Over the past few weeks we have seen a huge change in Little
Boy Blue [Spike].
He now looks like a
typical young husky, albeit with legs and ears too big for the rest of his body! He is still a little underweight, but has
good muscle development and gets stronger by the day – this is most noticeable when
running down hills and he realises that he can run faster than me…
His little personality is shining through and his love of life and humans
is lovely to see, especially when you consider the trauma his mind and body must have endured prior to his rescue.
is lovely to see, especially when you consider the trauma his mind and body must have endured prior to his rescue.
He still has a huge appetite with table manners that need a
little refining... Last night he demolished 6 chicken wings in the time it took Kez and
Kroi to munch two chicken wings!
Unfortunately this style of eating does sometimes leave a nasty odour in
the room a short while later, Spike is certainly an accomplished bottom burper….
This little boy loves all humans and wants everyone to hold
him and cuddle him. Most people shy away
from his requests, but there is a male human not too far away that will happily
satisfy this puppy’s on demand cuddle requirements – it makes a change from the
three grown up boy huskies that only like being cuddled by the female person that runs
with them!
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| Running with his favourite human |
Spike ran his first 5k race with Ian last week. Not a proper race, but an organised event
with lots of other people. Ian had fun guiding
him around the trees and geese on route – Spike still needs to learn a few
directional commands! Great fun was had
by both of them and it will be interesting to see how he progresses in these
events.
I have been running him every day, sometimes twice per day,
but only very short distances. Mostly he
runs either alone with me or with Krofti -at a pace that can best be described
as “leisurely”.
I started running him in harness a few weeks ago as part of
his progression into the “working world of Huskies”. The first time he wore a harness I attached
him to Kez hoping that he would naturally run beside Kez and copy his
behaviour. Kez is a highly focused
worker and nothing will distract him from his “job” - including an over
enthusiastic and irritating puppy trying to bite his ears….
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| Running with Kez |
Our first few runs as a threesome were less than perfect,
but Spike is now starting to understand what our runs together mean and I don’t
think it will be long until I will be running properly with all three boy huskies.
In the meantime I decided yesterday that I would run him
with Kroi in harness. The difference in
Kroi’s behaviour when he is running in harness versus collar is nothing short
of amazing. He has phenomenal strength
and enthusiasm and when in full flight we run run sub five minute miles
together. He is still young and
sometimes his enthusiasm his hard to contain….
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| Starting out on our adventure with Kroi |
However, I need not have worried. Kroi was an absolute star and very tolerant of
Spike’s attempts to bite his ears and trip him up as we ran. Spike soon gave up as his playful behaviour
was ignored and every time I asked Kroi to speed up he leapt forward beside him
and pulled into his harness.
Kroi guided
him around corners and obstacles and we ran along at a rather fast pace. Careful not to get carried away, I frequently
stopped and walked. We ran beside the
river so that water was always available, Spike wasn’t convinced about standing
shoulder deep in water and watched by the side as Kroi happily bathed.
We also stopped to “talk” to the ponies, some nuzzling and
gentle nose touches between husky and pony always a delight to see – although I
think Spike preferred eating horse poo and left the socialising to Kroi!
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| The Huskies Running Team... |
(Photos thanks to Paul Hammond, Ian J Berry & me)
