My Journey to Lola

This is kind of a story about both me and my dog. It's a story of heartbreak and lessons learned. A story about how sometimes things happen for a reason. Just a warning, this story is going to be long, but it does have a happy ending.

Recently my senior Jack Russell Terrier, Mina, turned 15. I had been noticing some gradual changes with her, but it wasn't until most recently that she just... stopped wanting to spend time with me. We've always been super close. She's my little shadow. Follows me everywhere. When I leave, she always waits for me to come home. When I go away on a trip, she always wants to come with me (which I did take her plenty of times). But lately, it's just like... our bond has been broken. She recently lost some of her hearing (not all, thankfully), so I do know that's part of it. But the only time she'll actually come to me is if I have food. She'll look at me when I call her and then stubbornly look away, like nope, not gonna do it. It's left me feeling really lonely. Suddenly, my dog that's been my CHILD wants nothing to do with me. I try to be patient with her, she's old, and I know that's a big part of it. I know she probably hurts more than she used to, and the loss of hearing has to frustrating. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, you know?

So because of all of this, I decided it was time for me to open my heart up to a new dog. I've always been wary of that because I look at Mina like my child and I never ever want her to feel replaced. But now she's so old, that she just doesn't care about things like she used to. I figured she's not going to feel jealous over a new dog. Maybe she won't even care at all. And as for me, I can let her have the space she wants, but have a new dog to give me the attention I miss getting from her. It just finally seemed like the right time. My biggest hope was to find a dog that would get along well with her and maybe she would bond with, but I knew that was asking a lot of my stubborn Terrier baby.

I started looking for the 'perfect' dog. I wanted a breed that got along well with other dogs. I wanted one that was known for being smart and easy to train. And most importantly I wanted one that wasn't going to be super hyper, because Mina is old and obviously that wouldn't be good for her. My perfect dog was one that would get along well with Mina without stressing her out too much. I looked over a lot of breeds, and kind of got my heart set on a Cocker Spaniel. I used to have one a long time ago, and she was, well, she was my baby before Mina came along. She was so smart and sweet and I loved her dearly. So I was hoping to find another dog kind of like her.

I wasn't dead set on a Cocker, though. I kept my options open. I wouldn't have minded having a Golden Retriever or a Rough Coated Collie. I preferred smaller dogs but after looking over the small dog breeds, none of them fit what I was looking for. These three breeds were exactly what I wanted.

I started with looking online, and then I took to looking at shelters. I really wanted a shelter dog, but after looking every week, I was getting discouraged. In all honesty, I was being too picky. I can see that now. But at the time, I just really wanted to make the RIGHT decision. I didn't want to go to the shelter, grab a dog and bring it home without a second thought. I wanted to take the time to find the dog that I KNEW would be right for me.

I started getting impatient the longer I looked and found nothing. I put an ad on Craigslist, saying what I wanted, and soon ended up taking it down after someone tried to scam me. I found a beautiful Golden Retriever/Collie mix, that I just fell in love with her pictures, but it was on Craigslist, so someone snatched her up and then tried to flip her. I felt so bad for the dog, but I couldn't bring myself to give the flipper money after what she did, so I kept searching.

After I stopped looking at Craigslist, I went to Facebook. I put up an ad there too, and I got some hits, but none of the dogs the people offered me was what I was looking for. I felt so frustrated that I wasn't finding anything. I wanted a new dog SO BAD but yet nothing seemed to work out!

Then it finally happened. Shortly after that person tried to scam me, I found a litter of Cocker Spaniel babies. They had a black female, which was exactly what I was looking for! But... they were a lot more than I wanted to pay. By this point, I was so impatient that I said, you know what, I'll just do it. I'll contact the breeder, and if they have the black female still avaliable, I'll pay the money. I just want that perfect dog!

So I contacted her, and the black female was in fact still avaliable. We talked a little on the phone, and she told me the pups weren't registered because AKC will only let you register one litter a year, and these pups were an accident. I didn't care much because I didn't plan to show her or anything, but that struck me as odd... I ended up googling it, and I could find no evidence of this being true, which told me the breeder was lying.

That was when I should have just said, you know what? No way. She lied to me about that, so she could easily be lying to me about something else. I hate liars. So I should have just decided not to get the pup. But as I said, I was feeling so impatient. I was fed up with searching and finding nothing. And it was just one little lie. I didn't want the pup to show either, so did it really matter if she had papers? Looking back, I want to just slap myself in the face and say what the heck are you doing?! But... I did it. I ended up driving around 3 hours to Indiana to get the puppy.

When we got there, I could tell this family was just... to put to frankly, trash. My suspicions had been right but the baby puppy was SOOOO cute! I instantly fell in love with her. I paid the lady the money and took her home. My mom went with me, and she said she felt like the puppies were too young. She was honestly a day away from being 6 weeks old when I brought her home. I hadn't had a young puppy since my Cocker Spaniel and we had found her on the side of the road. I didn't know that it was illegal in the state of Indiana to sell pups that young. Back then, selling them at 6 weeks was normal. I mean, this was like the 90s. It was a long time ago. So I didn't know. At least not until I got home and googled it, but by the time, I already had the baby home and I wasn't going to drive 3 hours to take her back. I figured if she had any social quirks, I could just work on them with her. A lot people got pups at 6 weeks and they were fine. I wish I could say that was the case with Milly, but sadly, it wasn't.

I named her Milly because I thought that was an adorable name for a Cocker Spaniel baby. She was the cutest and sweetest little angel. Mina was scared of her when I brought her home, which made me sad, but... I figured she'd come around eventually. And I didn't plan on letting Milly harass Mina or anything like that. I planned on keeping a close eye on her and training her to leave Mina alone.

It was a fun experience getting to see Milly learn about all the new things in the world for the first time! The other two dogs in the house seemed to like her too. Everything was great. It was tiring taking her out a million times a day to teach her house training, but I was willing to do it. And she only had accidents at night when she was crated for hours. All and all, I fell instantly in love with her, and I was looking so forward to watching her grow into a wonderful dog. Sadly, that didn't happen.

(continued next post)