Sparky the Dog With No Eyes and Randy the Humanitarian

This post is about a blind dog named Sparky and an amazing human being named Randy. Take a watch of the video below (Randy does not work for any news station – he is just a bit of a joker).

About Sparky. Sparky has no eyes. But he now has a loving home. He and his dog-buddy Rex where adopted together from Dog and Kitty City, a no-kill shelter in Dallas. When Sparky came to the shelter, as Randy tells it, “He had one eye missing and the other eye was the weirdest thing I ever saw. It didn’t look real it looked like plastic. It was infected so they had to take it out.”

About Dog and Kitty City. Whenever I am in Dallas, I try to spend a little time with Randy at Dog and Kitty City. I can’t think of enough good words to describe the staff and volunteers there: optimistic, caring, competent, warm people. If they find an animal in a bad way at their doorstep they figure it out.

Dog and Kitty City survives based on donations, so if you are inclined to help, click the word bark or meow. Bark. Meow.

My favorite room there is the cat room (this shouldn’t surprise anyone). It is where all the resident-cats hang out. (Apologies for the hallway picture quality, the cats just wouldn’t stay still?). Whenever I go into the cat room, I feel really popular.

About Randy. Randy volunteers at Dog and Kitty City and, prior to Sparky and Rex being adopted, he developed a bond with them, taking them for walks, playing with them, giving them happiness. This is the kind of person Randy is. If Randy encounters a human that needs help or an animal that needs help, he will take the time to do what he can.

When Randy lived in California, he volunteered at PAWS. PAWS stands for Pets are a Wonderful Support. Imagine if you were alone and had to go to the hospital or where bedridden. Now imagine how you would feel if, because of a hospital stay or immobility, you had to lose your dog or cat. And that is where PAWS steps in. “PAWS believes that the healing impact of the human-animal bond is one of the best supports available for medically vulnerable individuals, and mounting evidence indicates that this bond can yield valuable health outcomes.” PAWS volunteers assist clients in caring for their pets through dog-walking, in-home cat care, foster care, transports to and from the veterinarian, providing food, and much more.

Randy and PAWS — Randy and one of the PAWS client dogs doing a selfie.

One of many examples of Randy’s altruism: One day (when I lived in California also) Randy called me and asked if I would help him move a TV. It was a large, flat-screen model. I was like, “Wow look at you.” He made it clear the TV was not for him, it was for an immobile senior whose dog Randy walked. Randy had asked his client what she did all day. She said she loved to watch TV. He asked her why she wasn’t and she said the TV had broke. And this is why Randy needed help moving a new TV. What a gift!