When Catherine Morris’ family adopted Spike nine years ago, they determined that he would be a “downstairs dog.” But Spike, an English springer spaniel, had a different idea of how things should go.
“The first night we had him, we closed the stair gate and went to bed,” Morris told The Dodo. “He whined for a couple of minutes before jumping over the gate in the dark and trotting up into my parents’ room and straight up onto the bed! And that's where he slept from then on.”
During the day, Spike was full of energy. He loved to run around for hours and chase his tennis ball. At night, the pup would climb up the stairs to share the bed with his family. “He loves to snuggle up and tries to push his way under the covers to get as close as possible,” Morris said.
Now 14 years old, Spike has slowed down quite a bit. Morris and her parents were terrified that they might lose him after Spike suffered two strokes, but the faithful dog wasn’t ready to leave them yet.
For days after his second stroke, Spike couldn’t stand, so Morris and her parents carried him around the house. But the senior dog was determined to get better and relearned how to walk.
However, Spike still isn’t strong enough to reliably go up and down stairs, so his family had to block off his favorite place — the bedroom.
They knew Spike wouldn’t let his weakened legs stop him from trying to climb the stairs to snuggle with his family. So they set up their stair gate and came up with a plan to make the old dog happy.
Now, Spike's family alternate sleeping on the pull-out couch with him each night to make sure the pup doesn’t try to jump the gate. “This new schedule started while I was away at university, so my parents spent alternate nights downstairs with Spike,” Morris said. “Since I moved back home, I've joined the rotation so all in all we get a bit more sleep between the three of us.”
Spike’s dad takes special care to make sure his old pup is comfortable at night.
“They're absolutely inseparable,” Morris said. “My dad calls him ‘old bean’ and they're always chatting away.”
“My dad will also bring Spike his water and food to the sofa and feed him by hand to make sure he gets his medicines and keeps his strength up,” she added.
It's clear that Spike loves his family more than anything in the world, and his family will do anything to keep him happy for the pup's remaining years.
“We love our old boy so much and are so glad to have him in our lives,” Morris said. “Hopefully, we have made up for his not so good start in life by providing all the love in the world.”
To learn more about Spike, you can follow him on Instagram.
