This blog post is going to be about a lovely little ray of sunshine who burst into our lives back at the beginning of March. We’d discussed about getting a dog in the future; we just didn’t think it’d be quite so soon and I can’t believe we’ve now had her for nearly four months!
Lola was one of a litter of 9 puppies and she is 1/4 labrador and 3/4 flat coat retriever. I can remember going to look at them and all these puppies rushed over to us, jumping up, yapping and nipping. We were told there were only two left: a girl and a boy. The boy came over straight away and sat in our laps and he seemed adorable (as they all were!) This little head popped out from underneath a sofa and sat there, looking. This was the other available puppy; a little girl. It took a lot of coaxing but she plodded over and plopped herself in my lap and didn’t move. She was quiet, cuddly and didn’t nip (although that didn’t last) That was it: she was ours.
We said we’d come back the following week as we wanted to get everything sorted, set up and ready for her. I can remember reversing down their drive (they lived on a large farm) and seeing this chubby little puppy plod out and sit down, staring at us go and it was her. My heart nearly broke!
I bought a puppy book in preparation but NOTHING can prepare you properly. The day we bought her home, she was sick in the car and whimpered a lot, obviously having just been taken from all she’d ever known with her litter mates, mum and Dad. For a 10 week old pup, she was quite big but looking back now she just seems absolutely tiny.
She was so sleepy when she first got here and just napped for hours on end. We went straight to town with training and she’d learnt sit and lay down within the first few days. She was super cuddly and loved nothing better than being snuggled on your lap!
For the first few weeks she couldn’t go out as she hadn’t yet had her jabs and that started to become difficult the more she found her feet and her energy! We played LOTS of different games though to keep her mentally and physically busy.
Night times were a bit of a trial…we’d got her a crate as everywhere you read now tells you it’s the thing you HAVE to do. We followed all the advice and all the steps to making the crate a positive and homely safe place for her. But she just did not like it. At all. We tried leaving her to cry, letting her out to wee, moving the crate closer to the bedroom. Nothing. Needless to say, she now sleeps in our room on her own bed next to ours and we haven’t had a single problem!
I could write millions of posts on her but this was just more of an introductory one. It’s been such an adventure from the moment we got her and I do think we have been incredibly lucky with her. She doesn’t really bark unnecessarily, she hasn’t chewed any furniture (and teething is over, yay!), she’s so quick to train, loves cuddles, toilet trained well. She’s just brought us the most wonderful happiness and joy and we can’t imagine not having her in our lives!
There will definitely be more posts about Lola in future, but for now, this is her: and she’s very pleased to meet you!
A Cornish Wife's Tale 