JANUARY PATIENT OF THE MONTH: LOLA

Brief History of Pet

I got Lola Grace as a puppy. Her birthday is June 2, 2009. I have been in love with old English sheepdogs since I was about five years old. I met a rescue OES at a PAWS event at Brementown mall in the 1980s. His name was Pilgrim, and I was smitten. I knew I would have one someday. I attempted to adopt from several shelters and rescues but was turned down due to working full time and living in Chicago. I turned to looking at breeders. I was destined to find her. Weeks of searching and I found Lola online. Her name at the time was Dierdre. It was love at first sight. I drove out to Iowa that August to pick her up from Barbara Roling. I had a list of names ready for her. I knew she would pick her name. All the names were tropical or Caribbean in nature. I am a huge Parrothead. One of the names was Lola from Jimmy Buffett’s Frank and Lola. She got all spunky and sassy when I said Lola. So that was her name I would always sing Frank and Lola to her as well as the Copa Cabana and The Kinks Lola. I swear she would roll her eyes at me when I sang to her, she has always been a character.

Why VSMR?

She had issues with joint stiffness since she was about 7. We started meds. As she got older, we started going for acupuncture and red light therapy in Washington. My best friend is a massage therapist, and he would come every week and massage her. When he would stop, she’d look back at him, give him the stink eye and bark at him until he started up again. We moved back to Illinois January 2023 and started up treatment at VSMR. We did aqua therapy, acupuncture, massage, and laser treatments. She did very well but suffered from anxiety with trips to the office and we had to cut back.

Favorite Motivator

Mom, Love, and food, especially her special treats from home!

Additional Information

Her personality knows no bounds. She is very spunky and sassy but an absolute love bug. And she has a love for food as everyone at VSMR has seen. I would go through bags of cookies. She is a true Gemini sun Libra moon. She loved to talk back to me. She got her middle name Grace because she was quite clumsy all her life. She would get so excited, and it seemed like her big body could never keep up or go as fast as she wanted. One of my color guard instructors in high school would say “good goin’ Grace” when someone would stumble. I would then say it to her, and the middle name stuck. She moved with me from Chicago to Washington state and then back. It was the two of us against the world. She loved car rides, the beach, either the Pacific Ocean or the Columbia River and hiking or just walking in the neighborhood. She went on many road trips with me. She knew the word “vacation” she’s been all over Washington and Oregon as well as Montana Idaho South Dakota Wyoming and Northern California. We even lived on a hobby farm for a bit, and she loved to herd the goats.

She loved to sleep in the craziest positions and use anything for a pillow. She liked to use her bed as a pillow instead of a bed. She loved to steal ripe strawberries off her grandma’s strawberry plant. In Washington she loved Hawaii 5-0 reruns. She loved it when it was time to watch Steve and Dano on Fridays. When we came back to Illinois, she loved to watch NCIS with her grandpa. She knew every night when it was “time to go watch Gibbs” Unfortunately 2023 was not very kind to us in the end. The universe stole first Jimmy Buffett from us in September and then Lola in December. Jimmy Buffett was a huge dog and animal lover. I like to think he was waiting for her with open arms and singing her song on the other side of the rainbow bridge. She is after all named after his song, so he had to sing it.

Non-Profit Organization

TBD

Addendum:

Lola Grace crossed the rainbow bridge a couple of weeks before her patient of the month was to be posted. We at VSMR are deeply saddened by her passing and will truly miss her.

Rest In Peace Sweet Girl