Run with your dog feature: Sandra Bowers shares the story of Spike, the Husky found as a stray
Spike the ever friendly husky puppy was found on the streets as a stray. We know nothing about his background other than he was very badly treated by humans. Spike has disabled legs (hipand elbow dysplasia) and in his present state he is unable to do much of what he and every husky loves - running.
He is under the long term foster care of Sandra Bowers, Ian J Berry and their pack of Siberian Huskies. Sandra is a Great Britain international ultra runner. However all of Sandra's successes have been achieved with a chronic ankle joint condition.
Through love, attention and the right veterinary treatment they are trying to allow Spike to fulfil his dream of becoming a running husky.
Sandra shares her philosophy on life and training practices with the pack of Siberian Huskies. She regularly wears compression clothing for training, racing and recovery. Knowing how well compression clothing works for human runners, she believes it could also be beneficial for a husky puppy that wants to run.
Why do humans take so long getting ready to go running? I hear the bleep, bleep alarm, then lots of grumpy noises, footsteps shuffling around upstairs and then the lady human appears. She guzzles loads of hot brown stuff that looks like muddy water and smells really strong, puts a torch round her belly and then puts on her trainers. And then she finally picks up our collars and leads and asks if we want to go out... Well she asks the big boy huskies - they get to go first while Krofti and I pretend that we are still sleeping.
I don’t know why she needs to ask them as the entire time she is faffing around, Kroi is squeaking and impatiently tapping her leg.
While humans take forever to get ready for running, all huskies have to do is jump out of bed and run to the front door while obligingly placing our head through the collar that she holds in her outstretched hand. We don’t worry about which clothes or shoes to wear or how our fur should be positioned.
Photos: Rehband compression & three huskies. Man human with cool compression socks
I have noticed that humans wear many different clothes and in many different colours. The man human wears nearly no clothes when he runs and the lady human wears loads of clothes, even when the sun is shining. I think she wants to feel like a husky wearing a fur coat when she runs, but I have never seen a husky with multi coloured arms and legs!!
Lady human always wears tight trousers after she has been on really long runs and sometimes she wears long socks and sleeves on her arms. Krofti told me that they help her feel better when she has worked hard and they make her legs not be sore for the next time she runs. He said they wear compression clothes and must be really good because lady human is a really good runner and can run really quickly and for a really long time. She also runs every day and doesn’t get hurty legs so they must be good.
I got really excited the other day when lady human appeared with a little jacket and put it on me. It covered my shoulders and front legs where it really hurts sometimes and I thought that maybe it was a special compression jacket to make them better. It was made of soft fleece and made me feel all warm and snuggly when I was inside it.
Photos: Running Naked - with only a collar. Semi naked husky - fully clothed human
I liked it lots and wanted to play with it, but lady human smiled at me and told me that I shouldn’t wear it all the time. She said that I would wear it when I got wet and it would help keep me warm. She said that I would wear it after my hydro therapy sessions. I must tell you next time about my hydro fun – I am allowed to run on a treadmill in water!!
The lady human and man human went out with the big boy huskies and left Krofti and me home alone, with the fleece jacket……
Well I did like the fleece jacket a lot and lady human did tell me that man human bought it just for me. Perhaps if it had a few modifications I could wear it all the time and do lots of running like the lady human…
When man and lady human returned with the big boy huskies I went to proudly show them my “new” jacket. Man human said a very bad word and lady human looked like she was about to cry!
But then she started laughing and said something about not leaving things lying around within reach of naughty puppies. I am not sure what she meant. Perhaps a puppy is going to visit here soon and she does not want him to play with my new jacket.
Photos: Keeping warm after getting very wet. Spikes personalised jacket
