The Backstory

Tessie and Lola Save the Dogs is a story inspired by my two dogs of the same names. I adopted Tessie from the Broward County Animal Shelter in 2012. I walked in looking to adopt a small dog, hoping to find a little buddy to take on walks and liven up my one bedroom condo. I signed in at the front desk and a nice lady dressed like a park ranger gave me a piece of paper and a pencil to write down the names of three dogs I would like to meet. I figured I would end up with some kind of Chihuahua mix since there were so many of them as I began the journey into the rows and rows of cages.  There were a lot of dogs there, but there were also a lot of people looking at the dogs as well, which is a good thing.  I picked up the pace a little to try and stay a step ahead of the competition, mostly parents with children.  All of the dogs were very happy and excited as I approached their cages, some a little too excited and since I was not looking to adopt a Tasmanian Devil, ‘too excited’ did not make my list. My dog had to have some degree of chill in them.  I found a couple of candidates, cute little mixed breed dogs that all had potential.  I was on the last row of dogs when I penciled in a third name.  What I didn’t know at the time was that I would not end up adopting any of these dogs.  Because at the very end of the row in the last room, I saw my dog. She was lying on her back on the rectangular hammock bed thingy built into the floor of the cage. She didn’t jump up on the cage, or bark in excitement at me when I knelt down in front of her. She just sat there, relaxing on her back, looking at me. Slowly, like a breeze challenging a palm tree, her tail began to wag. She looked up at me with her sad, scared eyes and all I wanted to do was to pick her up and take her home and get her out of this shelter. If this were an action movie, this is where I would carry her out, kicking down doors and beating up the guards then burning rubber in the getaway car with her by my side.  I took the paper already complete with three names and penciled her name (it was Chris at the time) and number above my original selections and brought it to back to the front desk. I made sure to point out to the nice lady that “Chris” was the first one I wanted to meet. She led me to a small room that smelled like cats. I suppose it smelled like cats and dogs, since this was a shelter for both, but it was the cat smell that overloaded my nose. I sat on a small wooded chair and looked at the floor while I waited, wondering how many dogs have met their owners in a room like this. These people who work here do a great thing by bringing people and pets together here and it made me feel good even though it smelled bad.  The door opened, but no dog. She told me it would take a minute, she is very scared and they are being careful with her. A few minutes later, the door opened and she carried in my dog. I did not have a name for her yet, that would come later that evening in front of my computer, but there she was. She slowly placed her on the ground in front of me, she was shaking and curled up into a ball, not looking at me at all. The nice ranger lady asked if I needed any help or had questions and I told here we were fine and she left. I gently rubbed her back and head, letting her sniff my hand. In a few minutes, she stood up and looked at me, tail beginning to wag. She sat down in front of me while I rubbed her head, her tail eagerly sweeping along the floor, side to side.  This is when I grabbed my phone and took the picture above.  Whatever fear she had in her ended and she was just a cute little black dog again. She even sat on my lap as I rubbed her head and back. The woman came back into the room and was surprised at how we were getting along. I let her know this was the dog I wanted and she led me to a desk to complete the paperwork. Man it smells like cats in here, my eyes started to water and I was mere seconds away from an allergy sneeze frenzy, I hope this will not take long. What I didn’t realize when I began this journey to adoption was that I could not take her home yet. They had to fix her, so the earliest I could pick her up was two days from today, after the procedure. It was like seeing your Christmas presents on the 23rd, but not able to open them. During these couple of days I finalized my cache of dog items: chew toys, treats, bed, cage, bones, and also began working on the name. I felt it had to be two syllables and end with an ‘ie’ or ‘y’, Daisy or Mazie or something. And I know if at least four people who have a dog named Bailey, so that one was out. For some reason, Bunny found its way to the top of the list. Hey, no one’s perfect. Also at the top was Carolina, as the ranger lady informed me that she was found in South Carolina on a road trip to Florida where they dropped her off at the shelter the day before I showed up. But Carolina was not working for me, too many syllables and not the right ending. Carol? No, I know people named Carol. Lina? That’s original, two syllables, but no dog magic in it. I googled popular dog names, famous dog names, cute dog names, super hero dogs, blah blah blah… nothing caught my eye. Am I really about to name my dog Bunny? Then I remembered something… it was a song I heard at a Red Sox game (I’m a big fan, Go Sox!). I think it was by the Drop Kick Murphys… and with that and some help from Google, I found my dog’s name, the song is called ‘Tessie’.

Lola came into our lives about a year and a half later as she was going on a walk with my future wife. Yes, I saw her (my wife, not Lola) and said the next time I see her, I’m asking her out. And I did, as she walked Lola one morning. Tessie and Lola were like peanut butter and jelly right away. Tessie was extremely shy and still pretty skittish, she didn’t even bark for the first three months that I had her. But Lola made sure to catch her up and any dog activities she was lacking. Lola taught her how to run up to the door and jump on you, or anyone else that shows up. And barking, when anyone or anything comes even thinks about walking by the front door, Bark, Bark, Bark. They got very good at it, eventually alternating their barks so each could be heard, like the sounds of a face paced tennis match of woofs. Together, we began our lives together and of course, Tessie and Lola were featured at our wedding.