Dog can’t climb stairs after stroke so family take turns sleeping downstairs to be with him
The Morris family felt like getting a dog about a decade ago, so they went to a local shelter and looked for the perfect pet for them.
It didn’t take long to find him.
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The Yorkshire family saw a beautiful five-year-old English Springer Spaniel and thought he would be the perfect addition to their family.
They named him Spike.
Although the dog, whose start in life was quite rough, was shy when he first saw them, he gradually got used to their presence and just didn’t want to leave them.
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“When we went to go and see him before we got him, he was quite shy. But when we took him on a walk, he kept looking back to see that we were still with him. So, we thought he had the potential to be a really great family dog,” they told GeoBeats Animals.
So, the family adopted him and they initially decided that he would spend his days and nights downstairs.
Or so they thought.
Yet, they had no idea that Spike would find a way to go upstairs with them. He just couldn’t be far from his human family.
“The first night we had him, we closed the stair gate and went to bed,” Catherine 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.”
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But time changes all things.
Spike got older and started having health issues.
You see, the senior dog suffered two strokes in early 2021 that left him unable to walk at first.
As long as he couldn’t walk, Catherine and her parents used to carry him around.
Thankfully, he was so determined to get better, that he relearned how to walk soon.
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However, he wasn’t able to climb up and down the stairs anymore.
His family was sure that he would hurt himself over the night by trying to do his old trick and jump over the stair gate.
So they made a plan.
They decided to take turns sleeping next to him on the sofa downstairs.
“He can’t go upstairs so well because his legs are too weak. So we just moved downstairs and now we take in turns to sleep downstairs with him on the sofa bed,” Morris explained.
It is true that at the time the family didn’t enjoy a good night’s sleep, but they were happy Spike could still enjoy their cuddles and they could enjoy his.
Catherine’s father even gave him water and food while the dog was on the sofa to make sure he would take his medicine and keep going.
“We love our old boy so much and are so glad to have him in our lives,” Morris said back in 2021. “Hopefully, we have made up for his not so good start in life by providing all the love in the world.”
A sweet goodbye
Sadly, the adorable pup passed away in August 2021, but he will always be remembered by his family and all the people who followed the sweet dog’s profile on Instagram.
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Learn more about Spike’s beautiful time with his family in the video below!
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Source: Geo Beats – YouTube, Instagram – spikethespringer, The Dodo