Nala continues to do well in our home. Last week, I took her on her very first home visit and she was so well-behaved that the people didn't believe she was the same dog from the website. She got along great with their resident dog and just a joy to have with. Of course, getting her there was a challenge (the whole getting in the car thing) and when we were ready to leave, the nice people even had a little treat from Nala- (I got one too and it was very yummy- Good job Mrs. P!) Nala was so good at the home visit, the family was very confident that when we left, Nala would hop right in my car and we would be on our way (I loved the optimism!) After a lovely visit with the family, Nala and I said our good-byes and we went to the car and I opened up the tailgate and Nala just stood there and refused to move. I had hot dogs and turkey that I tried to lure her in with, but this girl had made up her mind and she wasn't going to budge. I had developed a little plan to get her in that was hit or miss when it worked, and it goes something like this: I go in through the back side door, while Nala is still standing at the back tailgate and I throw hot dog chunks to her, as she gets closer to the car, I throw them closer to me so she actually has to reach into the car and get them, each time forcing her to come closer and closer and finally when she can't reach the hot dog, she jumps in to get it, I grab her leash, secure it to the head rest of the back seat so she can't jump out, quickly close the side door, then run around and close the tailgate...this all sounds wonderful, except it didn't work out that way this time. No matter how much she wanted those chunks of hot dogs, she wasn't jumping into the back for it, so I realized brute strength was going to have to be used this time. So I got out of the back seat (for those of you reading, you are seeing my error here and anticipating my mistake....) and walked around to the back where Nala was and I gathered up every bit of strength I could muster up, and picked her up, again as she turned into a 1000 lbs. (does that make me the worlds strongest woman?) I picked her up and placed her in the back and closed the tailgate....but wait! You all noticed before that when I said I got out of the back seat that I didn't say I closed the back door...and I didn't! So you all know what happens next...Nala jumped right over the back seat and right out of the side door! I can't believe I forgot to close the side door! I was laughing and exhausted from my bout with her! All the while, I believe we were giving the P family quite a show, Mr. P came out and said "We thought you had her..." and I would have had her, if it hadn't been for my bungling mistake of leaving the door open! Mr. P was nice enough to pick her up and place her in the car and of course, he made it look easy.

So on that note, Nala would like to say something before we bid everyone farewell and happy holidays:

woieudlk akjdf;iaj0040kivt-[porgpoogk,okrgpooartg b;,,,gv '.LSDf[lg V K,G[PKSDFG[Zo ODKFOARG SOFPOJAWEO[OSDFKG JGPK,], 'GTKATL;G';AK GAOK LATLATO;LK OKTOKATG AGKAKSDGL KAL\ADKAEW';EL';L"LWQKE0IR LKP3004I5AL;K;ALKGA'TLPRELYT'RYK,;LKF 'LKAFDG;LKF;LGKSF;KHG;LFHJ09QELA'

RLA[KREPG

Okay, Nala is young and her paws are big, so she can't really type very well, but if she could, I am sure she would say something like "For Christmas, I would like a rawhide, although I know I can be naughty with rawhides, I promise to be good! And a new forever family, someone that likes to run and play with me and love me and doesn't mind getting the "big paw" in their face at 3:00 in the morning....(you all know the big paw...that paw, that says "hey, you're not sleeping are you?"....)

Happy Holidays from Nala, Sue, and me!