Which, in turn, meant Lola’s introduction to the white stuff. She seemed a bit nervous to go outside when she first saw it fall, but eventually she ran outside.

Lola was eager to catch it in her mouth, eat it off the grass and slide around in the light dusting. I’m excited to see Lola in her first snow accumulation – she seems to like it!

For months now, we’ve been terrified of introducing Lola to Christmas. For a curious puppy who loves attacking things, the thought of placing a tree completely decorated in the middle of the living room is actually a bit nervewracking.

Forget about the wrapped presents underneath the tree. As stated before, and probably as will be expressed in various capacities a zillion times moving forward, Lola loves paper. Having that much paper at her reach… is terrifying.

As it stands, we had one stuffed turkey decoration sitting in the window, and Lola had been questing after it for the past couple of weeks. The day after Thanksgiving she finally got to it. But Christmas decorations are  a whole different ballgame — in size and well, in number.

(As I type this, Lola is currently happily gnawing on a plastic ruler that was given to me in elementary school with small portraits of all the American Presidents on it. The last President to be pictured is Bill Clinton).

I’d love to believe that Lola doesn’t have the power to knock down a Christmas tree, but honestly, I’m a little worried. Or, better yet, I’m more envisioning her pulling at lower branches and ornaments… and then chaos.

Lola will have a Christmas stocking and has already gotten one present: a stuffed lifelike squirrel, considering her love of squirrels. Lola will watch them from a window, and do everything in her power to try and attack them. Now she’ll finally be able to catch one.

The other evening, we left Lola home when we went to dinner, and I went to the Dirty Projectors concert in Brooklyn. There is a built in cabinet in the hallway, and admittedly, it’s tough to open. But there is one thing about Lola, and that she is really persistent. Once she gets something in her mind, she’s hell bent on seeing it come into fruition. Apparently on Saturday night, her mission was opening that cabinet.

Knowing Lola’s love for paper, that cabinet seems to be a worthy adventure for her. All of the phone books, photo albums, and other random stacks of paper are stored there. Quite honestly, I wasn’t terribly sure what was stored in there. Until Lola somehow opened the door, and found a bag of night lights. She decided her new snack of choice are light bulbs.

Yes. Light bulbs. I mean, REALLY?! Light bulbs!? Come on, Lola! We came home to find her with a spattering of smashed glass and a devious smile on her mouth.

In the recent weeks, we’ve developed “time out” for Lola, where when she does something bad, or eats something inappropriate, she goes in her crate for a bit. It hasn’t happened a lot, but she’s a smart dog, so when we say, “Time Out, Lola” she knows to go to her crate. On Saturday, she didn’t even have to hear it. She just knew to go. Only, she had one remaining light bulb left, hanging out of her mouth as she sat in the back of her crate, smirking at us.

I’ve since been emailed a reality tv casting notice, asking for stories of dogs who’ve eaten weird things. I’m thinking Lola might be a worthy candidate. Today I did find her rummaging through my wastepaper basket, where she found a silica gel pack, and the other night when I saw a dime stuck to her tongue. Yes. Lola has tried to eat currency.

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.

A bit about Lola: A chocolate brown havapoo with a penchant for shredding paper, attacking potted plants, stealing shoes and dismembering stuffed toys, Lola has become the lady of the house.