Nyla

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I picked Nyla up 8-18-07 in the early evening in Northwood IA.  She had started her trip in St. Paul and still had over 2 hours to go.  We spent the trip home to Ankeny with most of her on my lap.  Luckily my husband was driving.  This poor girl was just starved for affection.  Once we got home, we walked around the front yard while my husband went and got our resident dog.  There were a few growls and posturing when she met Cody but after a few minutes all was fine.  We turned them out in the fenced backyard and they explored together.  She wants to play with him all the time but at age 10, a little goes a long way.  She keeps trying to get him to play and he keeps trying to just get away but there have been no disagreements between the two. 

Because Nyla's coat was almost completely matted (I don’t think she had ever been brushed) I attempted to start cutting some of the mats out to get her more comfortable.  We started with the mats around her neck so her collar wouldn't rub any more.  I then moved to her chest.  The hair was matted into a knot bigger then my fist.  I started slowly cutting it away and she never moved.  When I got it all cut out, I found I had also cut a chunk of her skin out with the mat.  I just about cried I felt so bad.  This great girl never moved, never yelped, growled or tried to bite me while I was doing this.  It didn't bleed much but looked pretty bad.  I doctored it up with triple antibiotic ointment but couldn't bring myself to try and cut any more mats out.  The whole time she just kept wiggling all over and trying to climb into my lap for more pets. 

I have found that Nyla needs a little more work on her potty training.  Several times Sunday she had a accident but I caught her every time and we went outside.  There weren't any accidents yesterday.

Nyla LOVES everyone.  She has to be right next to me when she's in the house and follows me everywhere.  I thinks she's afraid that she isn't going to get her fair share of pets.  My eight year old grand-daughter was over yesterday and Nyla just about licked her to death and kept crawling up onto her lap.  She loves the fenced yard as she was always tied before.  She loves to chase a ball and will bring it back to you but won't drop it.  However, she will allow you to pry the ball out of her mouth with no problems.  After all, once you pry it out, you'll throw it and it can start all over again. 

Nyla takes treats gently from my hand and has been very good (so far) about only eating her food and leaving Cody's alone.  She seems to be a free feeder and leaves her food (and Cody's) alone until she's hungry.  She's being fed twice a day right now but the food may sit there for a while until she's ready to eat.  She does drink a lot of water.

We had a thunderstorm here last night, not a huge one, but big enough that there were several loud claps of thunder.  Except for sitting up and looking around after the first clap, she had no reaction to the storm so I don't think she has any storm anxiety. 

Nyla went to the vet today to be micro chipped and have her first check up.  She didn't need any shots as her previous owner already had her UTD.  However, the vet did tell me that where I cut her needed stitches so I'm feeling like a really bad Mom all over again even though he reassured me that they see this same thing several times each month.  He just called and advised that her heartworm and fecal tests were negative and that she came through the stitches just fine.  He said that while they had her under that they shaved all of her mats off so she'll be feeling much better.  She can't have a real bath until her stitches come out but with all those awful mats gone, I'm sure she smells better already. 

Nyla is a little mouthy because she is so desperate for attention right now.  We're working on it and hopefully once she realized that she's going to get petted and have attention that this will go away.  She seems to know the basis commands of sit, down and heel but isn't convinced right now that they really mean something. 

If you are looking for a very sweet, very energetic companion, this is the girl for you.  You're going to need to give her lots of pets and lots of exercise.  I believe that she would do well in a home with another dog to play with but if you're willing to give her the time, she'd be fine as an only dog.  A fenced yard would probably work best.