Lilly the Doodle

The doodle!  I ended up with the doodle!  How the hell did I end up with the dog?  I am not a dog person.  Always said I would never get a dog and yet, here I am suddenly single with a doodle.  There was no other choice.  There was nowhere else for Lilly to go so here we are.

Lilly, the doodle, thinks she is a person.  When I come downstairs in the morning, she is sitting there waiting for me.  I say “huggie?”  She stands on her hind legs, and we hug.  When Áine and I are hugging, she runs over to make it a group hug.   

Lilly has some clothes.  Yup, I am a dog owner, and my dog has clothes.  It makes perfect sense when you have a little girl.  Lilly’s first outfit was from Áine’s grandmother in Ireland.  It is a Christmas sweater that looks like a Christmas tree.  It is ridiculous, but she loves it.  From that first outfit, came more.  She has a hoodie with a pocket.  Why does a dog need a pocket on their clothes?  Why does a dog need clothes?  Lilly eagerly runs over when she sees the clothes box coming out of the hall closet.  Yes, she has a clothes box?  Then, she sits down and patiently awaits as I dress her.  How did this become my life?

It gets worse.  I’ll never have a dog.  I’ll never let the dog upstairs.  I’ll never let the dog on the bed.  I’ll never let the dog sleep in the bed.  The dog sleeps in the bed.  YUCK!  It all started while we were in survival mode.  Áine asked because she was sad so of course, I said yes.  It was just the one time.  It wasn’t every night even though she asked every night.  It got harder to say no.  How could I say no to a cute kid and a cute dog who waits patiently at the bottom of the stairs for my response?  Once I say yes, Lilly books it upstairs.  As Lilly thinks she is human, she has some manners and waits until we let her know she can get on the bed. Amazingly with Áine, Lilly, about 10 stuffies and

2 Squishmallows, life size Winnie the Pooh and me, Lilly has only fallen off the bed twice.  We are making it work like we do with everything else.  

If only Lilly wanted to make going for walks work, life with Lilly would be almost blissful.  Alas, she doesn’t.  She is a beast on a leash.  An absolute beast.  She is 27 pounds of force.  When we see other dogs, it is like she is possessed.  Growling, pulling, barking, INSANITY.  She really just wants to say hi and if the other owner isn’t too frightened and Lilly gets to say hi, it’s for half a second and we walk on.  Thanks for embarrassing me, Lilly.   I ask her why she is such an animal and then, I remember I am talking to a dog.  Her kryptonite is cheese.  She loves cheese.  As soon as I say cheese or she hears the cheese she goes back to being a docile pup.  Who knew?! (And yes, we have done training with two different trainers.  I would like to do more, but trainers cost money that I don’t have.)

Even though Lilly is insane on a leash, she has easily won over even the hardest of hearts when it comes to dogs.  Obviously, I’ll start with myself.  We picked her up in May of 2020 at the height of Covid so it was a drive through puppy pickup.  I drove thinking if I were in the driver’s seat they wouldn’t give her to me but surprise, surprise!  They did.  Writing about it now, of course they did.  It was a drive through.  All drive throughs, banks, Dunkin, etc., interact with the driver and not the passenger.   Why would this be any different?  So, there I am in the driver’s seat with a puppy.  I had never held any animal, except for a guinea pig I dropped on a table while teaching Saturday school (that’s a story for another day ), and here I was in my car with an 8 -week old puppy.  How could I not love this little bundle of brown and white adorableness?  My parents love her, my father’s wife loves her, my aunt even said we could bring Lilly with us to stay for a week at her vacation house in Rhode Island!  They bring her treats, they send her treats, they buy her Christmas presents and birthday presents! It is a sight to see!

You often hear dog people ascribe personality traits to dogs.  I neve understood this until we had Lilly for a while.  Her vet, her groomer, her daycare, yes, she goes to daycare.  Don’t judge.  I didn’t understand it until I got to know her better.  Not all dogs are sweet.  She just has this gentleness about her.  She is also very timid and shy.  She shakes when we go to the vet, the groomer, daycare and is perfectly happy after a few minutes.  

Onto the groomer.  Lilly is a doodle, a labradoodle. She is hypoallergenic which also means she doesn’t shed.  Lilly has a lot of hair that needs to be brushed every day just like Áine’s.  Do I get to it every day? Of course not! I am a single mother with MS.  I get to it when I remember, when I have the time and the energy.  Being a doodle also means she needs to go to the groomer frequently, like every 6 weeks.  Come on though, $120 every 6 weeks for my dog’s day at the spa when I don’t go to the hairdresser that often?  INSANE!  However, I do take her approximately every 8 weeks.  It is better for us all.  Recently, I tried to do it myself, and there is a reason there are professionals just like I don’t cut my own hair or Áine’s.  Since this is real life I will tell you that I no longer use $1.00 hair color from dollar tree.  I am now paying a little bit more from Walmart - $3.97.  😝

But the big question is do I love my dog?   I do.  Not in the way a dog person loves their dog.  I love Lilly.  I am happy she is with us and part of our family.  Would my life be easier and less expensive without Lilly?  Yes, but the same could be said for Áine, and she’s not going anywhere.  So, here I am: suddenly single- with my 9-year old, my doodle and MS.