US History and Social Studies teacher Olivia Rodriguez has had numerous dogs over the years, each with their own unique tales.

“I was in college when we got our first dog. It was for my sister, as an emotional support dog. She had some issues in high school, so we got Clover,” she said.

Clover, who passed away a few years ago, was a diminutive Yorkie. What she lacked in size, she made up for by serving her duty as an emotional support dog. But sometimes, even support dogs get lonely.

“We thought Clover was sad and needed another dog, so we got Lily. She’s a Silky Terrier and she’s a rescue,” Rodriguez said.

Silky Terriers are small dogs with glossy coats. Like many other small dogs, Lily had some quirks.

“She has a lot of peeing issues and she pees all over the floor, but she’s so lovely. She does this thing when you get home—she barks and runs around in circles because she’s so excited to see you. She sleeps with my mom, and to wake her up in the morning, she’ll just lay across my mom’s face. She’s just so happy to be there,” Rodriguez said.

Then one day, Lily ran away and there was no news of her for two years.

“It was bizarre,” Rodriguez said.

To fill the emotional gap left by Lily, Rodriguez’s family decided to adopt another rescue dog, a Jack Russell-Beagle mix named Jackson.

“He’s super fast and super loyal to my Mom,” she said.

How loyal? According to Rodriguez, Jackson prefers to cling to her mother’s side.

“I think a lot of rescue dogs are like this, but they like to be in close proximity. My mom likes to cover Jackson up with a blanket all the time and he’ll smell food. Under the blanket, you can just see a little nose popping around and it’s super cute,” she said.

However, Lily would soon emerge from the unknown. She was staying with some unconventional roommates.

“She was living in a college house at Concordia. Kids just took her in, and went, ‘Yeah, we can’t have this dog anymore.’ So they gave her back to the original woman who had her and sold her to us. It was so weird,” Rodriguez said.

With the help of microchipping technology, Lily was returned to her rightful home.

“Now they just have Jackson and Lily and they’re super funny dogs,” she said.

Despite being funny, they have trouble getting along with other humans sometimes.

“They’re super judgmental about other people. They’re the judgiest dogs ever and they don’t like to make new human friends, but they love dog friends. They’re super special dogs, but they act like they’re better than you,” Rodriguez said.