You've all seen folks walking their dogs. Maybe you've seen a cat on a leash or a rat in a pocket or a parrot or a monkey on a shoulder. But how many of you have seen a person walking his pet tortoise?

Tony Fabrizio walks Newman, his 86-pound Sulcata tortoise, around his neighborhood in a two-mile loop almost every day ... and he gets plenty of stares.

Sometimes there are near accidents when drivers suddenly see the pair of them and slam on their brakes to gawk. Often parents pull over and bring out their kids to watch and ask questions and maybe venture a stroke on Newman's scaly head.
Fabrizio, a retired salesman for Sherman-Williams Paint Co., is happy to answer their questions, but Newman keeps on stroking down the street. He's a determined young fellow, and not much gets in his way.

Yes, at 7 years old, Newman is considered a youngster. Sulcata tortoises (originating in Sudan) live to be 100 years old or more and are the third largest land tortoise. They usually quit growing at about 20 years old in the wild and at 10-12 years old in captivity. The largest weighed in at 250 pounds.

Growing up, Fabrizio owned several California Desert tortoises and always liked the hard-shelled creatures. So when he saw Newman in a pet store - at six weeks old and the size of a half-dollar - he gladly dished out $100.

"I used to carry him around in my shirt pocket," he remembers with affection. The pet store owner warned that the Sulcatas grew pretty big. "But I never knew they grew that big so fast!" Fabrizio said in amazement. "I thought I had 20 years or so."

At first, Fabrizio kept Newman in a Plexi-glass pen on a shelf in the house. At 1 year old, he was Frisbie-sized and allowed to roam the house. At 2 1/2 (and the size of a serving platter), he was pushing over chairs and moving furniture. At that point, Fabrizio's wife said he had to go outside.

Through trial and error, Fabrizio built a pen for the mighty tortoise, who can push through barriers a man has trouble moving. He lives in a child's play house (with a heater to keep him at 75-80 degrees during the winter), and has a plastic Igloo for summer slumber.

A long, dirt run and a few shade trees keep him happy ... until it's time for his walk. Fabrizio only has to open the gate and ask, "Hey, Newman, wanna go for a walk?"

When the tortoise was much smaller, Fabrizio trained him to walk on sidewalks by using a piece of cardboard to block his path whenever he veered off course. Now Newman walks straight as an arrow ... with only a few digressions, like when an especially interesting driveway or an extra green patch of lawn appears.

Newman knows the loop around his neighborhood so well that Fabrizio now has to vary the course. It seems that the stubborn tortoise recognizes the home stretch and balks. You can almost hear him whining, "Aw, c'mon, Pop. Just another block."

In case Newman ever gets lost, he has a dog tag with his phone number glued to the back of his shell. And a few years ago, Fabrizio had a veterinarian micro-chip him as well (in his shoulder). "I couldn't stand to lose him," Fabrizio said, then added sheepishly, "He's like a son."

Newman doesn't hibernate completely in the winter, but he slows down.

"That's when he gains the weight," said Fabrizio. "He eats twice as much!"

Currently, Newman eats a head of cabbage, a head of endive or escarole, a few zucchini squash and a cucumber every day.

"About once a week, I give him a banana or some watermelon, but too much sugary food can make him sick," Fabrizio said.

Tony weighs his tortoise once a year in January - the description of how he does it is hilarious - and Newman gained over 15 pounds last winter.