Deth

At some point in the late 80s or early nineties we used to go to John the barber to get our hair cuts. I guess at one point him and my dad were talking about hunting and it came up that the barber bred springer spaniels. One thing led to another and my dad ended up getting one.

He was a good dog but got spoiled for hunting by us all.

One of the things that I remember about him is how he would always obsess over smelling the stuffed pheasant my dad had on the mantle. He wanted it in the worst way. His short tall would wag like crazy and he’d whine and whimper at it.

Eventually the two dogs became outside dogs. I didn’t agree with it but I wasn’t able to do anything about. They seemed to like it outside and when we did bring them in when it got super cold out they just whined to go back outside.

Sparky was always on top of his dog house.. He slept there most of the time. It had an old blanket in it and everything we could to think of to make it warmer but he was almost always sleeping on top of it. Even in the rain and snow.

During the summer and fall when the apple tree that Sparky’s dog house was under was dropping apples you’d hear him randomly eating the apples. He seemed to really like to eat those apples.

Speaking of snow he loved going for a walk in deep snow. He’d really just jump his way through it as he did in 1996 when we had the big storm that left thirty some inches of snow.

He loved water. If there was water to be found he’d be in it for sure. If you left water in the bathtub with the bathroom door open he’d be jumping into the tub. If the toilet lid wasn’t down he’d play in the toilet water. His water dish was all over the floor. He loved to swim in the river at Neshaminy State park. We made the mistake once of letting go of his leash and he tried to swim after the ducks and didn’t want to come back. If you said bath he ran upstairs and jumped into the tub whether there was water in it or not.

When we went to the mountains he’d be swimming in the lake as soon as we let him loose. He’d get excited and whine and whimper as soon as we hit the dirt road up there.

When he was in the house he’d either sleep on the dining room table or radiator in the summer if no one was home to stop him. Once in a while he’d lay on the back of the couch. He loved attention.

At one point he had to have eye surgery because he had something called cherry eye. He had to have the cone on his head and that really made his long ears gross as the got food and water on them but never had a chance to really dry