Finding Lola
Who would have EVER thought I would love a dog… Look, I have a hard time taking care of myself, why would I adopt another life? On the other hand, my brother David has always wanted a dog.
Lola Montalvan adopted August 2011
As a child my parents adopted the ugliest dog in the face of the earth, Oddie, and she would always find a way to escape to hang out with the neighborhood hoodlum dogs. She was not only ugly and disobedient but would always come back with fleas and ticks courtesy of her dog buddies. Needless to say I would never go out and play with her. My little brother on the other hand would go out to the back yard and roll around with her on the grass, dirt and anywhere they could play.
One day, as I gave my baby brother a bath, I see he had a grey little ball in his bellybutton… It was a tick! Yes, a tick that was so fat of sucking blood out of his life. My mom ran in and did a thorough search and she found two more ticks in the corner of his ears! We officially considered them the same breed – fun loving, careless and full of life puppies, Oddie and David.
We eventually moved and had to give Oddie away. My brother was devastated.
Many years have passed, he’s always wanted another dog. When I got news that he was going to adopt a dog from PetFinder.com I made sure to remind him of my allergies and what I clean freak I can be, hint hint, don’t bring that animal around me.
A couple day later he found his match and named her Lola. Despite of my clear disapproval of having a dog in my house, David showed up with my new niece.
She was the cutest dog I’ve ever seen! She has the sweetest with a dorky little face, very playful and just too adorable (still can’t believe I’m typing this…). Lola is 4-month-old Golden Retriever and Australian Shepherd mix and I’ve been tempted several times to shear her to make myself a scarf or something.
Lola is wonderful, the only problem is that she’s afraid of guys. She’s afraid of all men, young and old. She’s awesome with girls, she runs up to them and wiggles her tail away.
David called an afternoon with the saddest tone of voice. He said, “Niss, I’ve wanted a dog for so long, I begged and begged mom and dad to get me a dog and never did. Now I’m an adult and finally able to afford a pet and I adopted the dog I’ve wanted my entire life.”
“Niss, it’s killing me… I love her so much, yet she fears me. She runs away from me, hides from me and avoids me at all cost! I’m so heartbroken because I love her.”
I too felt terrible for David, he continued in an even sadder voice, “I’m sure she was abused and I’m very happy I adopted her because I’ll take care of her and she’ll eventually love me back BUT this reminds me of how we run, hide and avoid God when all He wants to do is love us and bless us.”
By this time he was in tears (If you’re reading this David, sorry!) and we were both reminded of God’s love for us, triggered by simply adopting Lola.
Today, Lola is a happy dog and although she still fears guys a little she loves my brother…. And guess what I LOVE LOLA!
There are many pets out there just as Lola who are in need of a home and many wonderful organization and resources where you can adopt, find information and support if you can’t adopt a pet yet. The first step you can take is supporting the The Shelter Project by LIKE-ing their Facebook Page and following them on Twitter. The Shelter Project is a campaign that has helped change the landscape of shelter pet adoption and reduce the euthanasia of shelter pets by 10 percent since 2009.
The numbers of pet adoption are rising and the numbers of euthanasia are dropping but there are millions of pets that still need to be adopted. PLEASE don’t buy your next pet from pet shops and breeders! You would be amazed of what great pets you will find at shelters. It’s so easy, David paid an adoption fee but included shots and surgery to get her neutered.
So if you think you are not a pet lover, dislike animals and think you cannot ever love one, you might just find your Lola.
