Cutest puppy ever?

Mama Wendy is a Shar-Pei mix, and fairly big; she weighed about 50 lbs. when I rescued her, and was at least 15 lbs. underweight. As I picked up her 11 puppies one by one to carry them to the car, we noticed a wide range of sizes, and when I came to the last puppy I exclaimed at how tiny and thin he was. He was wriggling and full of life, but it was obvious he hadn't been getting much milk and couldn't compete with his much larger siblings. The volunteer who was helping me impulsively offered to take the puppy home and give him the extra care he needed. I knew the foster of the emaciated mom and the other 10 puppies would have her hands full, so I accepted her offer.

Wendell, a.k.a. Duke, had a lot of obstacles to overcome. Besides being skinny, he battled with kennel cough, coccidia (an intestinal parasite that causes diarrhea), corneal scarring due to entropian (a condition where the eyelashes touch the eyeball and cause irritation), a large lump on the side of the neck that may have been "puppy strangles" and a scabby-looking skin condition that may or may not be ringworm. He also hasn't grown much; he's about 7 weeks old now, and only weighs about 2.5 lbs. Could his daddy have been a Chihuahua?? One of his littermates is so big, I have to wonder if HIS daddy was a mastiff!

Wendell's foster mom has done a great job caring for him, and now I get to puppy-sit while she's out of town. He is mostly over the coccidia, the kennel cough is gone, the lump on his neck disappeared, and he's getting eye drops for the entropian until it can be corrected surgically; the only problem that isn't under control yet is the unknown skin condition, but we'll figure it out. He's eating like a little piggy, and loves to play with soft tuggy toys, other dogs, and my foster kitten Ivory. Just watching him toddle around makes me laugh.