Friday, July 11, 2014

the cutest thing you ever did see

It's a pretty big day in our house- Lola's 6th birthday!!

Her birthday is just an estimate, of course. We got her from the Humane Society when she was about 8 weeks old...so we just counted back and picked a day and called it her birthday. July 11 it was! I bet she was an adorable newborn puppy...but luckily she was still stinkin' cute when we got her at 8 weeks!


Choosing Lola was one of our first great marital compromises. We'd both wanted a dog for months. I grew up with dogs- always small ones (except for a few large ones which terrorized me). I knew small dogs. I loved small dogs. I wanted to get a small dog.

Matt had never had a dog, but something in his Y chromosome led him to believe that he absolutely needed a large dog. Despite the fact the he knew and loved my family's small dogs, he refused to entertain the notion of bringing one into our house. Men need BIG dogs.

Obviously his ignorance annoyed me. Matt knew nothing about dogs! He didn't know what it took to take care of them, to feed them, to pay their vet bills-- that everything hinges on size, and bigger=more expensive!! And big dogs would make big messes, make big piles of poop that we'd have to scoop, and like...we really just needed a small dog. Obviously.

So we didn't get a dog for months...locked in our standstill about dog size.

Finally it came to us. The perfect compromise. A mutt puppy of indeterminate breed. We decided to go pick out a small puppy that we both loved. We'd be sure we couldn't tell what she might grow up to be. And then we'd bring her home and love her and by the time she grew up, to whatever size that may be, we would already love her and not care how big or small she was.


We chose Lola on September 27, 2008. Clearly, she was the cutest puppy not only in her litter, but in the whole world. The Humane Society people guessed that she might be "part Lab, part terrier." Since my eyes are not broken, I felt a little skeptical about that terrier part, but it still gave me comfort to hear them mention a smaller breed along with LAB-- something I decidedly would NOT select if given a choice.


We brought Lola home, and just as we'd planned, we fell in love. She was a wonderful puppy, easy to house train, and as it turned out, Matt took to doggie fatherhood just fine. You couldn't even tell he was a newbie. Lola grew up to be absolutely perfect, size-wise and otherwise. She weighs around 50 pounds and sheds like crazy and I couldn't care less. I can't believe I would have passed her over if I'd known how big she would grow up to be. I would have missed out on the best doggie ever!!


Happy Birthday, Lola. Even though you're six, you still can't read, so you'll never see this...but I hope you know how wonderful and adorable we still think you are. But if you decided to shed less, we would be okay with that, too. Just so you know.

23 comments:

  1. Lola was the cutest puppy so I can see why you didn't pass her over. Happy 6th Birthday, pretty girl!

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  2. AH these puppy pictures!!!! That's a great idea for a compromise and I'm so glad you lucked out with the adorable Lola! :) Sarah and Ryan were talking about getting a great pyrenees because Ryan wanted a big dog...Sarah is 5'1...luckily it didn't work out with the adoption and they also rescued Zoey who turned out to be the perfect 50 pounds for little Sarah. We still laugh trying to picture her walking a great pyrenees!!

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  3. Happy Birthday, Lola!!! May your special day be filled with lots of naps, a few new chew toys, a squirrel to chase up a tree, and anything else your heart desires. Oh, and cake. Let there be cake! Because no birthday is complete without it. :-)

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  4. Happy Birthday Lola!
    I love the part where you say, 'and because my eyes aren't broken'. I snort-laughed!
    We got our dog at 8 weeks too and had no idea what kind of dog she was other than a "lab mix". We found out as she grew that she was most likely a lab-pitbull mix. I'm so glad I didn't know this when she was a puppy because I would have passed her over and I would have missed out on the sweetest girl in the world!

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  5. awwww so cute! she's adorable! happy birthday lola!

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  6. Happy Birthday Lola!!! Such a cutie!

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  7. Hahaha! The resolution is HILARIOUS!!! Sam and I had some of the EXACT same conversations. I'd had Shih Tzus and Corgis and wanted a small/medium dog but you'd have thought the idea was akin to MURDER the way he went on. Now granted, Sam would look dumb walking a teacup Poodle around, and I was seriously concerned he'd sit on a really small dog and squish it or step on it, BUT there are approximately 8 million sizes of dog between teeny tiny and HORSE. Bless their little male hearts and the need to be manly!

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOLA!!!

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  8. Happy Birthday to Lola! Mauve turned 5 last month... and she was also a compromise, except I was the one who wanted a big dog and Jordan wanted a little lap dog. I'd always had a lab or golden retriever growing up and his family had a maltese. Jordan still isn't quite sold on her...

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  9. Oooh, this has me so excited--we've started talking about getting a dog in the near future, and I've started stalking the local animal shelter website--I hope whatever we get is as sweet as Lola! Happy birthday, pups!!

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  10. So sweet!!! She is precious!!! Look at her as a little one! Happy birthday Lola!

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  11. So Sweet!! I love this :) Happy birthday sweet pup! My hubs and I just brought our first pup home last night! Eeek!

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  12. So cute! We had to compromise with our pup too.

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  13. Happy Birthday, Lola! Cutest little puppy pictures!

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  14. My parents have labs and let me tell u...when they step on u it's like seriously you can cause that much pain. Ur dog is adorable. (:

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  15. Awwwww! Happy Birthday Lola!!!

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  16. Wishing Lola a very Happy 6th Birthday!!

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  17. HBD, Lola! Here's to hoping you won't be an only child for long (well, besides the cat)!

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  18. Cutest little puppy pics!! Happy bday, Lola!!

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  19. Made a mental note to comment on this post and then totally forgot... oops! Better late than never: Happy birthday, Lola! I have to admit this post made me a little sad because your birthday is apparently very close to Rocky's (8/7/08), so he would have been 6 this year, too - and we brought him home to live with us on September 20, 2008, so I feel like you guys are connected in a way. But it also makes me happy to think about how cute of a pup he was, just like you were. Hope you had a happy day!!

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