I'm Leah

I’m Leah, and sometimes I’m a very tired certified hearing dog. I seem to always be on the move and even though my Mom and I are both quite small (I’m a Chihuahua and she’s less than five feet tall), we always seem to be doing something that requires me to be active.

She writes and photographs stories about motorsports and also reviews new vehicles. Because of the latter job, every week there’s a new car. Some are more comfortable than others for my little blue bed with the red airline blanket that I got on my first trip to Florida.

Sometimes I get lifted into cars; sometimes I jump. I really like to jump and that always surprises my Mom, Anne Proffit. She thinks because I’m just a six-pound buff and white Chihuahua, I can’t jump. Just ask the black Chihuahuas – we jump way higher than they do. I know, you’re thinking some Wesley Snipes line, aren’t you? White Chihuahuas can’t jump?

But anyway, riding in cars with Mom is always interesting. I know she drives a lot slower than she used to before I came to live here, which s most of the time. I think the only fast drives she has these days are when she doesn’t want pointy ears coming out of the dashboard when she photographs clean cars.

Sometimes she’ll forget I’m there and take a corner aggressively. My bed either goes to the central tunnel or to the door. Like that hip-hop song: From the window to the wall. Then she’ll look over with that soft smile and say, “Sorry babe. Don’t know what came over me.”

I’m learning a lot about cars. Quite a few cars have very plush seats and some others just don’t. You can get comfortable with a hard seat but you have to burrow into your bed a bunch. Now the Chrysler 300C, the second car we had after I came to work with Mom in late November last year, that had plush yet supportive seats. Easy to sleep on, for sure.

I really liked the Mercury Milan hybrid we had for a week and a half in Florida, too. Mom never had to shift her seat around much and I was able to sleep through sheets of rain. We couldn’t hear the radio but we got through safe as houses. I had to lick her face a long time when we stopped; that was a tough drive, even for a pro.

We did a lot of driving in that car, going from Orlando to Melbourne to visit Steve, up to Gainesville in that rain (and tornado warnings) for the NHRA race, back down to Steve’s for a couple of days, then off to Sebring for the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, then back to Orlando so we could fly home. It’s a great place to sleep.

She really likes the sports cars. When we went to Chicago in mid-January, we picked up a Hyundai Genesis coupe with a 3.8-liter V6. Sure there was some remaining snow on the ground but once Mom got into this car and hit the throttle, I knew it was hold-on time. She enjoyed that one – seats weren’t bad either, even though they were firm. The blanket sure helped.

We took that Genesis down to Indianapolis for the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA) annual banquet. Mom’s the western vice president and so we needed to pitch in before it all went down. We stayed with Debbie, Hector (a black Chihuahua) and Sierra, a pointer – also known as “Sierra no!” because she’s always getting into stuff.

Debbie’s got a great house with a built-in bathroom called a yard. We don’t have one of those in Long Beach. We use everybody else’s yards and regularly clean up my poo-poo with bags. We don’t have to do that at Debbie’s but we do have to make sure not to get out of the yard as she’s on a busy street. The space under her back porch is really nice. I like to sniff it out, even in the winter.

The day before the AARWBA banquet, we helped set up the tables at John Force Racing. All the mechanics pitched in to help and I had the best seat in the house. Mom put me on the dais so I could watch everybody else work. It was a nice change from always being on duty. The night of the banquet we tried to find something fancy for me to wear but I ended up with my usual orange vest. It fits, after all. I had my own seat because Debbie had to go to another function. Even got a little chicken to go with my usual dinner. That was cool.

We spent time with our friends Shane and Amy while we were in Indy and even saw Yogi Behr, too. Didn’t drink a lot on this trip – Mom was on such good behavior, especially since they were charging for drinks at the banquet. What’s with that?

To prepare for the racing season, when we got back home Mom took me to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana where the AMA Superbike riders were testing. She took the Mutt Muffs with her to test them for me while we were out on pit road. I don’t like them one bit, but when I shook them off the first time, I realized this was for my own good. I kept trying to scratch my ears when she put the ear protection on me – heck, I still do.

I didn’t mind the sound of the motorcycles but the next weekend, I had to live with the NHRA Full Throttle Series drag racers. But that’s for another time.