Shaggy Dog Comes Home

Ayak and I spent two hours at the TAG dog shelter. With temperatures in the high 30s, the dog's were spending more time playing in their water bowls than drinking so Ayak and I got good and muddy as you can see from this photo from the TAG Facebook page. It  takes a long time to feed and exercise 60 to 70 dogs and Karen and Mustafa are there every morning and evening. If there are any Didim-living dog lovers reading this, Karen is looking for an assistant for one day a week to give them a day off. Karen rescued Jake from some young boys who were dragging him around the Didim streets on a string and taunting him with sticks. She'd decided he was too nervous to go to the shelter so we headed off northwards to his foster home to meet him.  I was worried that he was a lost dog and being missed, but by the time we got to Didim, his original owners had been found and didn't want him back so he'd obviously been put on the streets.  Ayak and I didn't fancy our chances of being able to find our way home by the back roads we'd arrived on so we stuck to the main road and found we were over 70 kms from home.  Jake sat on the back seat as good as gold all the way.  After 2 hours in his new village house, he began to relax and we haven't looked back since.  We took him to get his jabs and pet passport the next day and the vet confirmed that he is between 4 and 5 months old. His birthday has been officially recorded as 1st April.  After a few days, we visited Ayak's house where he met her dog Poppy and we were both relieved to see them get on so well.

Jake's had quite a busy two weeks. After every walk he brings back a pine cone to add to the ones we already have on our terrace. He's getting used to jumping in and out of the car, knows he can't launch himself into the middle of our bed and realises that chewing the fringes on the carpets is not a good idea. He's very keen to tell the cows that walk past everyday that the garden is his territory, but he's still nervous of the jeep safaris that interrupt our walk in the morning.  Yesterday, we all celebrated our daughter's 20th birthday in Gümüşlük. He didn't like the sea but overcame his suspicion of water today and took his first dip in the pool. Only a paddle but I don't think it will be long before he's dive-bombing us from the edge. 

Still time to like and post a vote for TAG on the Facebook site below.
https://www.facebook.com/vivatspringwater

TAG Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/105688239472938/

Ayak's blog: http://ayak-turkishdelight.blogspot.com/