Seattle chihuahua Willie is blind in one eye. How he came to his new family is a little story, which began with a young girl exclaiming, "Mom! I want a chihuahua!" Checking out the local shelters wasn't working out for weeks, as most shelters have only large dogs, such as are the most common cast-offs and hardest to find new homes for.

When a couple chihuahuas did arrive at a shelter there was a waiting list for them, and it began to look like adopting a shelter chi wasn't going to happen.

Just for a lark, since already at the shelter, she visited the cat room. Mom was surprised that among all those caged cats was one noisy yippity-yappity chihuahua.

Strangely he didn't make any sound whatsoever when other people passed by, but for this one mother on her lunch hour with a co-worker, the little critter barked furiously as though recognizing her. She bent down and the chi went batty. Her co-worker was saying, "That's the ugliest dog I've ever seen!"

He was sickly, half bald from mange, and squinty in the one blind eye. His jaw was crooked, having at some point in his history gotten broken in two places, the shelter thought due to a dog-abuser's punch in the side of his head.

As soon as the human finger started scratching him through the cage bars, he went totally still to soak up the attention. "Poor little guy!" said mom, and as she stood to leave, the dog went batshit again: "Yarp! Yarp! Don't leave me here! Yarpitty yarpitty YARP YARP YARP!"

The shelter insisted he wasn't healthy enough to adopt, and that seemed to be that. No home for that squint-eyed beggar.

Weeks later, a veterinarian who knew her family had long been searching for a chihuahua called up and said the animal hospital had an old chi that was desparate for a home. The vet had had him for a while getting him healthy.

By this time the decision had been made to just buy a pup from a breeder, but as a courtesy she went with her daughter to the vet's office.

By an amazing coincidence, it was that squint-eye dog, who focused his one good eye on his visitor with a whimpering magical recogition. And her daughter exclaimed with delight, "Oh mommy! He's so cute!"

So One-Eyed Willie had chosen his new owners and by a kindly turn of fate, he got what he wanted. His estimated age was already about eight years, and his shelter paperwork had been lost so if anything was known about his past, it was to remain unknown. Five years later, Willie's owner under the nom de plume "eyes4wild" told his story on the web, reporting on what a precious family member he became, and remains.

He's put on weight over time and now weighs a little over 4 pounds. His family plays dress-up with him though he likes to go naked (without even his collar) if it's a warm day. His costumes have included Pirate Willie with an eye-patch, Scarecrow Willie with a witchy hat, and Little Transvestite Willie in Pink Dress.

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