Nobody asks how Mr. Angel got his name. Just glancing at the 8-year-old pup explains it all. Although we had to wonder how this pooch got so durn cute.

Mr. Angel/submitted photo

When I posed the cuteness question to Mr. Angel’s owner and faithful TC.com reader Eric Heithaus, he had to whisper the response.

“Mr. Angel hates it when I tell that story,” he explained in hushed tones over an e-mail. (You can hush tones over an e-mail by making the font really small and italicized.)

“I’m told in heaven, where all the cats and dogs are made, they dip the pets in the ‘vat of cuteness’ (VOC),” Heithaus wrote. “They dip them for one second and then send them to earth and other planets. Mr. Angel accidentally fell in VOC at closing time Friday and was left in over a three-day weekend. That’s what I have been told.”

Mr. Angel/submitted photo

Despite Mr. Angel’s somewhat perhaps less-than-macho name, the “Mr.” part clears up the pup’s gender and Heithaus says he’s never had anyone make fun of the angelic moniker.

He does add, however, a pet name for the pet came out of the Mr. Angel title.

“We have found when said very fast, ‘MrAngel’ sounds like ‘Strangle,’ which is his nickname.”

Sawyer doesn’t even want to look at Mr. Angel’s photos as he gets miffed when others are so small, fuzzy and cute. He got especially huffy when he learned Mr. Angel loves to play fetch, and actually lets go of the ball when he brings it back, and enjoys tug of war without ripping the rope in half and hiding it under a bush.

Phoebe said Mr. Angel looks likes a fine playmate and incredibly loyal companion, although she’d still rather play with the latches on the rat cage in her attempt to break in and eat my pet rodents.

Do you have a pet that rivals Sawyer? E-mail photos and comments to rynski@tucsoncitizen.com

Follow Sawyer on Twitter or he’ll kidnap Mr. Angel and hide him beneath a bush.