My Little Family - Part 1: Lola
A Dog By Chance
My family had had a pit mix growing up, Pudge. He was a great dog, mild mannered, calm, and moderately active. I'm an animal lover, so after he died I had this yearning for some animal interaction. I actually ended up volunteering to walk dogs at the animal shelter briefly. But I knew I wanted another dog, and I knew I wanted a pitty.
This was right around the time of the Michael Vick dog fighting fiasco, so pitbulls were all over the news. I remember reading through a magazine covering the story and it showed the surviving pitbulls that were being relocated to new families. I thought they were the most beautiful dogs and became kind of obsessed with getting one, I watched a lot of Cesar Milan for a while.
I got a call one day from my uncle's friend, someone who never calls me. He said he was bringing me a dog, a stray from the city they lived in. It was about a two hour drive and he said once I had her I could either keep her or give her to the shelter. Once he showed up he drop kicked her out of the car, told me she'd been snacking on some donuts and beef jerky, and left right away. Lucky for me she was just about a perfect dog.
Bonding Time
In the house she was pretty comfortable, I let her up on the couch and pet her for a while, you know, to put her at ease.
I figured she'd need a walk, and boy did she, she had so much energy the walk was a run 90% of the time. I took a toy to throw for her and we played fetch til I felt like stopping because she wouldn't. That day was the start to one of the best relationships I've ever had.
A few days later she dove into the backseat of my parents car to introduce herself. Lucky for them she had just been swimming, making ducks fly off as she belly flopped into the water. She's always loved a good swim, and they ended up loving her just about as much as I did.
Daily Routine
Since we've been together, Lola has always demanded a walk. She's always nuts when I get home, and if I delay more than a few minutes she'll start following me around, looking with the puppy dog eyes. Walks are what she lives for, and belly rubs of course. Once there's any mention of the word, or if I'm putting clothes or shoes on, she thinks it's time.
She's relentless, if I walk her early, she expects to go again in the afternoon. We used to take to walks a day when I had the time and she was young and spry. She's the one who got me interested in hiking. What started out as walks in the city quickly turned into hour and a half hikes everyday. She used to pout when the walk was too short, sometimes defiantly sniffing at the end of a walk and refusing to get in the truck, other times she'd ignore me at home. She'd get hurt if you took her around the block. But something was always better than nothing!
Lola is slowing down a bit now as she's getting older. She used to go as hard as she could on walks and now has some pretty rough muscle knots. She still doesn't miss a chance to walk, even if she's gimpy she tries to power through so I have to watch her and make sure she isn't over exerting herself. She loves a good snuggle and always gives me kisses if I massage her.
I never thought I would love a dog so much, she's been more than I hoped for and I don't like missing a day of walks with her either. I don't know what my life would look like without her. She's part of my family and I love her.
Do you have any pets you love as if they were a member of the family? I'd love to hear in the comments, and be sure to include photos!
Thanks for reading! Lola gets a chicken tenderloin for every upvote she gets, fatten her up!
Wonderful to celebrate an animal friend in one's life! I've always heard people say that it's nice to have a dog because of how much the dog loves them. I kinda think it's the other way around (although of course dogs do love unconditionally). I think it is humans who are allowed to love the animals by the animals themselves.......I mean how often are we rejected with our affections etc by other humans, such that we just stop showing affection for fear of rejection? Happens a lot no? But dogs, they allow us to love them and shower them with affection. And the welcome when one returns home - just out of this world! - what human displays so much excitement to see you that they piss themselves, literally? :)
Nice to meet you Lola!!!!
Haha this is a great comment man, it's too true that dogs and probably other animals have affection figured out. I think we are conditioned to hide our emotions and close ourselves off to the world. Dogs can be a great model for us to learn from on how to be open to love, and how to love the simple things in life :)
Agree with what you say there, totally :). As for other animals, I have a year's experience of living with a cat - I'll use Eckhart Tolle's words to give you a sense of my experience (I used this in a comment elsewhere too, but the expression is great):
"I have lived with several Zen masters, all of them cats!"
I've never lived with a cat, but I don't mind them, they seem to just be doing their own thing which is great.
I haven't read much Tolle or listened to him often, but his views seem to align with the guys I follow, that's a great quote haha
Made a couple of observations on Shanti's doggy simplicity over the past couple of days, thinking about our exchange on this post :)
btw, read a book called Dogs Never Lie About Love reflections on the emotional world of dogs a year or so ago - very insightful.
Nice, thanks for the recommendation, my pup is the same about walks, even a short walk she appreciates, she's greedy about food though haha
Oh yes...we have 13 dogs and we are so in love with them, they are family and friends...we enjoy running and walking and playing with them, or just kuddle up on the sofa and fight for some little space to put my own ass....hahahah...this is Penelope
Haha what a doll! Thanks for sharing :)
Lovely story and a real special bond you have there. I haven't had a dog since childhood (quite a time now) But my extended family do and having just lost their dog that they had for years, it was really a huge loss of a family member to them. Dogs do offer love unconditionally, that's something we humans aren't always the best at. Nice insight, thanks.
Ya, it's crazy the bonds we can make with animals!
Lola is a great dog, there is no doubt. She bonded with you the instant you got her. A rare thing I believe so maybe it was meant to be. Pudge was the BEST dog ever, so hard to compare the two. But because Lola lived with us while you worked in GF, we had to get a new dog also after you moved. And Rosie, while being a great dog in her own way, is not quite the same as Lola. That is the beauty of dogs, they are each their own individual.
yea, Rosie is a bit quirky, they all have a unique personality, it's always interesting to see how they open up as you get to know them. Lola is probably a bit too comfortable now haha
Dogs is everything!! Always best friend!!!
Most dogs are capable of understanding up to 250 words and gestures.