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time outside and no exercise until she got out to potty and would jump the fence and take off. Things didn't do well after that. The small kids were pretty rough with her, too. I've had her a year waiting for the right family and the wait has been worth it. Her new Mom is a marathon runner, so guess what? Nala gets to run every day! There is a lake 1/2 mile from their home for her to swim in and a huge field to run when she isn't running with Mom. She has a beautiful back yard and dogs on both sides, too. When we were there, she did find the only hole in the fence and took off, but came back immediately when called and happily, too. She is afraid of thunderstorms and lightning! So, guess what! MN has had a drought and her first night in her new home, a huge noisy storm! Although Nala loves exercise, the lab in her is calming for when in the house. She also is a Diva, but her new owners know how to work with that and are taking her to classes for training. I'll let you read what her new Mom has to say about her first night:

Greta Chen M.D. - Nala's Owner

Leana, There is absolutely no need to apologize! I am totally in agreement that how our kids and pets turn out is directly related to how they are treated and brought up. Well so far so good... it figures that the first night we have her we have thunderstorm and lightening (something we haven't had in months)!! She actually did well sleeping on the floor (it's carpeted...she wouldn't lie on the cushion we got her) by our bed at the start of the night but then when the thunderstorm came she kept jumping into our bed despite our best efforts so we ended up putting her in the crate at around 2 AM. She did well in there...we put a thin blanket over the top and had the air conditioner on nonstop to drown out the noise and also put a dim light on to hopefully drown out the lightening. I think it actually calmed her down to be in the crate. She's great this morning, can't get enough of the yard... the neighbors brought their dog (the labradoodle) over to meet so that hopefully they won't be anxious about each other... Nala jumped her a little (I had her on her gentle leader so nothing happened), but I just praised her a bunch when she was sitting being good and in the end I think Nala will be more tolerant of her. I'll update you and let you know how things are progressing! Thanks again for all the time you spent with us, it's really good to know that there are people like you and your husband out there to help out dogs like Nala!

Greta

UPDATE 10/14/07:

Hi Leana! Things with Nala are going extremely well...every day I look at her and think how lucky we are to have her! She is still running well- the longest run so far has been 12 miles for her, she definitely is a champ in cool weather....she's definitely a Minnesota dog :) I credit her with my improved time this year- the race was really tough, before the day of the race I was hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon...but after going outside the morning of the race, I knew it wasn't realistic. Still though, I did much better than I thought I would given the conditions and finished 3 minutes past my qualifying time...but still 9 minutes better than my personal best...and I finished first from my team...so I'm overall pretty happy with how it went. Nala keeps pushing my pace, which I realize now is a definitely a good thing! Because of Dave's travels to Africa and a conference in San Diego, it's been hard to find a good time to sign up for training, but we of course are still planning to do it...we just need to find a 9 week block when we will both be here. On average about every other day I go through simple 5-10 minute sessions with her on just simple sit/stay/come commands...so I'm trying to keep it fresh. But really, she has been an angel...hasn't pushed our limits at all. And now when we let her out in our yard...sometimes (especially if she's been out recently) she will just sit by the door.. doesn't try to find the "weak link" in our yard anymore... I really would be surprised if she would try to escape again. We will definitely get her into formal training, and we definitely want to do it at TCOTC... I'm hoping sometime after the first of the year...but it may be more like the spring time? It seems like we've had a million thunderstorms since we've gotten her! We've actually now let her sleep with us in the bed... Dave was the first to give in (who would have predicted that?) So with the thunderstorms of course always occurring at night, that has led to sleep deprivation, but hopefully those are done for the season! She seems incredibly happy and of course puts up a lot of drama when we come home, even if we've only been gone for a half an hour ...did she always whine/cry and insist on a belly rub right when you walk in the door? I think it's quite humorous and of course we always give in to the belly rub. I think she could have a belly rub all day if she had her way! Her talking cracks us up too... she reminds me of Scooby Doo! How are things with you? How many dogs do you have now? We have a friend who is interested in a lab mix .. I know that sounds vague...but do you have any that need a home?

Thanks for checking in... we're still incredibly thankful for meeting you and for Nala!
Greta

Update 12/26/07