Good afternoon!!!
Today turned out quite a lot busier than I had envisioned upon awakening. Nala the newest member of the family needed to go and visit the vet to have a bump checked out. Getting ready was fun, as usual the kids did not quite see the need to focus on getting out the door. 
Nala didn’t spend much time on a leash prior to our adopting her, so that is something I have worked diligently on over the past couple of weeks. In most all situations her manners are very good. Public however, is not one of them. The cars, the smells, the people, the wonder!!! She is everywhere like a jumping bean. Now if she were the size of Bob and Bill the shih tzu boys it would really be of little consequence, she however, is a 60 pound laberdoodle. 
Her coming into the household caused quite the commotion for awhile. The shih tzu brothers still are not quite happy about their younger, much larger K9 sister. Henry the parrot really was the only of the family that seems unaffected by her presence. Sunny is quite interested in the big black beast, until she gets to close to her cage, then she is quite noisy about her discontent.
Who-Rae was very nervous about the Nala at first. Who can blame her, a puppy who can look you straight in the eyes would be enough to make my bells and whistles go off also. She was ran flat over once, but since that occasion has decided that she was no longer afraid of the wirey haired pooch. She likes to hang off of Nala’s neck and show everyone how her big puppy is a good hugger.
So the appointment went off easy, in fact we were done within 10 minutes time. The only hitch was her pulling through her training harness. The harness has helped a great deal on our regular walks, but in public and with all the new stimulation she did not mind the harness enough to care, and was quite content jumping, leaping, and pulling like a sled dog.
We took ourselves to the store for a quick couple of items. Then next stop was Petco for a new plant for Perry the lizard, something more edible for the puppy to chew on, and a new tag. Nala had a name change when we adopted her, not because we didn’t enjoy her being named Lilly, but because she and my niece would share the same name, and it was getting confusing to the kids. She now she has a shiny new pink heart tag, picked out specially for her by Sweet Pea, with her new name, and her new phone number in the case she decides to get lost. Nala was surprisingly very good in the pet shop, it was a wonderful relief to my sore elbow and shoulder. Her pulling at the veterinary clinic was a bit much on me, she is amazingly strong for her size.
Next stop, a specialty coffee for Mom. Score!!
Then, off to the animal shelter to register our new pooch, in the case her getting lost results in her being sent to jail. Sadly, their hours are not traditional and they were not open, so I need to make another trip. From there we headed to the shop where Conan works, we dropped off his coffee and a donut. He took the opportunity to show off the new puppy, boy did she ever soak up the attention!!
We looked up Nala in the baby book a week or so after we brought her home, her name means “loved”. She is ever loved. She is growing nicely into our family, and I am confident will make a wonderful companion for years to come.
We brought ourselves home, Nala had a well deserved romp in the yard, while the kids and I enjoyed or very rewarding snack. It is funny how the first major “outing” with the puppy reminded me so much of my first outings with our children. Hectic, tiring, noisy, and I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I thought I should have giving the amount of time.
–Jenn