Spike: Negotiating Mountains together

A smiling Spike

It was with great trepidation that we decided to take Spike with us on our little family trip to North Wales.  Only weeks after major surgery on his hind leg and currently under very strict restrictions combined with the fact that he struggles to cope with new situations had us thinking that the best option would be to leave him at home.  

Life has been very stressful lately for our little “family” and we were concerned that our plans could potentially compound the situation.

A sad Spike

The three Siberian Huskies we have had since babies are very flexible and relaxed about their attitude towards change and new things.  They follow my lead and if I am cool about it, then so are they.  Spike has a completely different attitude and struggles with any form of change.  He needs to eat in the same place, sleep in the same place and keep his toys in the same place (neatly arranged in his sleeping quarters in the living room of our house).  “New” or “different” brings fear to Spike and brings about a very negative response, a responses that can be both unpredictable and hard to manage.

Spike’s recovery from surgery is very slow, fraught with worry and full of fear and there are many occasions when it feels like we have huge mountains to climb together.  Precipitous peaks that we fear will never be negotiated satisfactorily.

However, Spike is an integral part of our family and to leave him at home would have been both heart breaking and worrying.   We decided to take him and deal with come what may…

Scary sand, where paws sink

The good news is that we (okay me), over-thought the situation and Spike absolutely loved his little family holiday and thrived on the experience.  In the past three weeks he has not smiled much, but while we were away he smiled a lot.  He ate very little, but that is okay as food is not a priority to him and never has been.

Spike got to meet lovely people and watch the Snowdonia Marathon, where the love of his life (Ian) ran an amazing time of 2:56.  One of his ambitions in life was to run a sub 3 on Snowdonia Marathon and this year he totally nailed it!  I personally think that his 5 am very fast running with Siberian Huskies on muddy hills helped him a little bit. Ian believes that it was solely down to the beer and pizza that he consumed before the race at the awesome Gallt-y-Glyn.  The reality is that he works very hard and digs deeper than most when he needs to.

Spike went to the beach for the first time ever and his response was both heart-warming and heart-breaking.  He loved the waves as he watched them crescendo on the beach.  But he was petrified when his paws sunk into deep sand as we walked close to the surf.  He dropped to the sand, scared to walk further.  I tried to convince him that it was safe, but I failed and we had to return to the sanctuary of the other huskies and Ian that were waiting for us on the sand dunes.

Meeting a jelly fish... I try to help

Meeting a jelly fish

Spike also met a jelly fish.  Sadly it was a dead jelly fish left on the sea shore when the tide ebbed away to the ocean.  When he first saw it, Spike froze and tried to leap over it.  But I was determined to help him understand that although he needed to “respect” it, there was no imminent danger.  He hesitated and tried to approach it, appearing confused when he saw his reflection upon its shiny surface.  He stood staring at it for a very long time before slowly advancing forwards and “testing” it with his teeth.  

After that he decided that all was well and whenever we went near it he tried to pull me towards it!  I guess that must mean that Jelly Fish taste nice, perhaps a little like a jelly bean?

Meanwhile we took one of the other Huskies over to “meet” the Jelly Fish and he merely looked at the creature for a millisecond and tapped it with his paw before moving on to explore the rest of the beach.

I wonder if Spike dreams like I do...

We are home now and as I write, Spike is sleeping in his special place with his toys nestled against his back.  He is smiling and looks very content.  We made the right decision taking him with us, of that I am sure.