Position: 40°39’25″N 35°49’30″E

Kangal

With the world in turmoil puppies are one of the few things you can unconditionally rely on to cheer you up. Having learned how many stray dogs and cats there are in Turkey, we never go anywhere without a bag each of dog and cat food in the car. Our backpacks are filled with animal treats. Small tidbits of mystery meat that are greeted either with delight or complete indifference. Yet, more than food, the strays universally want love and attention. Even the skinny ones will take a neck rub or ear scratch over a treat.

Most strays are reasonably well fed. Towns set out feeding troughs and the dogs seem to self-regulate their diet. Cats in some districts are hand fed meat, while in others they rummage around open dumpsters. Cast iron stomachs all round.

Pets, identified by their collars, wander alongside their stray pals. Or rather they waddle. A fat dog is an unhappy dog. All the extra weight saps their energy and seemingly their joy for life. Skinny dogs fixate on food until their bellies are full. With enough calories on board, they can focus on other things, like roughhousing with their buddies.

Pupnappers

Strays run the gamut from terrified to tame. In the small group of parentless puppies in the video below, one little wire haired Kangal cautiously stepped forward as Carol held out a little food. Her litter mates held back as she dug in, even burying her nose in the bag to fill her tummy. Since we couldn’t coax the others to come feed, we went up the hill overlooking Amasya and visited the 1,500-year-old castle, taking in the splendid views. On our return we found that the little one, still full, had spread the word and, with only a little circumspection, the others came forward and started eating. Between them, the five pups ate their way through the entire bag of Pedigree chow. Something of a record for us.

Of course we wanted to take them home. Pupnap one, or two. Possibly, three. But if we did that, we couldn’t have left the others. Then there wouldn’t be any room on Aleta, and, well, the entire idea of adopting any of them was fantastically impractical. If Marlon were here of course none of this would happen. Only a lot of barking and chasing.

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8 Comments

    1. Nice! We just connected with an organization call Surfers for Strays in Mexico. They have a wonderful network to find forever homes for puppies. We transported two puppies for them when we came home. Now the little cuties have families in LA.

      Ginger

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