Spike — avp

Spike was a Rottweiler and the canine companion of Fiorina "Fury" 161 Class C Work Correctional Unit inmate Thomas Murphy.

Spike was attacked and impregnated by a Facehugger that arrived on the planet on board the USS Sulaco's EEV, and as such it was he who brought the Runner to the prison and later died birthing the Dragon.

Biography

After the EEV that brought Ellen Ripley to Fiorina 161 is recovered, Spike barked at a nearby Facehugger hiding in the wreckage, but was attacked and subdued. Murphy later found Spike in his room with the dog's face lacerated from his struggle with the Xenomorph creature, mistakenly assuming that one of the other inmates had attacked him out of cruelty. While the prisoners were attending a funeral service for the deceased Rebecca Jorden and Cpl. Dwayne Hicks the Runner that had been gestating inside Spike violently emerged, killing the dog before it escaped into the prison's ventilation shafts.

Ironically, Spike's owner Murphy would become the Xenomorph's next victim when he mistook the creature for his missing dog.

Trivia

The Special Edition of Alien³ removes Spike completely. Instead, the Runner gestates inside Babe, one of the prison's oxen (which are never seen in the theatrical version). Spike is also absent from the novelization of the film, which follows the Special Edition's plot as it was written before the film was altered to the theatrical version.
While Spike was removed entirely from the film's Special Edition, Murphy can still be heard calling for him in the vent shaft just before he is killed.
The Rottweiler replaced the original ox host because the latter was considered too cumbersome an animal, whereas the Xenomorph in the film was intended to be fast and lethal. As such, a vicious dog was deemed to be a far more appropriate host.^[3] Many of the film's crew were disappointed by the switch, as they considered the use of a dog too reminiscent of the dog-creature seen in John Carpenter's The Thing several years previously.^[4]
It is not clear how Spike came to be in Murphy's care on Fiorina 161 as prisoners would not be allowed pets. It is possible Spike was previously a guard dog at the prison, left behind when the facility officially closed and subsequently adopted by Murphy.
In the comic adaptation and Alien³ cards, Spike is known as "Sparky".