Missing our Packmate
When we lost our sweet Lulu Belle to cancer, it was mid-road trip, doing exactly what she loved best – traveling the backroads. We continued home with our old boy Stevie Ray, but he’d always had packmates, and he – and we – were lonely. After a few weeks, knowing how many furry friends are out there, in need of loving homes, we began to search in earnest for another packmate. We wanted a “honey bear” kind of dog – sweet, gentle and loving – and we found her in Lizzy Lou. Lizzy Lou the Honey Bear (LLTHB) popped up in a FB post from Doodle Rock Rescue in Dallas and we were smitten from the start.
Meeting our “Honey Bear”
A tired mama dog who’d landed with a DDR foster after a chance meeting at the vet, Lizzy Lou turned out to be the sweetest – and most frightened dog – we’d ever met. A “breeder dog” who’d had multiple litters and a terror of kenneling and – at first – any kind of touch – Lizzy clearly had not known a lot of love. She was skittish at our first meeting (in the foster’s backyard) – barked a lot and kept her distance, but was so loving toward the foster mama’s four other dogs and Stevie Ray, and so excited by her own toys (and dog treats) that we quickly agreed we would work with her and give her the best years of her life.
Bringing Lizzy Lou Home
Lizzy Lou didn’t come easily, though – freezing and “pancaking” on the foster’s lawn – and having to be picked up bodily and put in the backseat of our Woof Mobile. (This was no easy feat, as Lizzy Lou weighed well over ninety pounds of refusing-to-budge Lab). For the first three days, we stayed home with Lizzy, watching her as she watched Stevie Ray, figured out how to navigate steps and screen doors, and as she hunkered down in her beloved dog bed the foster mom had graciously donated to make her transition smoother.
Venturing Beyond Her New Home
On the fourth day, we wrangled Lizzy Lou into a harness, opened up the front door and watched her lope after Stevie Ray, two houses past ours, where she froze and had to be carried home with great difficulty. We tried again the next day, when she made it around the block, and the next – when she walked a whole mile. From then on, Lizzy Lou was a traveling-kind-of-girl. It wasn’t always easy for her – she’d go through phases of freezing near houses where a dog had “once” barked at her, or would refuse to cross a street, but she quickly learned to love to walk, hike, and enjoy car rides (though we had to lift her in for the longest time due to her lack of fitness.)
Getting Braver
For the longest time, Lizzy Lou was obsessed with keeping a toy in her mouth at all times – the first being a small stuffed dog toy we called “security crab”. As she would refuse to leave the house without her “baby”, there were several incidents involving a frantic search for the beloved toy.
Over the months, her love of security crab morphed into a love of other stuffies, as well as socks, caps, and even a ballet flat – all carried proudly – at one time or another – on one of her walks. Stevie Ray helped Lizzy Lou every step of the way – until cancer wore him down just like our sweet Lulu Belle. Knowing he only had a few months of good living left, and having promised the good folks at DDR that our frightened Lizzy Lou would never be an “only” dog, we brought home another sweet baby in need – our “Tripp”. Together, Lizzy Lou and Stevie Ray showed him how to love and trust.
Our Big “Butterfly” Becomes a Woof the Beaten Path Explorer
Fast forward a year, and Lizzy Lou eagerly jumps in the truck, hikes endlessly and fearlessly, and is as thrilled with leaving on an adventure as she is with coming home. She keeps us on our toes with very early morning wake-ups where she squeaks her toys and yips relentlessly until we give her hugs and kisses and get the coffee started (when she promptly climbs back in bed), gets the zoomies when we get anywhere near her leash, and has never met a dog she doesn’t call “friend”.
Lizzy is now a trim 71 pound girl who can run and jump with the best of them and thrives on all sorts of adventure. She’s dug holes 60 miles down the Padre Island National Seashore, strolled along the banks of the Mississippi and gazed out over Niagara Falls. Her camping repertoire ranges from places close to home, like Muleshoe Bend to Big Bend Ranch State Park, Black Gap WMA and an almost 3000 mile “out and back” road trip from Austin to Scarborough, Ontario, with lots of back road miles and doggie smiles. You can read Lizzy Lou’s packmate Tripp’s story here.
