Sparky was laughing too hard at my joke, so I knew he was just playing along. 

I told him that he was my little hot dog.  You know, because he likes lying by the fire.  It’s not even a joke, just an affectionate pun.

We both got it wrong.

Sparky wasn’t laughing at my lame word play.  He didn’t know what the hell I was talking about.  He heard “hot dog”, and liked where the conversation was going.

Sparky was not amused when he realized that no hot dog would be forthcoming.

He gave me that, “Whatchu talkin’ about Willis?” face.

If you aren’t up on Boomer memes, here it is in the original.

Like Gary Coleman, Sparky isn’t always a good-natured scamp.