Jonathan Lipnicki bounds up the stairs of Jay Silverman's photo studio. His mixed-breed dog, Edgar, follows closely behind. The ten-year-old actor looks exactly as I expected he would: spiky blond hair set haphazardly above a smiling round face. The only difference is that his signature round spectacles have been replaced with a pair of funky yellow-tinted frames. "Jonathan's experimenting with new glasses," his mom, Rhonda, laughs.

The kid star, who charmed audiences in Stuart Little and Jerry Maguire, is not very interested in introductions - he's way too busy chasing and hugging Edgar, the four-year-old dog his family adopted from the local animal shelter. The energetic pooch seems to like attention, which remains constant throughout the three-hour photo shoot.

I'm able to snag a few minutes to chat with Jonathan during his makeup session (he does his own hair, thank you) and when he and Edgar aren't mugging for the camera. After just a few questions, one thing becomes abundantly clear: This boy LOVES his dog - and he's thrilled to tell the world about him.

Here's what Jonathan has to say about life with Edgar, his 26 pet mice, and working with animals - both real and animated - on TV and in the movies.

Q: Looks like you and Edgar are good buddies. Do you always have this much fun together?
A: We play a lot. We like to run around and then fall on each other.
Q: Where did you get Edgar?
A: From the pound. We've had him about four years - four years today. Right mom? ["Right," Mom answers] We celebrate his birthday in May.
Q: How do you celebrate his birthday?
A: We have a birthday party for him and get him a big bone. He gets really happy and we sing "Happy Birthday" to him.
Q: Did you help pick him out?
A: No, my sister picked him out when I was on The Jeff Foxworthy Show. She said, "Oh, you have to come see this cute little dog." So after work, I went over with Alexis and saw him. He tried to follow me. But there was a wall separating each dog and he walked right into the bricks.
Q: So it's kind of like he picked you out.
A: Yeah, but he was also following Alexis.
Q: Do you like to take Edgar for walks?
A: Yes, but sometimes he walks me. He's a big dog. I like to throw him the ball, but he never brings it back. He wants me to chase him for it. If I throw him a ball and say "Hey, Edgar, fetch!" he'll go get the ball and then run from me.
Q: Do you help take care of him?
A: Yes, I'm the person who feeds him. Alexis has to clean up the poop. I'm glad I got out of that job. I got the good end of the deal on that one.
Q: Do you want any other pets?
A: We might want to get another dog. But Edgar is a really good dog. Edgar lived with us in Germany for three months while I was filming The Litte Vampire.
Q: He did? How did Edgar like it in Germany?
A: He loved it. The food in Germany was really bad, and I didn't want to eat it. I got really, really skinny. But Edgar got really, really fat. He was the only satisfied customer.
Q: What was it like filming in Germany?
A: It was really nice filming in another country, in Germany and Scotland. But it was even better because I had Edgar with me in Germany. He kept everyone happy. He wasn't allowed in Scotland because of the law. One time when we were in Germany, we were eating some McDonald's. It was me, my dad, my sister, Edgar and mom, and all of our actor friends who were in Germany. We left the table for a minute and when we came back to check on Edgar he had eaten all the McDonald's. He ate it right off the dressing-room table.
Q: Did he have a stomach ache after that?
A: He was fine.
Q: At pets.com, we sell a lot of things for dogs and all kinds of pets. If you could give Edgar anything from pets.com what would you want to give him?
A: A thing that made him obedient. He's a really nice, good dog, but he should get a little more obedient. I have been able to teach him how do do some tricks. Like sit, shake. When you say "Shake," he puts up his paw. He stays, and he comes. Me and Alexis and mom and dad train him. He listens to Alexis. He thinks, oh, she's my big sister, I must listen to her. But Jonathan, he's my little brother, so I must be disobedient to him. He's pretty good with my mom and dad, too. But he acts like he's my big brother.
Q: Do you have any other pets?
A: I had a lot of pets. At one point I had about 28 pets. 26 mice and Edgar and a cockroach.
Q: You had a pet cockroach?
A: Yes. He was a good pet. He recently died. I also had two fish.
Q: Where did you get your 26 mice?
A: I was given a mouse when I was filming Stuart Little. The day after Halloween I found a bunch of babies in the cage. Turns our Stuart was a Stuette. I gave the babies away to the pet store. I kept the original Stu - Stuette - but she just died.
Q: Did the mice make good pets?
A: They are really good pets. They are really smart. And Edgar liked them. He would just spend the day sitting there and watching them play. But they are really noisy. They used to keep me up at night, so we moved them to the living room.
Q: Would they run around on their wheel all night?
A: They broke their wheel. They hated it so much. They bit it open, and then they turned it over to make it into a little tent. They knew a lot of tricks.
Q: You got your acting start doing a commercial with a really sweet Bulldog. You were giving him a bath outside. What was that like?
A: That was really fun. At that time I didn't have my own dog. Working with the Bulldog made me realize I really loved dogs. He was really a good dog. The dog loved being washed. He's not like Edgar. Edgar hates getting a bath. But this dog liked water and bubbles, so it was easy.
Q: What was it like working with an animated mouse in Stuart Little? How did you work with a mouse that wasn't real?
A: It was nice to work with an animal who wasn't really there. I would look at a laser dot, a piece of tape, or a little Stuart model. I just pretended the mouse was there. I also got a taste of working with real animals in Stuart Little because I worked with the cat who was in the movie.
Q: Was it more difficult working with a cat than with a dog?
A: Well, it was really simple working with the dog [in the commercial]. What he had to do was simple. But what the cat had to do in Stuart Little was really hard.
Q: Sounds like he was a pretty well-trained cat.
A: Yeah, and they tricked him into doing stuff, too. They had a laser, and the cat would follow the laser and go where they wanted him to go. They had really good trainers working with the cat. Snowbell was my cat in the movie, and there were about 10 different Snowbells. Every Snowbell could do something different. One Snowbell was the camera cat, the other was the climber. Every Snowbell had a different real name.
Q: Do you like working with animals on film and in TV shows?
A: Yeah! It's really enjoyable. Because it's kind of like real life, you can play with and love the animal - unless you play an animal abuser. In all the movies I've been in, I love animals. I have not had to play an animal abuser. I wouldn't want to play a role like that. I would get too sad. I would think of Edgar and I would never want to hurt Edgar.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I'll be filming Stuart Little 2 this fall.
Q: Will you be working with those same cats?
A: I don't know. I'll be working with the same human actors.
Q: In the TV series Meego, you played a little boy who had a dog. It was a Jack Russell, correct?
A: Yes, his name was Barkley. He was a really smart dog and really easy to work with. He was opposite of Edgar; he was small and obedient. Barkley had a little twin sister. Barkley would do good acting, and Pixie would do good kissing. Pixie was a licker. The trainers put all this food on me that Pixie liked, and she would lick it off me so it looked like she was kissing me.
Q: Sounds like you've learned a lot about working with animals? Is it sometimes hard work?
A: Sometimes. Like when I had to pick up the cats in Stuart Little. I tried to pick up the climbing cat. That cat had long nails to climb with, and she stuck her nails into the couch and I couldn't pull her up. I had to learn how to hold the cats too.
Q: You seem pretty used to these interviews and photo shoots.
A: Pretty much. But not Edgar. He's just getting used to having his picture taken.
Q: Did you give him any advice on how to work the camera?
A: No, but I did teach him how to stay. He likes me. He likes a lot of kids. He's really good with kids. When people come in they will pet him and say, "Oh, how are you doing?" He likes that. But if someone just comes to the house, like the mailman, he will go "Grrr."
Q: Do you think he will behave today?
A: Yes, because I think he will like looking at the camera. Just like me.