
