Meet the Newest Member of the Pride!

Nala has officially joined the AWAKEN family! 🤍🐾

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We have a cool story to share about adopting this cutie…

So remember a couple weeks ago when we were at IceCycle Buffalo!?

What we thought was just another fun marketing event actually ended up turning into something even crazier for us (in a good way)!

One of the many awesome events that occurred during IceCycle was puppy yoga featuring adorable pups brought in from Buddy’s Second Chance Rescue, a non-profit dog rescue in Buffalo. 

Our friend/patient who also happens to volunteer with Buddy’s attended as well to help out with their puppy yoga event. She was walking around a little pup they called “Maryann” who had recently been brought in from a shelter in Georgia. 

Our friend knew we had been hoping to rescue a dog at some point and decided little “Maryann” was the absolute perfect fit for us…

She brought the puppy right over to the AWAKEN booth to meet Dr. Greg and he fell in love with this sweet girl instantly! 

Later, we looked up her adoption bio on Buddy’s website and we were hooked– she was meant to be! This quote is straight from “Maryann’s” bio:

“With her long athletic body and adorable ‘little lion prowling the savanna’ walk, Maryann struts around like she owns the place—usually on a mission to find a new friend to play with… or maybe a sneaker to “borrow.” 🦁👟”

As runners and owners of a clinic literally branded with a lion logo (see backstory here for the meaning behind this), we took it as a sign!

After some (short) time contemplating and praying, we decided to submit our application for Maryann!

Within one week, we applied for and received adoption approval, applied for the pup, spoke to the foster mom and welcomed her and the puppy for a home visit, and then got to take our new puppy girl home! 

It all happened so fast— the crazy opportunity, quick turnaround, and hopeful prayers all led to us adopting our dream dog, and we couldn’t be more grateful!

And to keep with our lion theme (and both of our childhood love of Disney’s “The Lion King”), we decided to re-name our girl “Nala.” 

We’re almost two weeks in now as new puppy owners and little Nala is definitely getting more and more comfortable each day! She LOVES meeting new people and has an abundance of energy!

We’ve heard it before, but now we’re experiencing it first-hand– owning and training a new puppy is TOUGH, we won’t lie. (And we just learned that she’s soon entering the “puppy teenage phase” as a 5-month-old, which can make training even tougher).

As this girl's sweet but sassy and stubborn personality comes out the comfier she gets with us, we’ve definitely got a lot on our hands… but with some patience and training we know this girl will grow into a loving loyal companion! 

Our dream is to have a dog we can run with, so we’re hoping to introduce her to some running once her bones and joints fully develop! We also hope to get her trained as a therapy dog one day…

In the meantime, get ready for more Nala content on AWAKEN social media, and maybe you’ll even get to meet this friendly girl at some future events! 😉

Nala is officially ready to help you AWAKEN YOUR POTENTIAL 🦁✨

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Written by: Mackenzie Lowe