Nera

Hello everyone, please allow me the pleasure of introducing our one-eyed wonder, Nera!

Nera is a female pug, approximately 1 year old. She is full black in colour with a small patch of white on her chest. She has one beautiful brown eye as wide as a dinner plate and has such a friendly gaze. She has a curly tale like a piglet, and small floppy ears that easily get turned inside out when she’s playing. She is about 17lbs and full of muscle.

The name Nera was found in usual fashion, trusty Google. We wanted something to suit her personally, and started to find different words for black to get creative with a name. We learned that in the Italian language black in the female tense is Nera, and we thought that was just a perfectly feminine name for her.
Nera came to Pound Dog Rescue with a few other pugs from a puppy mill. I’m not certain if she ever had puppies as she was still young and when she came to us her eye looked pretty damaged. We think they didn’t breed her for this reason. We are so glad that we got to save her!  Nera has really come out of her shell a lot since her early days with us, but warmed up pretty quickly even with a lot of upheavals in her life at the start. Since we rescued her with a very damaged eye, she got priority at the vets and got her spay/microchip/vaccines within a few days of her coming to stay with us. They examined her eye at that time and recommended that the eye be removed just to prevent further reinfections and pain for her. The vet said that the eye was non-seeing, and she would bounce back quickly after having it removed. She had her enucleation (eye removal) surgery and it went really well. She was very determined and bounced back quickly and ready to play with toys even with a cone on. 

Nera gets regular crate time during the day even if we are at home, just to allow for her to get used to it and find it a safe space for her. She isn’t always the biggest fan and complains a bit once you first put her into the crate, but then calms down and sleeps. Nera eats all her meals in her crate, but has free range of her water bowl anytime she is out and about. She also spends her night in the crate for sleeping and will be quiet all night. We put a blanket over her crate when she is crated as she feels the safest and calm that way.

We consider Nera a work in progress still with house training. We haven’t noticed any cues, but just take her out whenever we are able. Sometimes if she is very playful outside she doesn’t focus on going to the bathroom so you have to be mindful to focus to take her out again when she is calmer. She rarely has accidents in her crate, and only a few during transitional periods for her (like after surgery). She currently on average has two bowel movements per day, once in the morning and once in the later afternoon. She will last the whole night without having to be let out and no accidents in the crate. Lately we have noticed she won’t go to the bathroom in our fenced backyard, but will go to the bathroom on our unfenced trailer lot with a leash on. Also she will go to the bathroom on a walk.  So anyone considering Nera will have to take her for daily walks to ensure she is doing her bathroom duties.   The fenced yard for her appears to be just for fun and play, and walks are for getting business done!

Nera loves to go for walks and can walk pretty far for her size. We can easily go for about 30 minutes and she does just fine, may just slow down a bit at the end. But if she sees children to get pets she will regain some spunk to finish the walk with pep!

Nera absolutely loves toys! Anything she can get her teeth on, so be mindful of the size.  She loves stuffies and rubber toys or balls. Even after a 30 minute walk she will come home and still pounce around with a toy sometimes.  Once she is done being playful she loves to nap! Preferably on a human’s lap, either child or adult. Depending on how she is positioned she will snore and snort so much!

Nera has a travel carrier crate that we use for travel in the car. She prefers to ride in the front seat of our pickup truck between us where she can see us vs in the back hatch of our SUV. If she can see us she will curl up and just sleep for the whole drive now that she is used to it.  We have a trailer that we drive weekly to with her and she has really gotten used to the car this way. She does really well at the trailer and doesn’t bark at other dogs when we are on our lot or on our walks around the park. Nera does pace a lot in the screen room and doesn’t settle very well while there, there is just so many smells and things to check out. She does complain in her crate more at the trailer, but we can go to another site and enjoy some peace and quiet and she settles.  She just wants to be a part of everything and hates to miss out on some potential fun.

Nera loves other dogs and we have a foster-sibling, so she is very used to other dogs. She has had one encounter with cats for a longer time and she did totally fine with them. We have two kids ages 8 and 11 years old and she loves to hang out with them, snuggle, and she will play with them lots too. She would be fine in a home with older children who can be cognizant to be gentle around her missing eye and not poke her.  

Her future home could be any type of home (detached, semi, or apartment). Nera would just require some training and patience to allow her to get used to new surroundings. Until she knows her routine and surroundings she may be loud(er) in her crate, may have accidents during the transitional period. Fenced or unfenced yard is ok. She does love to run in our fenced backyard, but if she is exercised well enough then she won’t need to do this likely.

In conclusion, Nera would be a great family dog with or without children, in any type of dwelling, with lots of activity and play time in her daily routine. Another dog is not necessary, but may help with routines and getting used to a new home. We hope you consider adding this adorably sweet girl to your home!