Dog Fridays: Nala Edition

Nala in all her dog glory!

Nala can be such a diva sometimes but she is such a free, sweet spirit kind of a dog.

Whenever you ask her, "Nala. You wanna go for a ride?" Once she hears the word "ride", she's up and at attention! Doesn't matter if she's asleep, chilling out, she will get right up from wherever she's laying down.  I'm pretty sure that even if she's eating, she will leave her food to go for a ride.

After we put her harness on her impatient body (though she will obediently sit as I put it on but you know she can't wait), she dodges for the door, wagging away. If my husband goes to get something from his office, she'll halfway follow him and wait in the hallway and as he comes towards her, she'll whine and whimper like, "come on dad, you said ride!"

On Christmas eve, we drove up to my in-laws home and because we were lugging all the presents and luggage and ourselves in the cab of the truck, Nala had to endure the bed of the truck.

We put her little bed down so that she would be comfortable and tied her leash to part of the bed so that she would be secure back there. I was a little worried for her, worried that she would be miserable with all that wind whipping at her body.

Every now and then she would get up and sniff the air. But she decided to stay buckled down for the most part.

Christmas morning, we headed to my brother in law and sister in law's home and took Nala with us. It was pretty much the same set up. This time though, she sat on one side of the truck sniffing the air and then she went to the other side, sat and did the same thing. We tried to tell her to lay down but being the sometimes independent dog she is, she didn't listen (except maybe once).

As we got on the freeway though, she decided it was time to get on all fours and "Fly Like An Eagle". It cracked us up as she took on the fast rushing wind in the back of the truck. We tried to think of songs to put to the picture of our dog, taking in wind. It was almost, but not really, like a scene from Titanic but this time it wasn't Leonardo and Kate at the bow, it was Nala at the back of the truck, flying free!

Being blind, I'm sure her sense of smell is alive more than ever. And the cool thing is, she doesn't let her handicap stop her and neither should I.

Dog Fridays

I don't know what I would do without our fur baby. There is nothing like having your own dog. Yes, they can be a lot of work.

MEET NALA!

I did talk about her a little bit in another post. She has such a sweet temperment and everyone she meets, loves her (or so I would like to think).

When I first met Nala, it was with a defensive bark that she announced my arrival to Adam's dad's home. There she was with one bulging eye and the other normal eye. Adam and I were on our way to the "happiest place on earth", which we would consider that to be our very first date! 

I didn't see Nala again until Adam came home from Iraq. She could have been Bob Marley's sister. (sorry Bob). She had knots that turned into dreads and she was a bit dirty. And by then her once one normal eyeball developed a cataract. She went blind.

I would come over to Adam and his roommates place and I tried to be Nala's friend but you could tell that she loved her daddy alone. She was nice and all, as a dog could be but she still didn't know me. I mean to her, all I was was the daily visitor to hang our with her dad.

There was a time that Adam asked if I could check up on her and maybe take her for a walk while he was out to see. We even took a cute picture to send to her dad.

About a year and some months later, Adam asked me to be his wife! And with that I would acquire Nala! Yay! I had never had a dog of my own. We had some getting used to, to do.

Adam left for deployment and Nala went to Adam's dad's place to stay for the 6 or 7 months he was to be gone.

I probably should have visited more often but I didn't because I was preparing me and Adam's wedding. I went to visit her once and she immediately ran to my father-in-law because she just didn't know me. Well, I thought we should have some bonding time and we went for a walk. Unfortunately,  there was no real connection. I know what you are probably thinking, I'm worse than the cat lady. But you fur parents know what I'm talking about. So I took her back to my father in law's house, hung out for a bit longer and then left. Sad.

Months later, Adam FINALLY came back from deployment and he later went to go get his baby. Home at last!

A couple of weeks later, we went to go look at several homes before we settled on one. It was so nice inside! I then remembered how poor Nala, she was still cute but dirty rasta dog.

We put in our application and we bought the house! Adam moved in a week before we were to be married and I moved my stuff in and held onto the things I needed to live at my parents house for that week.

I requested that before letting Nala in the house, could he have her groomed. She could have fleas or other pests for all I knew!

One of those days that week, I went over to do some wedding decorations, and as I walked into the door, I saw the cutest dog ever!!! I have never seen her so clean! The groomer cut her hair short, washed her clean, and put a purple tulle bow on her! She was gorgeous! She looked like a puppy! I hugged her and smelled her. Up until that point, I don't think I ever hugged her so close.

That weekend I became a Mrs. and a fur momma!

Fast forward............................................................................

As time went on, Nala's eye with the cataract started to deteriorate rather badly. And the eye that had been bulging was now sunk in. After asking Adam to take her to the vet on differenct occasions, I took her. The doctor said that there was nothing they could do except to take both of her eyes out.

The next week, I think, I took her to the hospital to have her eyes removed. Ahh, poor baby!

I was at home when they said it was okay to finally come get her and bring her home. Adam had duty that night.

I went to the hospital. They brought her out with a cone around her head and stitches where her eyes used to be. Aww, the bride of frankenstein. :( She wagged her tail when she heard my voice.

I walked her outside and it was then I realized that she was still drugged out. She plopped down. I lifted her into the car, trying to be as gentle as I could but she was heavy. Wow! On our way home, I called my mom, sad for my dog as she whimpered so sadly because she was in pain. My mother, who is so sweet and considers Nala her granddog, asked me to put the phone to Nala's ear. My mother prayed a sweet prayer and as she prayed, Nala quieted down and listened.

That was one of the longest nights of my life! I almost felt like I had a newborn. Every whimper, I was checking on her. Every move, I was like, are you okay, do you need to go to the bathroom?

But you know what? Something happened. Something changed between Nala and I. That's the night where Nala and I bonded. It was then she knew how much I loved her and it was then that she accepted me as her fur mom.

Granted her dad will always take top priority! But she knows me now. And I love my fur baby!

Love, Mrs. M