Samantha Torpey got her dog Totoro (who is a Pomeranian) from a breeder in Mukilteo. "He started out as my daughter's dog but you know she's young so the responsibility ended up being mine. But he's such a great little guy it's fun to take care of him." Totoro is now three years old.

The name comes from Japanese "anime" cartoons and, "it's kind of a joke because he's so tiny and Totoro is like this enormous kind of pet thing that is an imaginary friend of this little girl." She calls him "Totes" for short.

Totoro gets Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance dog food, mixed in with Trader Joe's lamb and rice. For treats he gets rawhides and natural bones from the pet store. "Plus he loves all people food," Torpey added.

Something quite distinctive regarding Totoro is his theme song. "My boyfriend and I have this idea that he's this Nordic Viking because I read that Pomeranians were bred in Iceland. They were originally large and meant for doing actual work, which might explain his energy level. We have this thing that he's a Nordic Viking and we can imagine him on the prow of a Viking ship, with icicle encrusted fur, blowing in the wind and his theme song is "The Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin."

Torpey explained more about Totoro's personality. "He plays dumb but he's really smart," Torpey said in describing their day to day relationship. "He will act like he doesn't know what you are talking about when you ask him to do something. But every once in a while when he's in the right mood he'll do a trick." He shakes hands, and rolls over but it's highly situational.

"He loves going to Magnuson Dog Park," said Torpey, but he has no dog friends because, "he's too anti-social."

Like many dogs Totoro has an excellent nose and "He likes all the stinkiest smells," said Torpey.

One time he "Walked a bit on his hind legs. He was going for a treat that I had in my hand, but I didn't get my camera out in time," Torpey said.

Totoro, "Likes to hang out in his cave under my bed but then he comes out for morning cuddles."

Torpey has adopted a funny way of talking to her dog in which she puts and extra "S" on words so it becomes, "Oh you're so cutes," she said laughing.

"He's a crazy little ball of energy that reminds me of an animal on the Muppets."