A New Pack for Me, Lola

Once our family moved into the Sean Casey Animal shelter things moved quickly. Puppy Daddy was neutered and it wasn't too long before a human came along and took him home. Puppy was weaned and of course he was adopted soon. To see a Shar Pei puppy is to want a Shar Pei puppy, is it not? I was used to having the pups leave. I'd paid my way by producing puppies all my life, and Puppy's new human got quite the bargain. To get one of my purebred pups for just an adoption fee? Unheard of. It was harder to lose Puppy Daddy. It had never occurred to me that we wouldn't always be together, but there it was. I still had to wait until I could be spayed. I'll tell you that was kind of a relief. Being a mother is wonderful but enough is enough. It was time to stop.

I was sad and confused, but I do think that it's important to keep a positive attitude and life at the shelter wasn't all bad. Things could have been a lot worse.  Quarters were cramped and we had to live in kennels, but after all it was New York. Lots of New Yorkers live in tiny spaces - like this couple for instance. We didn't stay indoors all the time. People came to walk us and play with us and I had a special friend who always made sure he spent time with me when he was there. I called him Mustachio for obvious reasons. He had a huge mustache. I like a little fur on a human. He gave me my name, because even that got lost in the big move. I liked it fine. "Lola" suited me and I decided to start answering to it right away.   The worst thing about the shelter was the food. It was healthy and gluten free, wheat free, allergen free and taste free. Not once did they serve anything au gratin. I like au gratin and al fredo. Anything that involves cheese and no veggies. Kibble is not cuisine, but I supposed they were doing their very best.

It seemed to take forever, but the day finally came when I was ready for adoption but there was one obstacle as I saw it and it came in the form of a leggy, cream dilute bitch named Violet. Now, I don't normally have any problem at all with self esteem, but one must face facts. If someone came looking for a Shar Pei, Violet was going to be chosen first. She was taller, she was platinum blonde, she was two and a half to my six years old. She was a knockout. And frankly, I was not at my best, having just finished weaning a pup. I mean, thing were sagging in places that Violet didn't even have yet. Don't take my word for it. See for yourself in video Mr. Casey made to help humans find Violet.



If there's a video out there titled "Lola Needs a Home" I have yet to find it. And it was Violet, not me, Lola, who was featured on Petfinder.com. And it was Violet's photo that brought the Mom's to Brooklyn on April 4th last year. Blog Mom saw it first. She knew that Alpha Mom wanted a Shar Pei  or Shar Pei mix more than just about anything. Her Shar Pei mix had crossed over at age 15 a few months before and  the whole family was sans chien for the first time ever. The thing was, one of the cats that lived with them was sick. He was recovering from surgery at the time, but the prognosis was bad and they were trying to wait for a dog until....well, you know....so as not to give him new problems at the end of his life. Well, Violet's photo convinced them that they could make absolutely sure that she'd be fine with cats before they took her home but they just had to go see her. And they did.

It was a busy Saturday afternoon. I remember that much. They came and took Violet out of her kennel and she was gone for a while. After a half hour or thereabouts I heard a bit of a ruckus upstairs. The sounds told me that it was Violet, scoring a B- at best on her cat test. Then Violet came back in and Mr. Casey took me out. It seems he'd told them about me, Lola right away and they just couldn't make a decision without at least meeting me. I took them for a walk around the block and then we did the cat test and I believe I scored somewhat higher than Violet. Then it was decision time. It was really Alpha Mom who had to make the call. If it had been left entirely to Blog Mom we'd all still be standing there on that sidewalk in Brooklyn. She isn't one for snap judgments, to say the least.

So the choice was made and they chose me, Lola! I was getting adopted before Violet! It's funny how things work out. You just never know. Oh, and don't worry too much about Violet. The Moms did and kept track of her. She only had to wait a few more days for her humans to find her.

Coming soon: Coming home for the first time