Introducing Lola

Lola is our four-year-old Maltese. She is not 28 years old in people years, she is just 4.

Lola understands English, Spanish and Portuguese and she communicates with different voice sounds, kisses/licks, head movements, back steps, and of course with her tail.

She is a blessing to us; one of the biggest lessons we have learned from Lola is well said by my eblogger friends Jen and Caroline: “think like a dog thinks and life will be great. Or in other words- as long as my basic needs are met I need to be very flexible with my expectations. That is a good lesson.”

Let me tell you an amazing story: One day I was talking to my mother while Lola was in the room, Mom just asked me for my opinion on certain subject and I got very passionate about it so , you know, I have the tendency to raise my voice when I feel strong on a subject, is just the Colombian/Italian/middle eastern in me. So I look at the stairs and I see Lola with the saddest face!!!

I went over and talked to her and nothing would make her change; she did not want anything to do with me, no kisses, no tail, not even eye contact and she kept looking towards my mom. Suddenly I realized, I have raised my voice talking to my mother… “maybe Lola thinks we are fighting!”

I went over to mom, and explained to Lola that mom and I were not fighting and then I gave mom a big kiss; can you believe that she changed immediately? She came over and licked my mom to pieces. My mom literally cried, so did I. Mom said, “Lola really cares for me”.


Of course there are the times when Lola does not get simple stuff, it is kind of funny, like “sit”.

I have some friends (who am I kidding?) most of my friends think I am crazy because of how I interact with my Lola, but once they spend some time with her, they start understanding my craziness have some reason to it.

Well, getting back to our “think like a dog thinks”subject, let me tell you some more about our little baby Lola: Lola has her own bathroom in our house, yes, she does.

The whole bathroom is hers. When is time for me to clean it, she follows me to her place, checks everything I do and when I am finish, she does this little walk/jump of excitement. Last week, a friend was staying with us, and one morning she decided to use Lola’s bathroom to dry her hair. When I came home, my friend said that Lola stayed at the door looking persistently at her and "no tail" movement. I think my friend was actually scared of my 7-pound Lola!! Nothing to worry about, Lola was probably trying to figure out what was going on, after all, she is expecting for someone to clean up her mess!!

She is very obedient, but if we leave her alone for too long (1 whole day with no aunties or grandma’s visit) when we come home, we’ll find little “gifts” in strategic places. Is like: she goes and holds it and goes and holds it and goes!!
As we approach the house on any of these memorable occasions, she will have this special “complaining”voice … right away we know what to expect! Well, that behavior does not seem to go well with the conclusion above of “think like a dog thinks and life will be great … as long as my basic needs are met I need to be very flexible with my expectations” I guess Lola’s luxuries have become basic needs for her!!

AndI think that’s what happen to us sometimes. We forget how blessed we are, how much love is poured into our lives by family and friends, how much care we get from them … and then that one time, things go different because … “life happens” and we forget to be flexible so, we: 1. complain and 2. make it into a relationship problem.

The other thing I have learned with Lola is to be forgiving and loyal; no matter how upset she is, once she sees us get home, she gets sooooo happy! We open the door and she licks us, move her tail … I think she just instantly forgives our "offenses"; and, you can tell that she actually feels sorry for leaving her “gifts” all over the house.