People don’t believe me when I say Lola loves paper. Loves may actually be a huge understatement. Paper is probably Lola’s favorite thing ever.
We knew she wasn’t feeling well after she got spayed when she could lay on a paper towel and not even attack it. We knew the rate of her recovery because of her willingness to shred paper. Day 2: Lola shredded an entire paper towel into just two pieces, and decided to call it a night. Day 3: Lola shredded it into a couple more. Day 5: Lola was seeking out paper, and serving as the #1 contributor to the Yankees ticker tape parade confetti fund. Healed!
One day I ordered a pizza and placed the box on a low ottoman. With most dogs when you do something like this, you fear the dog snatching a pizza, and running off. Not Lola. She was more interested in the cardboard box.
If you drop a tissue one day and don’t remember where, Lola will find it. She has an incredible ability to find anything, so long as there’s paper involved. Send her to Afghanistan. Maybe Osama bin Laden has paper and she’d easily find him.
Apparently all this paper shredding is a sign of anxiety. Which is really what I need: a dog more anxious than me.
Growing up, I thought that the worst lie was “my dog ate my homework.” Now I realize, if I had Lola when I was in grade school, that excuse would probably be a weekly truth. As a writer, I constantly have stacks of newspapers, magazines and notebooks beckoning Lola like a sultry siren.
Her other thing: toilet paper. I want Lola to get the roll unstuck right the beginning of its life. She has a gift of that, and clearly I don’t. She then pulls the roll and starts pulling it as far as it will go. You can’t help but love her as she sits beside her handiwork, absolutely beaming with pride.
