My Best Friend.

I've been dreading having to write this post. Every time I think about it I get a pain in my stomach and my eyes start burning. That burning feeling you get before you cry. 

 

This is my best friend, Lola. Many of you already know that.

Many of you also know that I had to let Lola go last week. I had to make one of the hardest decisions I have ever made, but it was almost so easy because she was in so much pain. 

I can hardly believe she is gone. I have had Lola for 5 years. She was 5 1/2 years old. Too young in my opinion. 

Lola has always had problems with 'pulled muscles', so we thought. Whenever Lola would go out and play with the big dogs, she would always come back inside and limp around for two or three days. She always got better and we never worried. 

Last week we thought she had a pulled muscle. She never got better, she got worse. I got home from work one day to find her paralyzed sitting up in my parents room with her front legs stiff as boards (Schiff Sherrington Syndrome). I dropped everything I was carrying and walked over to her. I knew it wasn't good. I dropped to my knees and grabbed her up in my arms and just started crying. I just remember saying no, no, no, not you. I just knew it wasn't good. I picked her up and carried her into the kitchen and told my family I wanted to take her to the vet right now. I called and my vet was on call. Thank goodness. He led me through some tests over the phone and she failed all of them. He said to meet him at the office and we did. I already knew before we left the house that I was going to have to let her go, but I still had a tinge of hope.

We got there and he x-rayed her. Her T11 disc was odd looking. He said it was most likely ruptured/slipped and that it was most definitely hitting her spinal cord causing the paralysis. She had no deep pain response. None. She couldn't feel a pair of hemostats pinching her tendons. She only had a 5% chance of recovery.

I thought right then and there that if she couldn't go back home and run around with the other dogs and with the horses... I didn't want her there. It wasn't fair to her to be in all this pain, to go through surgeries that may not work and not be able to be a dog. I loved her and I didn't want to let her go, but it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to me either to lose her at such a young age. She was the last dog on this earth that deserved this! I'm sad and angry all at the same time.

I told her that MeMa would take care of her and that I would see her again one day. I know I will and I can't wait. I also told her she was the best dog we have ever had. And she was. She was a better dog than any dog I know. I don't know how I got so lucky to have her fall into my hands, but then I do... because God knew I would take care of her. She sure did fall into a gold mine that summer night in 2007.

Thanks to all who sent cards, flowers, text messages, facebook messages, and those who sent me pictures of her they had on their phones.... it means the world to me. I know Lola had a lot of people love her and it makes me so happy to know that she was loved! 

My family loved this dog like another child/sibling and she loved every single one of us. She was so special.

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The first day I ever saw Lola was in the Summer of 2007 at about 1AM. I was getting home from a movie and my friends dropped me off in the parking lot that is across the street from our farm. My friends sometimes don't like to drive down my 1/2 mile driveway so, I use to meet them up at the parking lot. I stepped out of their car and there she was walking towards me from the busy highway. I couldn't believe such a beautiful dog was on the side of the road. I immediately scooped her up (after making sure she wasn't going to bite me- psh... sweetest dog ever.) and carried her home with me in the back of my Jeep. I'd never seen her before as many times as I had ridden horses around there. I put her in our dog kennels for the night with some food and water. I'd worry about her in the morning.

The next morning I bounded out of bed and headed for the back door. Mom said "Where are you going?!" I said "I'll be back in a minute". I walked down to the kennels and there she was waiting for me. Wagging her little butt as I got closer. She was so cute. I picked her up and carried her inside. I guessed she was probably 6 months old. She weighed about 25-30 lbs. I opened the back door and said to mom "Look what I found last night". Mom gasped and immediately jumped up to pet her.

I gave her a bath, found some old dog toys and put her out in the garage. I had to wait for dad to get home... no telling what he would say about her. Of course I wanted to keep her, but I wanted to find her rightful owner. She was so sweet and she had to belong to someone. Her tail was even docked.

Young Lola

The day after I found her.

Dad got home that afternoon. I went to the garage and sat on the steps with her. He got out of his truck and wasn't happy at all. I told him what happened and that I would post posters and take her to the vet offices around town to see if anyone knew her. Fifteen to twenty minutes later I worked up the courage to ask dad if the white dog could come inside. I don't know what exactly happened, but that dog ended up in our house that night and my whole entire family was in love with her that day. 

I reluctantly packed her up in the car and went from vet office to vet office. No one recognized her. I posted posters in all the neighborhoods close by, on all the stop signs around our farm... no calls. 

Days passed by and no one claimed her. She was mine. My very first dog. A dog to call my own. 

The rest is history.

 Our first picture together

 

Lola and baby Coal

I named her Lola because I just loved that name, but my dad wanted me to name her Poochie or Dotty. Well, I thought she looked like a Lola, so Lola it was! For the girls anyways... Dad continued to call her Poochie-Dotty. It was soon shortened to P.D. From then on out all the boys/men called her P.D. and the girls/ladies called her Lola. She answered to both.

She followed me everywhere I went if she could and she spun circles & circles when I got home from Auburn on the weekends.

When I moved home for good after I graduated, Lola was beside me every minute. Even if I walked from my bathroom to my room she was right behind me. I took her to work with me when I could and this year she came to work with me almost everyday at the RV Park. She became well known at the park. All the residents loved her. 

She slept in my room beside my bed every night.

In her bed all covered up... her favorite. 

Every single time I took a shower, she laid right outside the shower curtain and waiting on me to get out. If she wasn't right outside the shower she laid in the hallway cause she knew I couldn't escape by her! 

She loved going out to the pasture and getting up the horses and she loved going on rides, although she didn't get to go on many because I always worried about her pulling a muscle. She was my "fragile dog".

 Lola's favorite thing to do everyday was go outside and lay in the sun. Every morning she would sit by the back door and wait for us to let her out. She would jump up on the bench and lay there for over an hour.

 

 Lola was spoiled and everyone knows it... but sometimes she was secretly spoiled.

 

this is Lola on the couch downstairs. Lola was never allowed on furniture, but I secretly let her get on the couch downstairs when I was watching movies or playing games. :) 

 

This is Lola on Christmas morning.... in my bed with me.  

And this is Lola sharing my ice cream with me.

 

All the way down to the end. 

 

She wanted to be a red dog like her brothers. On this particular day, I wouldn't hesitate in saying that she succeeded! 

 

This is how Lola often slept. How that was comfortable... I have no idea. 

 Lola and my Joshua

 

She was always by my side... no matter where I was! On this particular day, I was moving a tree out of flint's pasture.  

On this particular day, I was taking an embarrassing picture to send to Josh to tell him how much I loved my new boots! Lola... right there watching me.  

 

And this day...

 

I got made fun of on facebook for posting this picture, because most of my family and friends that have been to my house were well aware that this was taken from my toilet. She really did follow me everywhere.

These next couple of pictures are the most recent pictures I had taken of sweet Lola Belle... Such a pretty girl. 

 

and more pictures of Lola...

 

Out in the pasture...

 

Being a hoot. 

 

With her dragon. Her favorite toy. 

With her pearls on. My diva. 

After a day of playing with her brothers. I didn't even think this was my lola! Thought it was a stray!

The first time Lola went out to play in the snow... she decided she didn't like it. 

But... it quickly grew on her the next day!

 

  

 

 

Such a pretty girl..

 

Enjoying Boca Grande beaches

That is almost disturbing... but she was having a blast.

 

Me and my belle on the beach.

 

Lola and her brother, Latch.

Lola at one of many many pig shows

 

The face I saw every day.

And another

 

And another

And another...

the face that gave her her nickname 'Gremlin'

 

Lola visiting her boyfriend Noah at the vet.

 

Another playday.

Waiting by my side..

Me and my lola belle.

At her daddy's (Josh's) apartment

 At the beaverpond.

Being a doll while Blair plays with her in her bed. 

 Kisses.

Lola taught Coal kitty how to be a dog fairly well!

She and Cutie pie always by my side in the pasture!

That cute ear.

 

Lola going on a ride! Another favorite.

and another ride.

All her brothers.

And in memory of Lola... I put together these frames and hung them in my room.

Five years wasn't enough.

I miss her and think about her almost every minute I am home. 

I miss her waking me up every morning... The yawns with high pitched squeals thrown in the middle. The whinning she did that got me out of bed in the morning. I'll miss how she use to bound in circles in front of the door when we were going on a ride, how she would push her nose up against the door when you opened it to let her out- like she couldn't get out fast enough! 

I'll miss her barking at every single sonic boom. Even when I'm trying to sleep for night shift.

I miss those clicking of toenails on the floor behind me and I miss her being on her bed next to mine.

I miss her polka dotted ears, her polka dotted toes, and her polka dotted tummy...

I'll miss pointing at her saying bang and her falling over playing dead..

I'll miss saying 'get em' when my brothers come in and Lola running up to them barking like they were burglars and then running around wagging her tail like she didn't something awesome...

I don't know how long I will be pulling little white hairs off my clothes or how long they will be in the carpet of my car.

I don't know how long I will leave her bed in my room on the floor... probably forever.

Her collars are on my dresser... her toys in the bucket...

and her memory in every room and every step I take through my house. 

I miss you Lola... and I love you so much. 

I'll miss and love you every single day of my life... and I know everyone else will too.

 

Even your short stubby tail and your lonesome eyebrow. 

Love you Gremlin.