Our Happy Place

We adopted Lola on January 30th. I had puppy fever and we had room in our heart for another dog. We didn't have any specific breed in mind, but we were sure we wanted a big dog and it had to be a puppy. We also wanted to adopt from a rescue shelter. Lola was the first dog we asked to see and I immediately fell in love with her. We brought Isaac to the shelter because we would not get a dog that didn't get along with him. They got along great!

She was listed as a Mastiff mix, so we expected her to get big. We had a few people mention that she looked like a Pitbull and a family member told us that we needed to get rid of her because our kids would not be safe with a Pitbull in the house. I did some research and did not find any significant research to find that Pitbulls are dangerous. Pitbull attacks usually happen when owners do not raise their dogs correctly. So, I focused on socializing Lola by taking her on hikes and to all of the girls soccer games.

We took her to HomeDepot and PetsMart so she could get used to people petting her. I didn't have a lot of money to hire a dog trainer, so I watched a lot of, "The Dog Whisperer" and "Pitbulls and Parolees". I taught her to sit, lay down, shake, spin, roll over, and stay. I quickly realized that she was very smart.

She was a pretty laid back dog and just wanted to eat and be loved. She always wanted to jump in the car with me whenever we went anywhere and I always felt guilty if I had to leave her at home.

Since Isaac ran with me daily, I decided to see if Lola would run with us. It worked out pretty well, but she was deathly afraid of cars and would stop and refuse to move if a car scared her. I got really frustrated with her and stopped taking her.

After a while. I decided to try running her on some mountain trails where there were not any cars. She was a natural! We started taking her camping and I quickly figured out that she was a mountain dog. I did off leash training with her so that she would be well behaved while camping.

I have only had a few dogs in my lifetime that have truly become best friends. Lola, I can honestly say, is the best dog friend that I have ever had. We have a special connection and she does not leave my side. She just started training with me on Pikes Peak. I am registered for the Pikes Peak Marathon so I go up there a couple times a month. She loves going uphill and then I let her off leash when we come back down. She keeps her nose at my heels and keeps right at my same pace. Pikes Peak is our happy place!