Sparky was not a Dalmatian, although she looked like one and did like to watch the fire trucks from the Belltown Fire Department race down Toms Road. She was a pointer/pit-bull mix. A very friendly pointer/pit-bull mix. It just shows that not all pit bulls are mean. She was a lover, not a fighter.
Sparky was not a very tall dog. She was sort of short and stocky, with lots of muscle. She weighed about 65 pounds. Like most dogs, she would eat just about anything, strawberries, bananas, cucumbers, cookies, dog food, biscuits, steak, potato chips. She ate watermelon right off the rind, just like kids do. Her favorite foods were pork chops, pizza and popcorn. She did not like sushi!!
Her favorite activities were playing tug-of-war, going for walks around the neighborhood, romping in the woods behind Dolan School, being on squirrel patrol in the backyard, licking everybody and everything, and wagging her tail. She did not like to take baths.
Sparky had many nicknames: Sparks, Sparkles, Sparky Barky, Sparkydukes, Sparkacita, Sparkalicious, and Spark Plug.
Sparky was a very enthusiastic dog. When she first met someone, her tail would wag like crazy and she wanted to jump up and lick your face. This would go on for about five minutes. It was just her way of saying hi! After she did that, she would calm down quickly and be your best friend.
Sparky’s “birthday” was April 24. That was the date we picked her up from Adopt-A-Dog’s kennel in Armonk, N.Y., in 1999. (She was born sometime in 1998, somewhere in New York City.) Sparky was one year old when we got her. She was already named Sparky, so we kept that name.
One day soon after we took her home, Sparky chewed through the wire to a lamp when it was plugged in. She must have gotten quite an electrical shock because she never did that again!!
She had two beds, one in the sunroom and one near the living room. On warm, sunny days we sometimes would move her bed from the sunroom to near the front door. Sparky loved to sleep in the sun.
Sparky went to the doctor regularly for check-ups and to get her shots. She did not mind getting her shots. She knew they kept her from getting sick. Sparky also had two knee surgeries when she was young, but thanks to the folks at Rippowam Animal Hospital, Sparky was as good as new after the surgeries, chasing squirrels and rabbits and barking at cats. However, she did have a little arthritis when she got older, which caused her to limp occasionally.
Of course, Sparky did have some bad habits, as all dogs do. She liked to look for old snacks in the garbage cans in the house, sometimes dumping them over for a little piece of an old cookie. She liked to sleep on the couches and chairs, leaving them covered in her white hair. And she liked to make like a big, bad watch dog, barking loud and long whenever a dog or strange person passed the house. Well, I guess that’s not really a bad habit. It was her job and made her feel important.
There were two ways to tell it was the real Sparky and not an imposter. Her left ear had three white spots on it. And the tip of her right ear was missing. She came that way when we got her. Who knows what happened to Sparky when she was very young and roaming the streets of New York City.
Dexter
Dexter loves to chase bumblebees! He’s always in the garden sniffing around the flowers looking for them. And, yes, he has been stung by them. But he still keeps chasing them!
Dexter is a pit bull/hound mix (we think foxhound). Like Sparky, he weighs about 65 pounds. He has big front paws, and he can run pretty fast (faster than Sparky).
Dexter is the most gentle dog I’ve ever had. He’s a big sweetheart. Dexter seems to like everyone he meets. His favorite thing is just to have someone sit next to him and pet him (all day long!).
Some of Dexter’s nicknames are Dex, Dexy, Dexy Poo, Bub, Bubbie, Mr. D, Mr. Softee (because he’s so nice!), and Pokemon! We call him Pokemon because sometimes on his walks Dexter is soooo “pokey” (which means slow), and since he’s a male dog he’s a “man.” So, “pokey”-“man,” or “Pokemon”!
Dexter’s “birthday” is May 7. Like Sparky, that’s the day we adopted Dexter from Adopt-A-Dog, so that’s the day we celebrate his birthday. We adopted Dexter when he was two years old (he was born sometime in 2015 in Fayetteville, West Virginia). His name was Killian when he was rescued from the dog pound in West Virginia, but Adopt-A-Dog changed it to Dexter, so that’s the name he had when we adopted him.
Speedy
Unfortunately, Speedy passed away March 5, 2026. We would have celebrated her 34th “birthday” May 23, National Tortoise Day. That was the day we used as her birthday because we couldn’t remember the exact date we got her.
Speedy was not a turtle. She was a tortoise. Tortoises are land animals; they cannot swim like most turtles. And Speedy was a female tortoise. A female tortoise’s shell is flat on the bottom, while a male tortoise’s shell on the bottom is concave (curved inward).
We got Speedy from the Westchester (NY) Reptile Show in 1997 when she was five years old.
Speedy was a hingeback/leopard tortoise, although we usually referred to her as just a leopard tortoise (because of the spots on her shell). A hingeback tortoise has a hinge near the back of its shell that it uses to close the back of its shell, protecting its rear legs and tail from predators. When we first got Speedy in 1997, the hinge on her shell worked, but since she never had to use it to protect herself from predators in the wild, the hinge fused up and didn’t move back and forth anymore.
My son David gave Speedy her name because he thought it was funny, but Speedy was pretty quick for a tortoise, at least when she was younger. She was always on the move, walking around the house. And when she used to visit schools, I’d always have to watch where she went because she really liked to roam around. She got “lost” once at the back of the stage in Springdale School in Stamford, CT, behind all the chairs and boxes and stuff, and we couldn’t find her for about a half-hour!
When Speedy was younger, she was a bossy little tortoise. Sometimes when Sparky was laying down, Speedy would walk up and keep pushing Sparky with her head to make poor Sparky move and get out of her way! And she even pushed Sparky out of her bed, twice!!
But Sparky and Speedy were friends, and so were Dexter and Speedy. But Speedy was never bossy with Dexter. Maybe she was just getting older and didn’t want to try pushing Dexter around.
We bathed Speedy every morning in a plastic tray. This helped to keep her clean and her skin moist. It also provided her with water to drink.
We fed Speedy every morning. Her diet included leaf lettuce, carrots, endive and fruit. Speedy liked lots of different fruit, including strawberries, bananas (her favorite!), apples, blueberries, watermelon and canteloupe.
Speedy loved being fed strawberries and blueberries by hand, but you had to watch she didn’t bite your finger because it would hurt! (Well, just a little bit.)
Speedy was a cold-blooded animal from the desert so she needed to be kept warm. She had a cage with a heat lamp, where she spent the night. During the day, she had the run of the house, although when she got older, she usually just found a nice place to hide. She loved hiding behind the computer or in the closet!
