Our readers have spoken. Meet the cutest dog in Bellingham according to our poll, Boychik

After nearly 150 submissions and three rounds of voting in our poll to find the cutest dog in Whatcom County, we have a winner: a three-year-old mixed-breed dog named Boychik.

Boychik earned the most votes in each of our three rounds. The 4,085 votes he received in the last round of voting was more than the other four finalists combined.

Meet Boychik, Bellingham’s cutest dog

“Boychik’s a rescue,” Ken Bothman, Boychik’s human companion, said in an interview with the Bellingham Herald. “I met him on vacation in Mexico, which I’ve only heard about. I’ve never understood how people get dogs when they go on vacation.”

While Bothman wasn’t looking to adopt a dog on his vacation, after meeting Boychik, who was being fostered by a friend at the time, he changed his mind.

“I met a friend down there that was fostering dogs, and this little dog came walking into the room. I couldn’t believe it. I just thought he was so cute,” Bothman said. “He was a foster and I didn’t take him home instantly, but he came home three months later through arrangements.”

Bothman had Boychik flown up to Seattle, and has had him ever since.

“He came with the name,” Bothman said. “It’s a Yiddish name of endearment. It means like little boy, little fella, or like, good little boy. The foster parent was Jewish. I’m not, but I’ve been noticing it around. Like a friend of mine sent me a picture of a Boychik Diner in Colorado, [there’s a] Boychik Bagel in the Bay Area.”

Boychik is almost four years old, and while he’s a mix, he’s primarily Chihuahua according to Bothman.

“I did the DNA test,” Bothman said. “He’s mostly Chihuahua, And then there’s terrier, and then there’s some other random unknown. But he’s about half Chihuahua.”

Bothman already had a dog, Bubble, but thought that the two dogs could keep each other company.

“I got him as a companion for my existing dog,” Bothman said. “Bubble and I made it through COVID together.”

Boychik and Bubble spend their days in the office with Bothman, who co-owns Fiamma Pizza. But despite being Bellingham pizza royalty, it isn’t Boychik’s favorite food.

“He doesn’t know,” Bothman said. “I’ve never once given my dogs human food.”

When he’s not in the office, Boychik likes to run off-leash.

“They’re similar, both my dogs. They like to run. I have places I can take them off-leash that aren’t dog parks that have sort of no boundaries whatsoever, I have a place out in the county where they can just run free,” Bothman said. “They love sniffing around. They will chase critters. I think Boychik would climb a tree if he could.”

But that’s not where Boychik’s chasing skills, which Bothman attributes to his terrier genes.

“Boychik’s a champ,” Bothman said.” He’ll go and go and go and run as far as I can throw it. Every once in a while, he’ll do that thing where it bounces and he jumps up and catches it. I just kind of have a proud papa moment.”

Other finalists for cutest dog in Bellingham

Of our four other finalists, four-year-old Australian shepherd Sir Anthony Hopkins received the most votes, followed closely by four-year-old golden retriever Jessie, who took third place.

This story was originally published October 8, 2024 at 12:34 PM.