Devil dog

I think we have adopted a devil dog.
Peanut, the 10-pound, 9-year-old dog who came into our lives because of a yard sale, is one of the strangest dogs I have ever known.
All of our dogs have their eccentricities. Tip is afraid of thunderstorms, gunshots and cars that backfire. He tries to squeeze his large body under whatever table is available at the first rumble of a summer thunderstorm.
Brownie has the fiercest bark, but is the biggest wuss. If she really had to take someone on, she would probably keel over.
And then there is Major. I wouldn't know where to start with him. He only eats small treats. It takes him 20 minutes to eat a Milk Bone. So I have to buy special treats just for him.
But these weirdnesses take a back seat to this little Chinese Crested/Terrier mix who recently joined our merry household.
We'll start with how he eats. He sneaks up on his food bowl, growls menacingly, grabs a mouthful of food, spits it on the floor and then daintily scoops up one piece at a time.
I had been warned that his eating habits would be entertaining, but I had no idea.
Experience has taught me to make sure there's no food in his bowl overnight, because more than once the sounds of growling and spitting have waken me from a sound sleep. And it wasn't my husband...
Speaking of my husband, he is totally smitten with this dog. I never dreamed he would love Peanut so much. Every night before we go to bed, he has to "romp-a-domp" with Peanut - who sleeps with us. "Romp-a-domp" consists of a very spirited game of "bite the hand that feeds you."
Peanut is not interested in toys or tennis balls or even the other dogs. The Ump (my nickname for my husband who is an umpire) is his favorite toy.
The Ump's forearm is larger than Peanut, but he is very gentle with the little dog who is attacking his arm like a Tasmanian Devil, growling and hissing and drawing his lips back to bare his teeth.
Quite a sight.
Eventually, Peanut comes over to my side of the bed where he likes me to scratch behind his ears. When I do this, he makes odd little moaning noises - almost puppy whimpers - and grimaces, showing his teeth.
He also loves to cover my face with kisses which would be nice if he did not have the worst breath of any living creature I have ever encountered. He's got the tiniest ribbon of a tongue that snakes out between his sharp, pointy teeth and slaps smooches on us. Unfortunately it is accompanied by a smell that not even a mother could love.
Chronic halitosis, I guess.
Even as we speak, Peanut is in the living room growling at something. I think he needs to go out.
Oh, there's another thing. When he pees, he twirls around and checks out where he just watered the grass, only most of the time his back legs hang in the air when he spins. He can dance on his back legs and he really doesn't bark that much.
And when that lock of ghostly white hair falls between his ears and over one eye, he is actually quite charming.
Peanut can be a little devil, but we love him with all our hearts.