When Catherine Morris’ family adopted Spike, the English springer spaniel, nine years ago, they determined that he would be a “downstairs dog.”But Spike had a different idea of how things should go.“The first night we had him, we closed the stair gate and went to bed,” said Morris.“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.”

Most of us give in. They’re too cute. We get them for companionship after all. It’s also hard to train them to stay away from you for hours.So Spike lives his life full of daytime play and nighttime snuggles.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 Spoke is a survivor and wasn’t ready to leave yet.

While his second stroke made it hard to stand, much less walk, Spike is a fighter and worked hard to regain his abilities. Alas, the stairs are just too much for him.

This means the bedroom where he’s slept with his parents for the last 9 years is no longer accessible to him. Sure, he might try, but it’s better that he doesn’t.

So the Morris family has come up with a plan – block off the stairs (just like they did nearly a decade ago to keep him from going up there in the first place), but give him what he needed downstairs.

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.

It appears that Spike’s favorite sleeping companion is dad – the two are inseparable.

“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,” said Morris.

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.