This is Lola.
She’s cute, huh? It’s really a good thing that she is as cute as she is…..because SHE.IS.TROUBLE!!
Last summer, we lost our precious Golden Retriever, Lucy, at the age of 10. Eventually I might be able to write a post about her and losing her. But I’m still not ready yet. She was kind of like the glue that held things together. She could calm down her wild Lab brother, Munson, and she gave the girls a soft place to fall, cry, and hug. For me, she was my girl. And that’s as much as I can say about her right now (the tears start that easily….even now).
So onto Lola. Our family was used to having 2 dogs. The girls have only known having two dogs together and our Lab, Munson, was lonely after losing Lucy. So I started pushing for another dog. My husband knows when that push happens, you kind of just have to sit back and watch it (in other words, there’s no stopping me). We knew we wanted to rescue a dog so I started looking at the Humane Societies and shelters. One day, I drove about 40 minutes to see a dog on the other side of town and was so disappointed when I saw her and just knew it wasn’t the dog for us. On the way home, I decided to make one more stop at the Atlanta Humane Society just to see if there were any puppies that weren’t on their website.
Her name was Goldie at the time (if that’s not a sign – I don’t know what is) and she had just been fixed earlier that morning. Her face was all I needed to see…
Could you pass up this face???
I knew she was the one. We went back the next day, were the first in line when the doors opened, and grabbed her as quickly as we could.
Flash forward to few months ……Lola is by far the wildest, most rambunctious, crazy dog we have EVER had! She has eaten SO.MANY.THINGS!! J’s soccer cleats, pencils, a straw hat, Christmas lights, a computer charger, one AirPod, and….finally….the last straw….my Tory Burch flip flops. She gets carsick almost anytime she gets in the car (surprise surprise after the random things she eats), she STILL chases the cat, she doesn’t understand how to fetch anything, and she is THE most sensitive dog I’ve ever been around (which means if you yell at her, she will lie down and refuse to move).
That’s definitely NOT her hat!
She dashes out the back door every time we let her out and races to the back fence where she proceeds to bark and whine at the dog that lives behind us….even if said dog is nowhere to be seen and not even outside! She has eaten through our fence in 2 places because she is so determined to get to her 8 lb nemesis. She “talks” to the dog that lives next door and has almost dug a “secret” tunnel over to their yard.
She barks ALL the time – inside, outside, at invisible things….she’s not picky. Her tongue is extremely active!! She’s constantly licking and kissing everything and everyone!
Always with the BIGGEST stick she can find….
But she’s also a pretty great dog (my husband will disagree with this statement). She wakes us up every morning with kisses – but only if she sees you move or sees your eyes open. She is fiercely protective of the girls – especially J. She sleeps in her room every night and J covers her up with one of her favorite blankets before she falls asleep. She is definitely a guard dog and keeps an eye on the front, back, and side yards to make sure nothing is going to get her people.
Although we’ve been trying to break her of the habit of jumping, she always jumps on me, lays her head on my chest, and gives me a “hug”. And then coats me in kisses.
She LOVES her brother, Munson. Recently, we left them at a boarding place down the street (shout out to K9 Coach – the best daycare/boarding place ever). They have video cameras set up so you can watch them play while you are out of town. I watched one day and immediately spotted the dogs. Munson was lying down on the ground and Lola was running after any dog who came anywhere near him. When I say she’s fiercely protective, I mean it!
We really don’t know what her life was like before we got her. We know she was found in the woods in north Georgia. Considering how sensitive she is and how much she HATES being yelled at, I think chances are good that she may have been mistreated. She desperately wants to make everyone happy all the time. I know for sure that she didn’t have a family or owners that she trusted. It took us quite awhile to prove to her that we are HER people and will never leave her.
Daycare flunkie (how many dogs FLUNK daycare?!)
Lola recently turned the big ONE! I think she’s calmed down a little. She wants to be by our sides at all times and whines and barks when J leaves the house. You can always find her in one of the girls’ rooms, cuddled up on one of their beds. She is a lover and still trouble but she is OUR trouble!
I’m sure there will be many, many stories throughout her puppy years. I’ll share them here and hope they’ll bring you a little laughter or happiness!
The “indestructible” pool met the destructible Lola! She was very proud of herself after this activity.
Happy dog!!
Bless You and yours ! This si such a bittersweet story…All about taking in homeless animals. Stay well and safe .