Nick and Bonnies Big Adventure

Matt and I and the dogs had an interesting day yesterday. We decided to weigh the dogs at the vet's office, and since we were going that way, to buy fresh beans from Asheville Coffee Roasters. The weighing went well, except Bonnie was terrified of the scale so Matt had to lift her onto the platform. Nick - 134, Bonnie -87. Nick gained 8 lbs since January! He's about right now.

Asheville Coffee Roasters was doing an outdoor market in downtown Asheville, so we headed that way. Somehow we found a parking place right next to their stall, and they wanted to meet the dogs. With some reluctance, since these are country dogs, we took them out of the car and walked them around on the sidewalk. They were fine and the coffee people declared that Nick was handsome and Bonnie was beautiful. The woman in the next stall, selling flowers, spotted the dogs and got SO excited. "Those are Anatolian Shepherds, aren't they? Oh they are beautiful! I love Anatolians, I've done a lot of reading on them and they are so great!" She was smiling and so enthusiastic, then all of a sudden she got quiet, and looked more closely at Nick. Then she asked, "Is that Nick?"

Now we had never met this woman before so I wondered how she knew our dog! Turns out she had seen a flier with the dogs' pictures that I hung at the local natural foods market. In fact, she and her daughter had actually discussed adopting Nick, and she promptly called her daughter on her cell and informed her excitedly that she was actually meeting the big guy. One of them lives in the city, and one in the country, and one already has 5 or 6 dogs, I never got the complete story but they probably are not going to adopt him. This woman just loved him anyway. She was so thrilled to meet Nick in person (in dog?.....).

So as Nick was enjoying his status as sidewalk rock star, we heard another voice from the other side of the street calling out, "Is that an Anatolian Shepherd?". We turned around to see a young woman crossing the street with.......an Anatolian Shepherd on a leash! What are the odds?!? Her dog was a handsome young male, and he and Bonnie sniffed, but Nick didn't like that and growled and barked. He's so good, though, if he had seriously wanted to go after that dog, he could easily have pulled Matt in that direction, but he just let his displeasure be known and continued to be a gentleman. We talked to the young woman and heard her dog's story, then said goodbye to everyone and loaded up to head home.

That was our morning adventure, and all this happened on the day I also helped transport Jake, an Anatolian Shepherd dog, to his new home. It was certainly an Anatolian Shepherd Harmonic Convergence!

Bonnie was so happy when I came home from a month of traveling, so I'm writing about her today. I got home late Friday night, in a rental car, and she was in the upper field barking. By the time I walked through the house, she was on the deck and I walked out to greet her. She was not scared of me, but shy and a bit uncertain, because of course she has never had the experience of her person leaving, being gone for a significant time (a month!) and coming back. It was something she had to process, but she worked through it and was glad to see me. I read somewhere that if a dog's person is gone for more than the usual amount of time (a day at work?), the dog concludes that her person has been eaten by predators, and that's that.

Bonnie slept in the house Friday night. She is not crated, but we separate the back entryway (the airlock) from the dining room with a baby gate and that confines her. It makes her feel more secure, and it also keeps her away from the living room couch, where she still occasionally forgets that she is not allowed to sit on. Most likely this is what happened to her as a puppy - cute little fluffball who was spoiled and allowed on the furniture, then one day the rules changed.

Bonnie is very sweet and loving. She and the cat, Possum, have regular little love fests, he rubs heads with her and she licks his fur. It's hilarious. But she is not the kind of dog you will ever be able to yell at for discipline. A firm correction is enough for her. She is very compliant and wants to be a good dog, because most of all she wants to make the person happy before the person starts yelling and scaring her.