Sometimes we make mistakes.

A week after adopting Lola, we found ourselves crying on our staircase looking at her and begging her to forgive us. We had to give her back. She was a puppy we were not ready for. We had been in our new home for two weeks, were not settled, were not prepared. She destroyed pillows, ate toilet paper, bit us, and had a never ending supply of energy. She was not the dog for us. We liked lounging. We liked being free. We liked being independent. We liked being selfish. We liked being together, alone. We had a life and she did not fit in it. We were sorry. We made a mistake.

“We love you so much, honey. This isn’t your fault, it’s ours.” We cried as we looked at her smiling at us, totally oblivious to what we were about to do. Then she laid down on the couch. This new comfy couch we just bought, and she’d already peed on. She looked so comfortable and so at peace. When we adopted her, we made this her home too. It was then that I remembered when we first saw her. She was happy, just as she was now. She was also with her brother. The two of them able to play and keep each other company. Regardless of the company, she was on a cold concrete ground. In a cage surely too small for a dog her size.

So we kept her.

Now, on a regular basis, we look at each other and say “can you believe we almost gave her back?” (Ryan without hesitation says “yes.”) But we’re so happy with her. She is so much work, but so much joy. She still has most of the habits she did as a puppy, despite our best efforts. But she also has a personality we wouldn’t have been able to love and discover if we didn’t give her the chance.

We learned that she loves hugs. (Actual hugs, with her paws around our neck.) We learned she loves kisses, and her day isn’t quite the same if you don’t take her eye goop out every morning. She aggressively jumps all over Ryan in the morning when I first wake up, but if he’s the first up she jumps in the bed and gives me tender kisses. Her favorite food is french fries, and she would do anything for a car ride with her two humans. She’s brilliant. She knows sit, lay down, stay, wait, go, food, treat, outside, inside, come, ball, drop it, leave it, car ride, and so many other things. She nips at you when she has to poop, and is never one to forget to tell you she needs attention. We learned that she’s pretty restless until you get out of her spot, but once you move she’ll cuddle with you all night. We learned she not only snores, but also grunts in disapproval anytime you move and interrupt her slumber.

We learned she loves the same TV shows we do, and will watch just as intently as we do, if not more. We found that she gets quite upset if she’s unable to look out our front window at the passerby’s and people in the park. We learned she’d love nothing more than to run until her legs fall off, wild and free. We learned she hates being alone, and refuses to do anything useful outside without one of us there to watch her. She loves sticks and destroying any toy given to her. She’ll do anything for a treat.

We found that we like being Lola’s dog mom and dog dad. We consider ourselves blessed to be in the place that we are able to give this beautiful dog a home that she seemingly thrives in. We enjoy giving her our love, and receiving hers.  Quite simply, Lola doesn’t care what we did that day at work. She doesn’t care who we talked to or what mistakes we may have made. She just wants our love. She just wants our attention. At the same time, she just wants to give us her love and her attention, regardless of how we’re feeling that day. I can’t imagine a better friend, or a better mistake. 

XOXO,

Samm