This is Nala. She's an Australian Shepherd mix with a blue merle coat. She's the runt of the litter so she was significantly smaller than her brothers and sisters.
When we got her, she was 8 weeks old, so she's just a little puppy.
When we first got her, she would just lay around like this, and find a nice corner to curl up in.
(Which was kinda nice because we were still unpacking boxes in our new apartment)
She would play with or chew on some toys, but still just lay there.
We couldn't even get her to go on walks. She would plant her feet and not budge an inch! Once she'd start to walk a little bit, she'd go 2 feet and lay down in the grass in the shade. Those first few days were a little frustrating while walking.
Whenever she wakes up, her eyes are bloodshot for a few minutes. The first time we saw it, it freaked me out! I thought we had like severely deprived her from sleep, but now we've seen it's pretty regular regardless of how much rest she's had.
Her other favorite thing to chew on is her name tag! The smallest collar they had was still a little big on her so she's been able turn her head and get it. Thankfully we bought a pretty sturdy tag so it's held up! She's also so funny to watch chase her tail. She's pretty good at getting it too.
Since then, she has become a lot more happy and active. Now she'll play fetch, loves going on walks, and will even go on runs. She loves exploring outside now. Our most fun challenge has been getting her house trained! ...Thankfully we have wood floors, or we'd have some kinda scary carpets!
She struggled for a few days having 3-4 potty accidents a day. Pretty soon she caught on and did well for about 3 days then struggled with it for another 2 days. However, ever since Sunday, we haven't had hardly any accidents. We found that while trying to train her, the best thing for use to do was to set a timer for an hour, carry her out, give a consistent command, and wait until she goes.
She's gotten so much better to the point where now she knows to go to the door and get our attention, we go right outside to the grass, we say "Go Potty", she goes immediately and we head back inside.
She's a smart, happy puppy and is a great balance between being kinda lazy, laying around and sleeping, and wanting to play, run, and have fun--kinda like us :)
This picture cracks me up.. she's TOTALLY crashed...
We didn't wanna invest in a nice pillow for her right now because she is still teething so badly and wants to chew everything. Between accidents, chewing, and the fact that she's gonna get bigger, we didn't think it'd be smart to waste our money on like a big dog pillow.
She was really intrigued by the trampoline as I unpacked and set it up, as we stuck a blanket on it, and it's like her other little home that's close to us, since her crate is in the other room. She loves it!
The biggest problem that's just recently developed is her biting. Especially because she's teething, she's liked to kinda nip and bite our fingers, toes, etc. Hopefully we can teach her soon to cut that out!
Anyway, here's a video of Nala playing with her little squeaky duck. I don't actually know if it's a great video because every time I watch it, Nala hears the squeaks and me talking thinks I'm trying to play with her and gets all confused. Especially since the squeaker of her duck is broken now from playing with it so much. Anyway, here's Nala!
We are loving her so much!
She IS a very cute puppy!! Good luck with the potty training and no biting instruction. :)
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