Ms. Lola has arrived in Fridley and is having the time of her life. She was brought here over Thanksgiving weekend from a puppy mill in Iowa. It was an amazing rescue of 39 dogs total. Lola came in with her purebred Golden mama and two brothers. All three siblings are 11 months old. After being bathed twice, we finally got to see the true coloring of our new foster girl. Isn’t she a beaut?!

Because she is a puppy mill dog, we anticipated many of the side effects that can come from living in a cage her whole life. But she has proven to be quite social and has rapidly gotten used to going up and down the stairs in our split level home. Our resident dog takes good care of her and always accompanies her to the backyard to do their business. Last night, they both slept in our bedroom – one in the crate and the other on a doggy bed. No problems or messes to discover in the morning. Hooray!

Lola now is totally up-to-date on all shots and is scheduled to be spayed in a few days. Her biggest problem, and quite common with puppy mill dogs, is a yeast infection in both ears. We’re treating it with daily drops and she really loves it when we rub her ears after putting the drops in. She’s truly a little (only 40 pounds) love bug – wants to be near someone all the time, as you can probably see in her pictures!

When Lola leaves us, she will need another resident dog in her “furever" home in order to adjust to what it’s like growing up in a loving family home instead of a cold unfriendly cage. She will need a fenced-in yard and is having a ball playing in ours, burrowing under the freshly fallen snow.

More news to follow in a few days.