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A diary update by Elliott – Anatolian Shepherd dog – morning walk in the snow –

It’s a while since I put paw to paper, you can read my last story here:

A few days ago something brilliant happened, the outside world turned white and the ground turned crunchy.  Us dogs, we have two worlds; the outside world where we go on patrol and run about.  And the inside world where we eat and sleep.  As a dog I’m good at noticing things.  I’ve noticed the white crunchy thing only happens in the outside world.

Today, George (my dog-brother) and I couldn’t wait to go outside and explore the white crunchy world.

Morning is our favourite time for going out.  In the morning the outside world is full of smells.  But before we can go out we have to ‘sit’ and ‘wait’ in a place called ‘the porch’.  The ‘porch’ is the bit between the inside world and the outside world.  In the porch the girl human puts on our collars, ‘clip, clip’.  Then she makes us wear funny looking glowing collars.  I have an orange one and George has a blue one.  I’ve noticed she only puts these on when it’s dark in the outside world.

George and I can’t wait to get going, we are nearly beside ourselves.  But we know better than to let our girl human know this.  We pretend to be cool as cucumbers.

At last, the door opens and we follow the girl human into the outside world.  Our girl human keeps walking but George and I stand on the doorstep sniffing and looking.  We do this every time we go out.  We sniff and scan.  It’s our job to know what’s going on before deciding what to do next.

myself doing a roly poly

This morning the smells were different .  My nose got excited and started to twitch.  My legs felt springy like they do before a zoomie.

Suddenly George and I found ourselves on what the humans call ‘the lawn’.  Normally the lawn is green.  Today it was white and crunchy under paw.

George and I found ourselves skidaddling about.   We couldn’t help it.  The white stuff makes us feel like puppies again.  I’m a grown-up dog now with responsibilities.  But the white stuff calls and makes me do roly-polies and zoomies.  George is even older than me but he tells me the same thing happens to him.

We both had a brilliant time rolling around.  I noticed our girl human didn’t join in.  She just watched us and smiled.

Then we remembered our morning jobs.

myself investigating the compost heap

Firstly we headed to the compost heap to sniff out the smells.  But there were no smells there today.  Normally it is full of smells to investigate.  Sometimes I’m lucky and can reach in and have a proper sniff around when my humans aren’t looking.  My legs are very long which is handy for things like this.  But overnight the compost heap had turned white and all the fun things in it had disappeared.  So we aborted mission and headed off to the muck heap.  Lately George and I have noticed lots of badger activity at the muck heap.  They make a right mess of things, scattering dung left right and centre.  George and I would get a ticking off if we did that.  The badgers get away with murder.

myself waiting at the gate

After our morning jobs we found ourselves at the gate at the end of the track.  I like ‘the gate’, it is the bit between ‘the garden’ and ‘the fields’.  The ‘fields’ are where our friends the sheep live.

our friends the sheep

 

myself and George in the field

In the field George and I did roly polys and zoomies all the way to the next place on our morning walk; ‘the woods’.

the woods

We go to ‘the woods’ every morning and sniff out what’s been going on there during the night.  it is part of what we do every day.  Our humans call it ‘a routine’.   Us dogs, we like ‘a routine’.  In the woods the smells and sounds are different to the fields.  Deep in the woods we heard a funny sound from high up.  It sounded like:  “twit, wit woooooo”.  The girl human stood still, pricked her ears up and listened closely.  I have noticed that even though she is a human, she is quite similar to a dog at times.

After a while we found ourselves back at the gate and George and I remembered our next activity was just around the corner; breakfast.  Breakfast is one of our favourite things, especially after a morning zooming about in the snow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“A diary update” – by Elliot – Anatolian Shepherd rescue dog from Turkey

The last time I wrote in my diary was over a year ago.  You can read my last story here.

I’ve lived in my new home for a long time now.  My new house is far away from where I used to live in Turkey.  I live with George and my two humans.  I have more friends but they live outside.   I spend time with my outside friends when George and I go on patrol.

Early this morning I was lolling in my dog bed thinking about my next activity when my girl human appeared.  I knew we would soon be going outside on patrol.  This is one of my favourite activities so I decided to nibble George’s head while I waited.

myself and George on morning patrol

My girl human hopped around putting on her green feet.  Then she called us to the door and out we went.  We followed her through the garden towards the fields where the sheep live.  First I checked out the compost heap as I like to do.  The girl human and George were already by the gate so I ran as fast as I could to catch up.  Luckily my legs are very long and very good at running!

myself in the woods being stealthy

We went to the woods as we usually do.  I like the woods.  George and I are very busy in the woods because there is so much to do.  Sometimes we don’t know what to do first so we stand at the entrance thinking.  Today we decided to be stealthy and follow a fox trail.  George isn’t as good at being stealthy as I am, George always barks and gives the game away.

myself and my pals looking

After a while we came out of the woods and walked up a hill.  Trudge, trudge, trudge we went until we came to the top.  The sheep were sitting at the top of the hill moving their mouths around.  George and I decided to do some looking.  We enjoy looking around, it’s one of our favourite things.  After a while the girl human called us and we went to the house to have our breakfast.

myself having a siesta

In between breakfast and my next activity I decided to have a siesta on the doorstep.

myself waiting to run with the quad

Then my boy human called me.  I was enjoying my snooze a lot and decided not to hear him.  But then I heard the sound of the quad bike.  It makes a sound like a very loud growl.  My brain didn’t know what to do because running with the quad bike is one of my favourite things.  As I was working this out my legs started to get up.  Suddenly I found myself at the quad bike with my boy human and George.

George and I found ourselves very busy running, then we came back to the garden and felt a snooze coming on so we did this while we waited for the next activity.

myself in the hen run

The girl human came over and called us into the hen run.  I love going into the hen run, it’s full of interesting smells.  George and I watched the hens going peck, peck peck.  The girl human left us to it while she had a clean up.

myself and George playing

After a while we came out of the hen run.  George and I felt a play coming on so we did zoomies up and down the track.  I love zoomies, they are one of my favourite things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“Spending time with the sheep” – A week in my life – by Elliot, Anatolian Shepherd rescue dog from Turkey

Monday 18th July

myself, walking with the sheep

I had a brilliant day today, this morning I was allowed off lead in amongst the sheep for the first time!  It was great to be able to walk down the hill with my pals free and easy without the lead getting in the way.  The sheep were walking to the wooden house in the field because it was hot.  The sheep don’t like the heat.  I don’t mind the heat because I come from a place called Turkey.

This afternoon I was let off my lead again so I spent some time with the boss sheep Selene who I like a lot.  Selene was the first sheep to lick my face last week when I was in training.  I feel happy around Selene, she reminds me of my mum.  You can see Selene in the main picture of this story.

Tues 19th July

myself and George

Today was a hot day again and felt like that place I used to live called Turkey.  In Turkey they don’t have long grass.  I like long grass, I like running through it, it’s one of my favourite things.  Today we went over to the sheep who were in their wooden house.  I didn’t get to say hello because they wouldn’t come out so I hung around with George.  My girl human went to fiddle with some fencing.  On the way back I did some zoomies and then I sat on a hill.  I like sitting and watching, it’s another one of my favourite things.

Wed 20th July

One of the sheep who is called Shelby needed some help today.  My girl human didn’t pay me much attention so I sat and watched. She led Shelby into a pen.  Shelby’s nose was covered with flies.  My girl human got a bottle of white spray and sprayed it all over Shelby’s nose.  When she came out the pen I wanted to lick her but I wasn’t allowed.  I didn’t mind, that white spray smelled funny.

myself sitting watching
myself walking back with the sheep

Later on, myself and my whole pack went back into the field.  I love going out with my whole pack, it’s one of my favourite things.  George and I sniffed some smells in the grass while the boy human pulled out tall, spiky plants with purple flowers on top.  My girl human put Shelby into a pen again and stuck a needle into her bottom, yikes!

Then we walked back and the sheep followed us, I love walking with the sheep, it reminds me of who I am, a Turkish shepherd dog.  Walking with the sheep is one of my other favourite things.

 

 

Thurs 21st July

myself being a sheep
myself walking back with George

Today I followed the girl human around the fields while she opened and closed some gates.  I got bored so I did some zoomies around the sheep.  I was flying around in circles when my girl human called my name.  Before I could decide whether I wanted to go back, my legs started to run towards her.  I don’t know how that happened but I got a biscuit so I didn’t mind.   Then we went into a different field so I could finish my zoomies but I didn’t want to run anymore so we went back to the first field to look at the sheep again.  I didn’t know what to do so I pretended to be a sheep.  Then we went back to the house.

 

Friday 22nd July

scratching my itch
long grass zoomie

This morning on the walk it felt cool and fresh.  George told me he likes the cool weather, he doesn’t like the heat even though he’s from a sunny place called Greece.  George ran off as soon we’d done our “sits” and “downs”.  I stayed with my girl human until we got to the sheep.  Then I sat down down and scratched an itch.  After that I sniffed around in the grass while my girl human went to check on Shelby.  I could see from where I was that Shelby’s nose was better, my eyes can see very far.  Then we went into a field with trees in it and long grass and I felt a zoomie coming on so off I went.  Doing zoomies is another one of my favourite things.

 

 

Saturday 23rd July

myself sitting by the gate

I like it when my humans ask me to “sit”.  Each time I sit I get a biscuit.  This morning when we got to the gate George and I sat and we got a biscuit.  George stayed in a sit but I got up and waited for my girl human to say “sit” again and give me another biscuit.  But nothing happened.  I felt a funny feeling in my brain.  I wanted a biscuit and I wanted to go to the sheep but my girl human waited and I didn’t know what to do so I just stood there.  After a long time I sat down and my girl human opened the gate and called us through.  We did another “sit” at the other side of the gate and this time I copied George and I stayed in my sit.  My girl human shut the gate and then she put on a funny netty hat.  I’ve seen my humans wear those hats before, they wear them when there are tiny flies about which bite.  I don’t mind flies, I’m from Turkey where there are lots of flies.

my girl human and Shelby

When we got to the sheep they were in their wooden house again.  My girl human let me do my own thing.  I decided to look for some sheep droppings.  My girl human was looking for sheep droppings too.  She was sweeping them up and putting them in a pile.  Then my girl human called Shelby over and looked at her nose again.  She put Shelby in a pen and stuck another needle in her bottom, eek!

Sunday 24th July

myself having a shake
walking up the hill

This morning it was raining, I don’t like the rain.  I wanted to stay in my bed but I also wanted to see the sheep in the field.  My brain didn’t know what to do with these two thoughts.  I was pleased when my girl human took charge.  She called me and George and we went into the rain.  I started to enjoy myself and I noticed there were different smells in the air.  I saw a small green creature on the ground with bendy legs.  This time I sat by the gate quickly.  My girl human looked happy.  She opened the gate and George and I went through into the field.  I was pleased when she unclipped my lead because the rain was making my ears tickle and I felt a shake coming on.  Shaking is one of my favourite things, when I do a shake all the water flies off around me and makes a funny sound like “brrrrr”.

introducing myself to Yssi

The sheep were in a different field today.  We walked up a hill to get to them.  When we got there my girl human let me do my own thing.  I decided to introduce myself to Yssi.  Yssi is one of the second in command to the boss sheep Selene.  The other second in command sheep is called Ursi.  I know about these things.  Dogs are the same.  Everyone has their place.  My girl human looked for Shelby.  She gave her some brown pellets to eat from her pocket.  My legs walked towards her and my nose went into her pocket but my girl human walked away.  Shelby still had a funny spot on her nose.  I wanted to lick it but I wasn’t allowed.

Then we went back to the house a different way.  There were lots of tall plants to walk through and my girl human was having trouble finding the path.  George and I used our noses to find the path.  Humans’ noses are not very good at smelling.  This is one of the things I have noticed as a dog.