Deco - The Dive Dog!

Siberian Husky
Surface Cover
Bacon Butty Fiend

Deco the Dive Dog is a Siberian Husky and his human is the club's Diving Officer. He's the unofficial club mascot following his unofficial appointment as surface cover on various club dives. He likes to help out from time to time. But, we suspect that's more to do with the bacon butties than the paperwork though!

And whilst he's not a qualified scuba dog, he does like to paddle, but only up to his chest. He's not at all keen on swimming, prefering to keep his paws firmly planted to the ground. So he is, arguably, inappropriately named given that he's not actually all that keen on the water!

Deco's Story

The story behind how Deco came to be with his human is a bit of a sad one...

His owner, James Neal, had previously owned another Siberian Husky, called 'Shadow'. James and Shadow were inseparable, he was, literally, James's shadow! They went everywhere together.

Sadly, Shadow passed away on the 1st November 2012, at the age of eleven and a half; James was devastated. So much so, that every night he still went out for a walk for him, until the 22nd December 2012, when he suffered a grade 4 subarachnoid haemorrhage and was found unconscious on the floor and rushed to hospital for emergency surgery.

Shadow - Siberian Husky

Deco was born on the 1st December 2012 and at the tender age of 8 weeks was old enough to find his very own human. So this timing happened to coincide with when James was allowed to leave Frenchay hospital.

It would be fair to say that the heartache was still very raw from the loss of Shadow and that having suffered the SAH no doubt compounded the situation.

James found himself at home, still extremely unwell, being cared for 24/7 by his wife, Dimple, and, for reasons lost to time, it seemed like a good idea to help the healing process by getting another dog. In hindsight it was a good idea as it helped James a great deal, but it was tough for Dimple as she was now having to look after her husband and a rather lively puppy!

Deco and James became inseparable, over time James's gradual recovery allowed him to walk a little further each day, and as Deco grew he too was able to walk further. As the weeks and months passed James and Deco went on increasingly longer walks, James was able to measure his physical recovery by the distance he was able to walk, but this came at a price, the ever present neurological fatigue would always take its toll after these walks, so they could always be found asleep together on the sofa.

When Deco was 9 he developed a nasty growth under his tail that served absolutely no purpose other than causing discomfort and irritation. It got nicknamed after a toxic, irritating individual, that James had the misfortune to know. Like the individual, the growth had to be surgically removed. The vets bills ran into the thousands but it was money well spent as Deco made a great recovery and, much like his human, was all the happier for having had the nasty little irritation removed.

As the years have passed the bond between them grew stronger and today they are just as inseparable as James and Shadow were. They have had many adventures together, Deco loves to go with James when he's diving, and doesn't like it at all when he is left at home, he waits outside, patiently, for his return.

He is your friend, your partner, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.

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