A Star is Born

Did I tell you about the time that Panther was a big star?

NO? What a shame. OK, here goes:

A while back, my friend Colby approached me with an interesting proposition. She was helping to choreograph a production of The Wizard of Oz... and they seriously needed a Toto. While, yes, the original Toto was a Cairn Terrier, Cairns are much larger and heavier than anything you would ever want to have to carry around in a basket for three hours. And considering stage actors don't have the privilege of "taking five" between scenes like screen actors, they opted to try to find a much lighter canine for the job.

Enter Panther - the five pound Yorkie with dreams of stardom and the personality of a diva. Colby ferried him back and forth to rehearsals and worked as his acting coach, trainer, and agent simultaneously. After smoothing out some logistical concerns, we grew his hair out a bit, and he took up a little more space on the stage than he otherwise would have.

A few hotdogs, pictures, and "awwww"s later, and we had a hit on our hands. The only challenge was figuring out how to keep the "munchkins" from wanting to pet him all the time. After a couple nights in the spotlight, Toto returned to just being good ol' Panther... although his ego had been turned up quite a bit.

Note to Self: Even at a mere five pounds, Dorothy's arm was ready to fall off at the end of each performance from carrying Panther around for hours. Now she knows how I feel when I take him shopping.