Puppy Love

There's a good reason that Kristen Stewart won the female lead in the "Twilight" franchise. She can be the most attractive girl in the group without being the prettiest - you get why she catches the eye of the school's alpha vampire, but she's accessible enough to invite regular-gal identification. Stewart occupies the same space in "Adventureland" playing Emma, a bored teen working a summer theme-park job who takes an interest in clumsy newbie James (Jesse Eisenberg), a brainy kid who's intriguingly out of place in his no-brainer job. James' ticket for Ivy League grad school is revoked when his dad loses his job, stranding him in Pittsburgh with a degree in comparative literature.

Paula Bielski, 10, of Glen Mills knows that one day within the next year her puppy Sugar will be leaving her, with only a small chance of ever returning. But that doesn't dishearten her. Sugar, a 5-month-old German shepherd purebred, is in training to become a Seeing Eye dog. "I feel kind of happy because she's going to lead a blind man, and that makes me feel good, that I raised a dog that will lead a blind man," Paula said. Paula said her only chance of getting Sugar back would be if Sugar had bad hips or some other defect that would cause her to be rejected by Seeing Eye Inc. of Morristown, N.J. Seeing Eye Inc., which is funded primarily through private donations, breeds German shepherds and Labrador retrievers and trains them as Seeing Eye dogs when they are 12 to 14 months old. Before that age, the dogs are given free of charge to be cared for and taught basic obedience by 4-H club members like Paula.

How sick is that doggie in the window? That - rather than the melodically famous "how much?" - should probably be the first question asked by local dog buyers. As vividly documented by Inquirer staff writer Karl Stark last Sunday, chances are all too good that a puppy bought from a pet store or large-scale breeder in Pennsylvania will have health or temperament problems. Pennsylvania breeds the most dogs of any state on the East Coast, and too many of them come from "puppy mills," mass operations where dogs are carelessly bred - leading to defects or nasty dispositions - or raised in crowded, dirty conditions that promote viruses.

Quick: What's the most popular television program for children between 2 and 5? If you guessed Sesame Street, you're dating yourself. Barney? So 1995. The undisputed champion of the preschool set is Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues, a half-hour romp starring a computer-animated, floppy-eared puppy named Blue and her master, the ever-amiable Steve. The show's premise is simple: Blue leaves clues, in the form of blue paw prints, all over the place. Steve is oblivious. Those in the audience are supposed to scream at the screen whenever they spot a clue.

In a community known for its thriving dog industry, one kennel stands out for the quantity and quality of the puppies it sells: Puppy Love. Owned by Joyce and Raymond Stoltzfus, the Lancaster County kennel sells more than 1,000 puppies a year, not all of them healthy bundles of love, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office. The Stoltzfuses agreed last month to pay $75,000 in fines and restitution to settle a lawsuit alleging that they sold sick or diseased dogs to 171 customers in seven states.

To every demographic, there is a heartthrob. And for the Black Entertainment Television- and Nickelodeon-watching hip-hop heads, his name is Lil Bow Wow. At the sold-out Tower Theater on Friday night, Bow Wow was last among Lils. Lil Johnny and Lil Zane, neither of whom is small in stature, preceded him. The openers failed to distinguish themselves, although their pleas for the largely prepubescent crowd to make themselves heard on the BET-sponsored Scream tour were successful.

Who: Jack Russell mix rescued by Northern Liberties' Street Tails, star in "Puppy Bowl VIII" on Animal Planet, 3-5 p.m. Sunday. Age: 15 weeks Found: At 7 weeks, 1.5 pounds, part of a litter in a box dropped off at the city's Animal Control & Care Team shelter in August. (Since they were too young for the city shelter, Street Tails took them in.) Now: Queen Village Naming rights: Adoptive moms Pat Bigley and Kate Donegan named him Josh Baskin after Tom Hanks' character in "Big," because when they first got him, he was so small, "People would stop us on the street to ask if he was real," said Bigley.

MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY is finally going to make an honest woman of his two-time babymama, Camila Alves . "Access Hollywood" reported that Matthew, who starred in local filmmaker Brad Furman 's thriller, "The Lincoln Lawyer," popped the question to Camila on Christmas Day. He said on his WhoSay account, "just asked camila to marry me, merry Christmas. " She reportedly said "yes. " The pair, who have been dating since 2006, have two children together – son Levi , 3, and daughter Vida , 1.   Puppy love People magazine reports that Hugh Hefner and his ex-fiancee Crystal Harris are fighting over custody of their Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Charlie.

Color, texture and fun get underfoot with these graphic floor coverings. Skip Hop's colorful PlaySpot is a padded surface for baby to play on. Available at Gene's, 122 E. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne, and www.shopgenes.com . Angela Adams' Island rug ($299-$1,599) splashes friendly dots of color all over. Available at Piccolini, 932 W. Lancaster Ave. in Bryn Mawr, and www.piccolinionline.com . Blossoms lie within the Boas Rug's sphere ($529). Available at BoConcept, 1719 Chestnut St., and www.boconcept.

Honey, who does your nails? Those scarlet-enameled talons belong to Lilith, a voluptuous vamp who has emerged from the primordial ooze to stage the sexual conquest of Los Angeles. Like most man-traps, Lilith teases her quarry with come-hither looks before breaking their hearts. Unlike most man-traps, when Lilith breaks your heart, she literally breaks it, ripping it from your chest and shredding it with her razor-sharp claws. Night Angel is the kind of horror show that puts the retch into wretched.

Who: Jack Russell mix rescued by Northern Liberties' Street Tails, star in "Puppy Bowl VIII" on Animal Planet, 3-5 p.m. Sunday. Age: 15 weeks Found: At 7 weeks, 1.5 pounds, part of a litter in a box dropped off at the city's Animal Control & Care Team shelter in August. (Since they were too young for the city shelter, Street Tails took them in.) Now: Queen Village Naming rights: Adoptive moms Pat Bigley and Kate Donegan named him Josh Baskin after Tom Hanks' character in "Big," because when they first got him, he was so small, "People would stop us on the street to ask if he was real," said Bigley.

MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY is finally going to make an honest woman of his two-time babymama, Camila Alves . "Access Hollywood" reported that Matthew, who starred in local filmmaker Brad Furman 's thriller, "The Lincoln Lawyer," popped the question to Camila on Christmas Day. He said on his WhoSay account, "just asked camila to marry me, merry Christmas. " She reportedly said "yes. " The pair, who have been dating since 2006, have two children together – son Levi , 3, and daughter Vida , 1.   Puppy love People magazine reports that Hugh Hefner and his ex-fiancee Crystal Harris are fighting over custody of their Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Charlie.

DEAR ABBY: I am a woman who is in love with my former high-school coach. I don't know if I should tell him. I first realized I loved him about a year and a half after I met him. We had an extremely close relationship, but it was not inappropriate. He is 13 years older than I am. After two years of getting to know him and forming a strong friendship, he moved across the country for work. Since then, I have entered college and we see each other only on holidays and in the summer. Every time I see him, we go back to our normal, wonderful relationship as though nothing has changed.

She's mad about the boy. But boys being boys, he doesn't share her enthusiasm. Not at first. She's a tween stalker, if they'd used that word for needy, pushy, too-interested suitors back in the early '60s. But she has a quality that makes them seem destined to be together. If only he could see that quality. If only he'd start passing those character tests life tosses in front of him. If only he could stop letting her down. "Flipped" is Rob Reiner's sad, sly and witty might-be-romance between Julie (Madeline Carroll)

Doreen Houseman is happy that her battle to gain custody of Dexter the pug has won the support of pet lovers across the country. But that's not what's important to her. Her case has set legal precedent in New Jersey, but that doesn't impress her much, either. Houseman just wants her dog back. Tomorrow, a second trial on the custody of the nearly six-year-old brown pooch is set to begin. The Williamstown woman plans to testify again that her ex-fianc? broke an oral agreement to let her have the dog after she moved out of their house.

There's a good reason that Kristen Stewart won the female lead in the "Twilight" franchise. She can be the most attractive girl in the group without being the prettiest - you get why she catches the eye of the school's alpha vampire, but she's accessible enough to invite regular-gal identification. Stewart occupies the same space in "Adventureland" playing Emma, a bored teen working a summer theme-park job who takes an interest in clumsy newbie James (Jesse Eisenberg), a brainy kid who's intriguingly out of place in his no-brainer job. James' ticket for Ivy League grad school is revoked when his dad loses his job, stranding him in Pittsburgh with a degree in comparative literature.

Surely, it is a sign of what a blogger named Matt calls the coming Chihuahuapocalypse. Roll over, Ren. Bow out, Bruiser. The Beverly Hills Chihuahua has eaten your chalupa. Sublimely silly and oddly poignant, Beverly Hills Chihuahua - that's right, the one with the talking canines - is Lady and the Tramp for lap dogs, Roots for pooches, Legally Blonde told from Bruiser's point of view. Graced with unusually expressive and seamless voice work by Drew Barrymore and George Lopez, the best of its kind since Babe , BHC is about Chloe (Barrymore)

Color, texture and fun get underfoot with these graphic floor coverings. Skip Hop's colorful PlaySpot is a padded surface for baby to play on. Available at Gene's, 122 E. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne, and www.shopgenes.com . Angela Adams' Island rug ($299-$1,599) splashes friendly dots of color all over. Available at Piccolini, 932 W. Lancaster Ave. in Bryn Mawr, and www.piccolinionline.com . Blossoms lie within the Boas Rug's sphere ($529). Available at BoConcept, 1719 Chestnut St., and www.boconcept.

A New Jersey couple is trying a new legal strategy against a big Pennsylvania dog kennel with a long history of consumer complaints. The couple say they bought an 8-week-old labradoodle named Maya with a clean bill of health, only to discover the puppy had a deadly disease. So they are taking the sellers to court - in New Jersey. Lewis and Stephanie Ostrander, of Upper Township, are suing under New Jersey's strict consumer fraud law. They claim Joyce and Raymond Stoltzfus, who operate CC Pets L.L.C.