The Spikes of Life

Spike in the early days

When Spike first entered our life as a pathetic and very underweight puppy in April 2013 he had been severely neglected and abused.  Our job as his foster home for SHCGB Welfare was to rehabilitate him and help him find a wonderful home.  We were a temporary home and transitional place on his journey of life. 

We helped him gain weight, grow a fabulous coat of plush fur and watched his personality grow and shine.  As he grew in body and mind we dreamed of finding him the perfect forever home that would allow his personality to fully shine.

Big Spike smiles

Sadly fate has not been kind to Spike and the combination of his ancestry and the extreme neglect in the formative months of his life resulted in a body that is very broken.  When we learned of the full extent of his disabilities and the prognosis for life we chose to adopt him and made a vow to give him the best life that we could.  As long as Spike smiled we would know that were fulfilling our vow to him.

In January this year, after his last CT scan when the full extent of his elbow dysplasia was confirmed, we were told to expect Spike to live for 6 – 9 months.  We are now near the end of September and he is still with us, but his condition has deteriorated and last week we feared the worst.

Last Sunday Spike ruptured his cruciate ligament and has walked (or hopped) on three legs since then.  This is putting huge strain on his other hind leg and both forelegs.  Not good news for a dog that has severe elbow dysplasia and hip dysplasia.

Doing what he loves best

Prior to the cruciate injury (sustained when he stumbled in a pothole yards from home), Spike had started showing extreme lameness in his front right leg (arm).  His ability to exercise had reduced and he was smiling less.  But in true Husky style, Spike found other ways to entertain his active mind and hedgehog hunting became a nightly activity.  He would head off outside every evening and wait for the hedgehog to enter our garden….

One of Spike's friends

Normally they arrived around 2am and Spike would greet the hedgehog with a crescendo of barking.  That was the cue for Ian and me to leap out of bed and rescue the hedgehog.  So far we have rescued and relocated three hedgehogs, much to the disappointment of Spike who still longingly looks at the fence line each night looking for his spikey friends.  No hedgehogs have entered our garden since Spike injured his cruciate, but we still have the special “hedgehog holding pen” just in case….   

It is very interesting watching Spike manage his pain and see how much he still smiles even though it hurts so much.  I find it especially humbling as I too have to manage daily pain in two of my joints. I am grumpy, miserable and having been unable to run for over two months I am really struggling to cope with normal life.  I refuse to take drugs and pretend that I can continue without an operation, ignore it and it may go away…

Meanwhile we give Spike drugs to make life easier for him and when surgery is suggested, we accept that it must happen and somehow we will find the time and money to manage.

Thankfully Spike has the most amazing sponsor and supporter.  Thanks to the North Pole Marathon Spike can have the operation required to repair his cruciate ligament.  There is only one surgical option available to him because of his elbow problems and it is very expensive.  It is called TPLO, if you would like to know more about the procedure please do have a look.

Without the help that the North Pole Marathon have provided, Spike would not be able to have this surgery which for him is life-saving.  Without this invaluable help Spike would not be able to continue smiling, something that we dream of continuing for the foreseeable future.

Dreams are what propel us into action and I am someone that dreams a lot.  I once had a dream that Spike and I would run together on top of the World.  Two beings with broken bodies brought together by their love of running and doing it on one of the most amazing places on this Planet.

Whatever the future holds for Spike or for me, neither of us is ready to give up running.  Spike will have his operation tomorrow and my surgery will follow in the coming weeks.

With Ian’s help and support and the support of people like you, combined with our joint determination to run I know that Spike and me will once again run together.  We may never actually run on top of the World, but in our hearts we will.