Entrant's First Name
TIM

Bio
Lola was born April 28 2002, a spunky little Golden Retriever that my youngest daughter, then pregnant with her first child, got from a pet shop. After a couple of months it became obvious to her that she couldn't deal with a new puppy and a new baby. So the call went out "Dad you really need a new dog you should have Lola." And that's how Lola and I started our journey toward becoming best friends. Lola was very active and needed a lot of training to get her settled down and listening to me, or anyone else for that matter. I got her into an intense training program for two weeks solid, every day. When she finished the program she was very well behaved. So everything was perfect right? So I thought.
We have a home on a lake near 100 Mile House BC and we spent as much time there as we could, and Lola loved it up there. But one day I found a lot of blood on a stick that she was chewing on. Thinking that she probably had a sliver it didn't concern me. But then when we returned home to Langley BC I found blood on her bed and in her drinking water. I took her to our Vet and received the crushing news, Lola had squamous cell cancer and without surgery she would die within a couple of years, she was 2 years old at the time. I was concerned about what they would have to do to her, they said they would have to amputate part of her lower jaw and they wouldn't know how much they would have to take until they got in there. I told them to go ahead and the rest is history. She recovered from the operation like a real trooper. She had lost her jaw from the back molar up to and including the front teeth on her left side but all that ended up doing was providing her with that one of a kind look with her tongue hanging out about 4 inches, she looked cute!!!
Lola was my true friend, I loved her and she loved me. I lost Lola in the summer of 2015 to a brain tumor. I still miss her every day. She loved to run through the bush up at our cabin, or swim in the lake. One day on a hike up the mountain she was ahead of me and she started barking and growling at something. When I caught up to her I found out why, a large mother black bear and her two cubs were on the road about 50 yards from Lola, the mother was standing on her hind legs. I tried to get Lola to come back down the trail with me but she wasn't budging. After a few minutes of trying to talk her down I started moving down the trail hoping she would follow me. She stood her ground with that bear until I was safely down the trail and then she came to me. She was my protector that day.
She loved to swim but when she swam if there was a loon on the water she always had to swim toward it and try to catch it. The male loons purposefully lead anything they deem to be a predator away from their mate and offspring by splashing and pretending to be injured. Then in Lola's case when she got close to the loon it would dive under water and surface 20 feet away and start the whole process over again. This happened time and time again and usually the loon would leave and Lola would swim back to shore. On a couple of occasions that didn't happen. In one case she kept following the loon until she was in the middle of the lake. I hopped in the row boat and went after her. Ever tried to pull a 70 pound wet dog into a row boat? Anyway, it all ended well and that day I was her protector.
I love and miss Lola and I would really appreciate the opportunity to immortalize her on the pages of the 2016 BCSPCA calender. Your consideration of this wish is appreciated.

Thank You,

Tim Wasilieff