The Spike update: our life with a foster puppy...

It has been a while since I spoke in detail about Spike, our latest foster husky puppy.  He has now been living with us for four months and so much has happened in that time.

Spike!!

He has grown from a scrawny, bald 6 month-old puppy weighing less than 9kg, to a very hairy teenage husky weighing nearly 22kg!

He still loves people and remains the cuddliest husky I have ever known.

He loves food, all food and eats food quicker than Usain Bolt can run 100 metres.

He loves all toys, but destroys none.

He steals apples from the orchard… and then shares them with the gravel in our backyard.

He barks – that will be the “non-husky” part of him…

He has been on holiday with us and loved it. He got to swim in the lake, play with the children and watch humans run up and down a mountain, then drink beer and eat pizza.

Playing with a toy

He has started learning how to swim.

He still chases butterflies.

He loves to play with Kroi, Kez and Krofti – oh yeah, he even has the old boy won over…

He has never stolen anything, destroyed anything or even broken a “rule”…. Well perhaps that is not entirely true as he may have “bent” a few….

However, it has not been all good news.

Chilling with the Huskies Running team on holiday

A home was chosen for Spike, a “forever” home where Spike would live for the rest of his life.  We were optimistic that it would be exactly that…..
Sadly within 2 days Spike was back with us.
The chosen home were not able to cope with a happy, bouncy husky puppy wanting to learn about the world and where he fitted in it….

Before we considered other potential homes for him we decided to return to the vet to discuss the weakness in his hind legs.  A problem we have been concerned about since the day we met him.  It has improved immensely, but remains “not right”.

Long story short, this poor little puppy has hipdysplasia.  So much now makes sense with this diagnosis.  He has developed phenomenal pulling power in his forequarters, compensation for the weak hindquarters.  He refuses to accept his “weakness” and just gets on with life and makes the most of what he has.

Me, on the other hand struggled to cope with this revelation.  I had spent so long gently exercising him and then running very slowly and very short distances with him.  Watching his strength develop as quickly as his love of running I started dreaming of us running together…. One day adding him to the two brothers’ Huskies Running team and running a very, very fast mile together….

I solve problems by running.   I achieve all that I do with huskies through running.  Together we learn about life and understand each other.  Running is what we do and we do it well.  It had never entered my mind that running could potentially be detrimental to a husky.

Spike cannot run just now.  One day in the future Spike will be able to run again, but not until he is fully grown.  With the right rehabilitation and care he has a brilliant future ahead of him as a pet dog.  He will never be able to run in the way that well-bred Siberian Huskies can, never run ultra marathons for fun or run forever and a day.  Well if you believe the experts then he never will, but did a doctor not once tell me that I was a cripple and would never run again?  “Never” is such a very long time and what do these experts really know about the ultra-running mind and body of human and husky….

With his friends, during "Spikey Ultra"

So as we came to terms with Spike’s condition we considered his future.  His exercise needs to be restricted, which outside of our house and garden is easily controllable.  However our huskies do not know a life of restricted exercise.  They can gallop around to their hearts’ content any time of day or night and our large garden has become a husky “running track” to rival the Olympic Stadium.  We cannot completely change their lives for the needs of one husky.  Spike loves to play with our youngest husky and when together they are very competitive with each other.

We decided that Spike’s best option would be to go into long term foster care with foster carers more ale to provide for his immediate physical needs.  Unless an adopter came forward that was happy to help Spike through his adolescence. 

That was just over one week ago.  Things have now changed.

Last week Spike collapsed whilst out walking and I feared the worst.  I thought that his hips were worse than we thought and that the pain was just too much for him to cope with.  However as he regained his composure and started walking I could clearly see that it was his front legs that were causing him pain.

He appeared to recover very quickly and by evening was dashing around the garden with Kroi, but it was clear to see that he was lame, just not obvious which leg was the problem.

Thoughts of elbow dysplasia sprung to mind, if he has hip dysplasia then potentially he could have it in his elbows as well.  Since day one I have dropped hints about where I think his genes come from as I do not believe he is full Siberian Husky.  My first guess was German Shepherd, for so many reasons both physical and behavioural….

Closely monitoring Spike over the past week, we have seen him gallop around, oblivious to any pain and we have seen him struggling to walk on three legs, or even walk properly on any leg for that matter.

He visited the vet this evening with Spike, a vet that I trust implicitly.  I have spent my entire life searching for such a vet.  Now is not the time to give reasons why I have reason to not respect or trust vets, but I could give you so many…..  Please just believe me when I say that I trust what he says…

He spent a very long time with Spike today.  He gave Spike a very thorough examination and there were only two points when Spike reacted, showing clearly that he was in pain.

Our vet believes that Spike has panosteitis, PANO for short.  German Shepherd owners know about it even though it is very rare.  The only way of confirming this diagnosis is by x-ray.
If it is confirmed as panosteitis then it can be treated and Spike will have the future that he deserves.

And this is where we need your help.  I know that if I contact the welfare organisation there will be no hesitation is agreeing to have Spike x-rayed.  I also know that SHCGB welfare do not have a lot of money to fund every request that comes their way….

So now I am going to be very blunt.  We want to help Spike in every way possible and we need financial funding in order to do this.  Love will only help him so much…

Ian and I do not ask for much from others, but we are about to, for Spike.