If I knew Gaston would be such a joy to have around, I wouldn't have taken him in when I first laid eyes upon him two years ago.  He was not beautiful in the least; in fact, he was one of the ugliest creatures I had ever seen.

He had fur on his legs, on his ears, and on his tail, but other than that, he was bald, completely bald.  He was a Chinese Crested, a rare breed bred in China.  They are not easy to love, but like all dogs, they can be loyal, affectionate, and extremely intelligent.  He had big, bug dark-brown eyes, ears that stuck straight up like little flags, an inquisitive little face, and a sharp, yappy bark that got our attention.  For what he lacked in size, he made up for it in personality.

He was, in his own special way, cute, almost to the point of being adorable.  And once we got to know our new pup, we couldn't help but falling in love with him.

Gaston loves to play and run around; however, because he is mostly bald, he is prone to sunburn or illnesses like heat exhaustion or heat stroke.  Whereupon, whenever it is blazing-hot out, we keep him indoors, right by the air conditioning unit (and then we dress him up in a warm sweater and put booties upon his spindly legs, so he doesn't catch a chill and get sick).  We have to be extremely careful with our little pet.

Gaston loves our children, Tyffani and Robert, very much.  They think the world of him; they love sharing their treats with him, playing games with him, and just generally spoiling him with lots of extra attention and love.  Gaston isn't hard to please:  as long as someone is paying attention to him, then he's a happy camper!  We love him, too, and he is a great conversation piece:  whenever people see his unusual markings and lack of fur, they are always curious and begin to ask us questions, which we are more than glad to answer.

Gaston is in perfect health, as long as we don't let him get too hot, cold, or sunburnt.  We know what to do to ensure he has a long healthy life:  regular checkups at the vet's.  Regular trips to the canine dentist's.  Feeding him healthy foods or snacks.  Making sure he gets plenty of exercise and attention.  We also know that we have to take the necessary precautions to keep him safe and secure (and to keep the neighbor's cat from beating him up; our neighbors next door has a 30 pound Maine Coon who would love to tear Gaston a new butthole; they do not like each other at all!  LOL).

Once last week, "Killa" the Maine Coon tried to take a plug out of Gaston's back.  Gaston ended up with a nasty scratch on his back; we had to nurse him by putting antibiotic cream on it after we cleaned it, and to calm his fears; poor little thing was trembling hard and whimpering, as if to say, "Mommy, Killa got me again!!  I'm hurt; please fix me and make me better!"  It was pitiful!

Well, Gaston is wanting to go outside (probably to check his "pee-mail" LOL); just as long as we make sure he stays out of Killa's way, then we don't have to worry.  Poor little thing is so vulnerable with having very little in the way of fur coverage!