Kelly McCullough

As many of you are probably aware, Lola the white German Shepherd passed away recently. She’s been living in Australia with her person for the last six years and I haven’t seen her since she moved, but she’s always going to be one of my dogs. I was incredibly happy when she bonded so deeply with Carolyn and even happier when she got to go off to live her best life in Australia. It made her so happy and I’m sure that it extended her life by several years at least.  As is my custom I’m going to post a photo blog memory for a beloved friend.

I’m going to start with the first picture I ever took of her, on what turned out to be a life changing day for me as it drew me into the Gaiman orbit. Neil’s assistant Lorraine had taken Cabal and Lola to the farmer’s market with her where they bumped into my wife Laura. We all knew each other a bit, but hadn’t really spent much time together. The two dogs were being something of a handful, so Laura offered to call me (I grew up with giant unruly dogs) to come and give her some help with managing 160lbs of enthusiastic dogs. So, I hurried over and managed dogs (a thing I’m quite good at) and I fell in love with both Cabal and Lola. Soon after that I was getting regular invites to come play with the dogs, who were delighted to have another person to walk with them and lavish love and affection on them, and from that basis of mutual affection for a couple of gigantic dogs, I developed a lasting friendship with Neil and a connection with the house and pets that lasts to this day despite the fact that with Lola’s departure, all of the dogs and cats of Castle Gaiman are now gone. Without Lola and Cabal being a handful at the farmer’s market, my life would likely be quite different.

This is how I usually saw her first on any given day, waiting for a walk.

Here she is running around like a maniac with Cabal which was the core of my experience with her when she was younger.

She loved to roll in the grass.

And to play in the stream.

Pictures like this are why I called her the great white fuzzygator.

She adored murdering stuffed animals.

And she loved Cabal.

She could look quite soulful.

And reproachful.

She always liked to keep me company when I came over to write.

After Cabal died she and I did quite a lot of running around in the snow like maniacs together.

We even talked my wife Laura into joining us from time to time.

Here she and Cabal are wrestling at the gates of Narnia.

And in the stream.

As Lola got older she got a bit more patient about waiting for walks.

She did not like groundhogs, who, fortunately, can climb surprisingly fast.

Despite the expression she really liked the security of her crate.

Here’s a picture of the pups with Neil trying to convince them to be photogenic for (I think; it’s been a while) Doctor Who Magazine.

I love the intelligence in her eyes in this picture.

When she wanted to she could look incredibly noble.

But wild exuberance was much more her thing.

Winter or summer.

I love this picture so much. It’s one of my absolute favorites because it looks like they’re about to star in a musical road movie of the Crosby and Hope variety.

I will end here with the last picture I took of Lola before she left for Australia. Goodbye, sweetie, I miss you.