Lollie joined us as a foster at the end of October—a wonderful dog with a sad past and a bleak future at the shelter. Once home, she quickly proved to be housebroken—whew!—and a fast study, quickly settling in to a housedog routine. Still, there was a long way to go. She had to learn to play with toys, eat snacks, and solve puzzles.

Shortly after she came into our home, she put the smackdown on pet overpopulation by getting spayed . . . which led to the much dreaded cone de shame. That didn’t keep her spirits down for long, though.

Being the charismatic dog that she is, she insisted on frequent baths so that she could always be ready for media attention—both online and television.

Despite the outward appearance of a well-adjusted dog, she was still catching up on simple things. For example, she had to learn how to snuggle to show her affection. With that out of the way, she also learned how to dance.

Every step of the way, she amazed us with how quickly she learns. We always thought our own wonderdog Chick is the smartest dog on the planet, but Lollie learns new things about five times faster than he did. Pleased with her appearance and behavior, Lollie insisted that we go out on the town to show the world what a perfect companion she is (an activity that would have been terrifying and overwhelming to her at first, when she would spook at any loud noise). All the while, she continued to come up with new ways to make us laugh and share her love, like this, this, and this.

All the while, her romance with the world was going full speed. She met Santa and asked him for a forever family, got to attend an employee health fair at a hospital, received a package from a handsome suitor, and was featured in a fabulous and widely-read blog. To express her joie de vivre, she did many, many celebratory headstands. And for good reason– it’s still amazing to us what a long way she had come.

And finally, after months and months of searching, a family contacted us. They were interested. They were sweet. We were in love with them. Everything worked out perfectly, and she was adopted!

Letting her go was one of the hardest things we had ever done, and we think it showed in a letter we wrote to her on the day she moved to her new home. The story got even more beautiful when we learned the very special story behind Lollie’s connection with her new mom.

It’s been months, and Lollie Wonderdog (now Lily Fireworks!) is doing great in her new home. We got to visit her and her new family, and wrote about it here.

To read Lollie Wonderdog’s story in its entirety, start here, and use the navigation buttons at the top of each post to move foward.