Lola’s Memorial
We had no intention of getting another dog. At the time, we had and still have "Mattie" a female blue merle Australian Shepherd. But I was looking through the local newspaper in Dripping Springs/Driftwood, TX, outside of Austin in the Hill Country, and saw the photograph of "Lola" here on the left. I had never seen a dog look so forlorn and seemingly completely absent of any hope. My only thought was, "This dog has never had a break and needs one." An overwhelming feeling came over me that literally compelled me to go get this dog. We found out she had been bred until she could no longer and then the breeder brought her into a kill shelter where Karen rescued her. She was never taken care of, just used to make money then discarded like a piece of garbage. I was blown away that somebody could do that to a living being. Plus they had let the dog go blind and she had severe heart worms. The kill shelter told Karen she was 14 years old, but she was likely half that age but the breeder said 14 just do cover up the neglect and abuse of the dog. This was all an epiphany for me as I knew the world had evil in it but never believed to this extent.
So we took her into our home. Amazingly our Aussie became the 'wingman' for "Lo" and always guided her safely around until she had the house mapped out in her head. She was very very smart. They became best bud sisters. Demonstrating yet again, dogs are far nobler than most people these days. "Lolo" as I called her had physical special needs due to her years of lack of care, but we felt honored and privileged to deliver on them. We started to laughingly refer to her as "Benjamin Button" as she actually appeared to get better and younger as she aged with us. See the "after" photo on the right. Initially, since we were told she was 14 when we got her, we thought maybe we would only have her for a year or so. But she lived another 7 years with us. Despite all her ailments, she was an incredibly happy and active dog. She used to sleep on my chest with our hearts next to each other so I became deeply bonded to her. I am having a very difficult time writing this. I am not embarrassed to say I am crying all over my keyboard. How lucky I was to have this dog in my life for 7 years and in my memory forever. Mark Twain said, "I don't know if dogs go to Heaven, but I want to go where they go." That is my belief and know I will see Lolo again and she will be able to then see as well. I have done many things in my life that I thought were important. But seeing Lo in that newspaper ad and rushing down to get her may very well be the very best thing I ever did. We are donating to the Lizzy's Hospice in the name of Lola to help someone or a couple or a family to potentially have the same experience we had with Lo. To us, a "forever home" means exactly that.