Lola

Name: Lola

Date of Passing: 06/1/2022

Message to Lola: To Our Sweet Pea Lola girl - thank you for flling our hearts and house with years of laughter, silliness, fun and love. From the moment we saw you, it was love at first sight. You were a big personality in a tiny pug package. Our family was blessed for having you in our lives and we all miss you dearly already. Though you are no longer with us, you will live on in our hearts forever.

Tell us about Lola: We went to the Animal House Shelter to see a dog that reminded me of Clifford. Nicely another family with small children found their perfect match with him. However, in the lobby of the Huntley, IL facility, there was a tall reception desk and behind it were several very small dogs, including a fawn pug puppy. Lola looked up with her big brown eyes, saw my husband Matt and he saw her and it was love at first sight. I used to joke about this day, describing it like in the cartoons where the character’s eyes literally turn into big hearts when they see each other. That was Lola & Matt, and once I saw her, me too. Lola had been brought into the shelter that very morning. She was not even “checked in” yet but the notes said that she was being given up for being “hyperactive”. We met with her and she was as calm and as sweet as could be. (Later we found out that was a bit of an act but that was our smart & crafty Lola.) We laughed hard when they handed us her toys and kibble in a small Victoria’s Secret paper bag as we were about to head home with her. Lola was a “little princess” pug and this all made sense along with the blingy rhinestone collar she had on. We guessed the original owner was likely in over her head with a puppy and thankfully brought her to Animal House Shelter and we were lucky enough to walk in that morning. I grew up with cats and was not quite prepared for a high energy puppy myself. Lola’s smushed pug nose did nothing to slow her down. Lola would run laps around the outside of the house when playing in the yard. She played with dogs much bigger than her at doggy daycare. Stairs had nothing on Lola. Wherever we went, she went. She was fearless. We did realize pretty quickly that being as high energy as she was, she needed a buddy. This led us to getting a 2nd pug a few months later, our very sweet boy Cooper, a black pug from a shelter in NW Indiana given up by a family that lost their house during the housing crisis in 2008/09. While they were so different in personality, the bond was instant and they were inseparable. Cooper was older by only a few months but Lola was the “big sister” to Cooper and pretty much acted as “protector” of him and the household. Lola had a mischievous side and anything within her reach was a potential item for her favorite game, Catch Me If You Can. This included the usual…socks or shoes left on the floor, random papers in the wastebasket and one of her more hilarious moments was going through our houseguest’s luggage left on the floor and finding his toothbrush which started a multiplayer game of Catch Me! She was our funny, crazy, demanding and high spirited girl. And yet, despite all that, Lola liked calmness. She did not like loud noises and “violence” on the tv, unfortunately that included things like any fun action movies and most sports like football. We could not “reason” with her that it was a sport or “just tv”. Car chases on tv were the worst, Lola would bark hard and she had a very expressive face. She'd look at us with real concern as if wondering why we were letting the awful car in the house. We had to get a little creative but we found good common ground with golf, baseball and cooking channels on the tv plus just listening to music. Luckily these were my favorites and became Lola’s favorites too. While she slowed down as she aged, she was always a very happy pug with a big personality. She had a beautiful double curl tail, like a giant cinnamon bun and that tail was the barometer of everything. We knew when she was happy, content or nervous as when getting in trouble for being overly mischievous. We also knew when she wasn’t feeling well as it would almost completely uncurl. Lola did have to deal with her share of health issues over the years, allergies, ear and yeast infections and a sensitive tummy were all on deck. A strict diet and regular vet visits kept her very healthy until very recently. Diabetes set in six months ago. Her uncurled tail being the first indicator something was wrong well before other symptoms showed up. Lola was a very strong girl though and managed through the many vet visits and twice a day insulin shots. However, by March she lost most hearing from years of ear infections and in mid May, almost overnight, cataracts set in both eyes. Her other health issues had started to pop up and made fighting the diabetes extremely difficult. She was our brave "pug princess" ‘til the end. She had beautiful fawn fur, the softest floppy ears and biggest brown eyes. I was amazed how often her tail curled up under the circumstances these last few weeks. I like to think this was because she could feel the love from the family even though she could not see or hear us very well. While our hearts are hurting now that we have lost her only days away from her 14th birthday, we know she is in a doggy heaven, having a wonderful time running, playing and getting chased and, of course, telling the other dogs there’s a new princess boss in town.