Woof woof Wednesday: meet Eduardo

Meet Eduardo, a sweet brindle-colored beauty. Eduardo's mom is Emily Dougherty, Beauty & Fitness Director at ELLE Magazine.

Emily found Eduardo, AKA “Ed”, at the house of a nice, eccentric lady on the Jersey shore who simply had way, way too many dogs— literally baskets and baskets full of puppies, overflowing with puppies, puppies tumbling out everywhere! Even as a baby, Ed was always breaking out of all this lady's enclosures— she called him Houdini. At this point, he was the size of a burly mouse— a literal and figurative handful. Emily liked him because he was always doing his own thing, and she was lucky she got to bring him home: the lady called her the next day to see if she'd trade him back for two or even three of her remaining puppies, because she missed his little head and the cowlick on his face that looks like a flame. But Emily was never giving him back.

A Miniature Pinscher, Ed has an unusual color and pattern for his breed. Most min-pins look like tiny Dobermans, but Ed looks more like a tiny tiger-striped deer. He has long, dainty legs and a floppy ears that Emily could never bring herself to crop. And he prances like a show pony— or like the world's smallest reindeer.

Now, at home during the day, Ed follows the sun as it moves across the floor. Emily calls him "Sun Dog." He's like a canine sun dial! Most of the time, it just means Ed being sprawled in the center of the living room, but other times she'll find him perched on a windowsill among the cacti— Emily with absolutely no idea how he got up there, and Ed with no idea how he'll get down. Often at the end of the day he's determinedly squeezed into the deepest corner of the sofa catching the very last triangle of afternoon light.

Otherwise, Min-Pins are notorious burrowers— it's what they were bred to do— and Ed loves to burrow deep into blankets— and cuddle! He takes his job as Chief Cuddler very, very seriously— whenever Emily has houseguests, he makes sure to burrow in and cuddle up with each person in the house every night. During the holidays, when family descends, this can mean four of five stations per night! But he always visits everyone.

Since Emily's son Magnus came home nine months ago, a lot of things have changed in Eduardo's life. He now has to share the floorspace with someone roughly his own size, and he has someone helpless to protect—another job he takes very seriously. But perhaps the biggest change is that his favorite "snack" quickly became pacifiers— he'll go to great lengths to get one, both because he knows how fun they are to chew on and he knows for sure that he will absolutely be the center of attention as we chase him down to try to get it back.