About NALA

Nala is believed to be 2 years old, she had one litter of puppies that we know of, she was heartworm positive and has one more treatment on 11/7. We took Nala in as a rescue in July 2023 after she and her mate got out and when found, her owners refused to take her, they had her puppies and didn't need her anymore especially with her mate still on the run. She was covered in over 15 ticks but by some miracle did not have any tickborn illnesses. She was malnourished and is slowly gaining weight back and expected to continue once her heartworm treatment is over. She has not been spayed yet due to the heartworm treatment. She is calm throughout the day, snuggles up in her dogbed on the floor, likes to play fetch and gets the zoomies when outside (when not on her heartworm treatment). She loves to play chase and tug of war with our boys ( 3 and 5 y/o) and is so gentle about it with them. She doesn't jump on people and only occasionally prefers to snuggle on your bed at night. She curls up so tiny and doesn't take up much room. She rarely gets on the couch even when we encourage her, when she does, she is so cautious about it and tests the area with her paw first to make sure she doesn't step on you. She clearly has been through a lot so she is voisterous when meeting new people, but we have got her okay with it by introducing them while she is on the leash, telling her quiet, and when she is quiet, telling her 'good settle' and giving her a treat. She is a quick learner but we paused some of it with her needing to rest. Her little nub and butt wiggles everytime we come home. She is perfectly fine with our male dog and no fights have occurred between them, she is fine with our female but when our female goes after her she does fight back. She has some seperation anxiety especially in her crate. We have been using adaptil calming spray for it to help her and some calming treats and it helps a bit. Nala has been so sweet and we are not rehoming her due to anything she has done but because our other female is not okay with sharing her home and continues to sporadically start fights with Nala, and of course Nala fights back. The fights start surrounding me and our female being protective and jealous and we have a lot of work still to do with our female. I have POTS and they both sense when my heart rate is elevated, Nala stays right by my side watching me but our female watches Nala and goes after her either thinking she is protecting me or jealous that Nala is trying to make sure I am ok. I have wound up with a broken finger 2 weeks ago from breaking up a fight, (our female got me instead of Nala), with two young boys I am fearful the older one will try to stop it and get hurt. It isn't fair to Nala to continue like this and she needs a calm environment for her recovery after her final treatment. I would love to keep her if our female would ever allow it, she is way better mannered then our female. We do not know how she is with cats. We have a cat but she is seperated.

Tippecanoe County
Lafayette, Indiana