Sunday, October 3, 2010

While it's running...I'm posting!

This is LOLA.
I know that I'm running the risk of everyone counting up my critters and deciding I'm insane. But I'm thinking that if I get my photos either on my blog or on Flickr, they will be saved.
So here's the story of Lola. the dog that was never supposed to be mine.
Yes, I have a bunch of STRANGE dogs.
If you recall, I have Jimmy (the secret agent) who crawls everywhere on his belly.
And I have Ralphie, who likes to sit up in my weeping willow trying to catch squirrels.
Well this is Lola. She likes to keep watch out the front window. Luckily for her, she has my down-filled loveseat for a watch-out tower.
You might think that she looks a like CRAZED in these photos but NO. This is her relaxed face.
Around anyone else, she growls and hides and will bite if necessary.
SO...Here's the story. I have a dog named Button. And since I have a HERD of small dogs, my sister thought that I might be open to the idea of re-homing one of them to a wonderful and very very wealthy couple(we are talking 3 cars- Mercedes, Lexus and Jaguar for two people -wealthy). So, I thought OK. Button could be adopted to them. This is Button:
Button
Then the day came to take her to them. I wrote a letter all about her personality and likes and dislikes and I packed up her favorite toys and got it all ready. Then I called my sister up in hysterics. I was sobbing. I couldn't do it. And besides breaking my heart it would also break Claude's.
This is Claude.
Claude LOVES Button. They play all the time. They are perfectly matched. Button is bossy and bitchy, and Claude is sweet and submissive. In theory it sounded like a great idea but when the time came, I couldn't do it. My sister was FURIOUS. I was very sorry but I wouldn't change my mind. I figured since they had never even seen her that it couldn't be THAT traumatic and besides...
Because of all this drama I went on a search for another dog for them. I had gotten Button from a breeder who didn't want her anymore because she had turned 5 and he always stopped breeding at that age. So one of my co-workers called him and asked if he had anyone else he no longer wanted and he said YES! and he came right over to my DAY job with Lola. He was carrying her like a sack of potatoes and just "dumped" her in my arms. She was STIFF from fright. She had one leg stuck out and wouldn't even pull it in close to her body. She was frozen in fear. I took her back to my office in the Boarding area and laid her in a basket and she didn't move. I called my sister and she came over and I handed Lola to her. I said she would probably be better once she knew she was safe. So my sister took her to her old home (that they are working on) and put her in the bathroom there and then went back to their new home. Later my sister called me and said they took her some food but she won't come out from behind the toilet and that she bite my niece. She was MAD.
I said to leave her alone and I'd come get her after work. Later she called and said they had gotten Lola leashed and outside but she didn't want to come to them and was scared to death. When they got her inside she ran behind the toilet again.
SO...I went over there after work and got her and took her home. After about 10 days at my house she was playing and running around. So my sister came over and I leashed her up and she took her to the wealthy couple. Lola froze. They weren't up for the challenge so my sister brought her back to me. Then a wonderful retired woman that we know said that she would take her and work with her.  I brought Lola to her on a Saturday and told her to call me if she had any problems. So she called me on the following Wednesday. Lola refused to come out from behind her sofa. She had been there since Saturday. The woman said she was apparently eating the food she put down in the kitchen sometime during the night and pottying on the kitchen floor. She said that she had tried everything to get her out from the sofa and only ended up getting bit.
I went over to her home right away and I walked into the living room and leaned over the sofa and called her name. She ran right out to me. As I held her, she wrapped her front legs tight around my arm and hung on for dear life.

Now she lives at my house. I had an incident a while back where she got into it with my old dog Rosie.
(STOP COUNTING!!!)
and she knocked 2 of Rosie's teeth loose. I took Rosie in and Doc just yanked them out with his fingers. I told him that I noticed that Lola's boobies were swollen and full of milk but there was no way she could be pregnant because my males are all fixed. He asked if she was "guarding" any toys and I said yes, that is what started the fight. He said that Lola was having a false pregnancy! So I needed to get her spayed as soon as she was through it. I made an appointment after her milk dried up but she went back into another pregnancy before it could be done! After that we just decided that I would just bring her in as soon as she was over this one. So, I got her fixed but while she was there I had to get her out of the kennel for the techs because she was trying to bite everyone. After surgery, they ran and got me because she was waking up faster than they had thought she would and they wanted me to carry her back so that no one got attacked. ....
So, that's why I have Lola. She follows me everywhere unless she's on WATCH or is playing with Ralphie, the tree dog. When my sister comes over, Lola runs up the stairs and growls at her through the banister.
My sister looks at her and shakes her head and calls her "BROKEN". She's said to me "Why would you want a dog like that?" and I tell her that I have no choice. She picked me. She's my dog.

4 comments:

sassypackrat said...

You are a wonderful person! And you are so right, she is your dog.

denise said...

nothing against your sister...I think...but dogs know stuff. That attitude of "why would you...?" won't be the same when she's cranky, ill and old and wants someone to be there for her and love her.

Not only was Lola traumatized from the change of her normal life, but also maybe wasn't treated so well by the breeder, then to be brought here and there not knowing why? plus her body was doing things that would make her protective of a future litter in her mind.

OK, I'm done. some things get me going.

Anonymous said...

I did not count. I am not one of those who asks "how many." I have "more than my share" as do most of my friends. We also work in animal medicine and support rescues and shelters and do our best to make sure each one gets the attention (and everything else) they need. We do not own clothing without pet hair (and in many cases drool.) New furniture is not high on our list of priorities. A vacation usually means a rescue transport.
There are multiple pet households that are not hoarders yet we get looked at the same way by people who do not understand.
Would I turn my back on a pet in need and say, sorry- I've done my share? Not in this lifetime.

But I did a post showing most of my dogs and then had a change of heart quickly.

Anonymous said...

I did want to compliment you on how well she coordinates with the couch.