Applejunk Turkish Adventures: Saving Sadie

Jordan and I have been talking about getting a puppy for a while. We have to leave our sweet Brody boy behind because of an old wound that keeps reopening. In order for dogs to come to Turkey they have to have a clean bill of health, which is ironic considering the condition that the Turkish dogs are in. We are eternally thankful to my Grandma Freida who has been taking good care of him while we are away. Jordan and I are both dog people and we missed having a furry friend around.

We talked about getting a dog from a breeder in Germany, but it would have cost more than we were willing to spend. We looked at puppies at the pet stores here, but none of them really captured our hearts. Despite the dire warnings we received, we decided to try the animal shelter off base. It's a "no kill" shelter, which means that they will never euthanize the animals under any condition. Unfortunately this means that there are dogs running around with limbs missing, huge bloody wounds, intestines hanging out, and any other tragedy you could possibly imagine. They keep the very sick and injured dogs together in separate kennels, however.

Our intention was to adopt a puppy around 8-12 weeks. When we got there we looked around for awhile, and came upon a very protective mama dog with 3 tiny puppies that looked hours old. She was very protective of them. Our hearts just broke for her because we knew the puppies would probably die in the circumstances. It had been flooding for days, and although they had shelter, everything was just wet and cold. We went home that night, talked it over, and decided that we wanted to adopt the mama and all the puppies if they let us. The next day Jordan went back to the shelter and they told him that he could have the puppies in a week, but we couldn't take the mama because she was a surrogate. Communication was very difficult, because they speak very little English and Jordan speaks very little Turkish.

The next day we went back to the shelter and the puppies were all dead. You could tell that the mama was depressed and my heart ached for her. I thought maybe they would let me take the mama now, since she didn't have any puppies to feed. Jordan had his eye on another rambunctious puppy a couple kennels down. Unfortunately the shelter closed while we were there. Everyone just packed up and went home even though we were there to adopt a dog. That's Turkey for you. We went home that night and decided we would get the mama if they let us have her; if not, we would get the bouncing older puppy that Jordan liked.

Jordan used the internet to translate a bunch of phrases that we thought we might need, and we headed to the shelter to get our dog. Once again they told us that we could not have the mama dog. We went to look at the hyper puppy and pointed at her and asked if we could meet her. It was raining so hard that the men working there were all wearing bright orange rain suits. When the opened the kennel, the dog shot out like a bullet and there were a bunch of people chasing her for awhile. She eventually ran back inside. One of the orange men went into her kennel with a noose-like device; it was two long sticks, with fabric in the middle. He twisted it around her neck and yanked her out of the kennel. The dog was shaking and crying and just frantic. I was just shocked at how violently he treated her.

There was a vet on site that had been talking to Jordan. She pointed at a little bloody spot on her neck and said she was injured. Then one of the men took a rusty old razor and shaved off a large section on her neck over and around the tiny wound. They then dumped all this blue stuff on her, that I assume was something like iodine. They ripped the tag out of her ear. They were being unnecessarily rough and mean to the poor dog the whole time. Jordan kept asking if we could just meet the dog, and we weren't necessarily committed to taking her home right now. There was a huge communication break down. I think it was around this time that I started to have a panic attack. There was so much barking and commotion, it was pouring rain, and I just couldn't handle it. I started crying and just had to get away from those people. Jordan went inside to talk to the vet.

After speaking with the vet he learned that you aren't allowed to meet the dogs first. You point at one and take it home and that's that. They said that we could bring her back in a couple days if we didn't like her. It's hard to say who was more of a mess- me or the dog. The orange men manhandled her into the kennel in the jeep, and we got out of that place as fast as we could. I cried all the way home and Jordan kept encouraging me, saying that we would give it a shot and bring her back if it didn't work out. Like we could really take her back that place. The only thing I remember saying to Jordan was, "but she's blue!". The rusty razor gave her razor burn and she itched herself violently the whole way home.

By the time we made it home, the whole area that they shaved was a bloody mess. She was wet, blue, bloody, and completely pathetic. We put the kennel in our backyard and opened the door. She came out and tenderly sniffed us and then went right back in. Nothing could coax her out...not even bloody meat. We let her be. After a couple hours she came out and allowed herself to be pet. She was much more comfortable with me than Jordan. I can only assume she has been mistreated by men her whole life. I carried her into the bathtub and we gave her a good scrub down. She was surprisingly calm and passive. Most of the blue washed off, along with about a pound of dirt. While we were bathing her we realized she was covered in bites. Jordan ran to the store and got her flea medicine and we put that on her as soon as she was dry. The poor creature was just in agony and could do nothing but itch herself, making everything worse. We got her the Friday before Christmas, and the vet wouldn't be back until January 2nd. I started giving her Benadryl every 6 hours. It only took the edge off for the first 3 hours, and I was giving her the maximum safe dose. Our first couple days with her were long and difficult and the nights were sleepless. We called her Blueberry for those first couple days.

Even simple things were difficult with her. She was absolutely terrified of the leash and wouldn't let us get anywhere near her with a collar. Fortunately she wouldn't stray within a couple feet from us. The first time I put her in the grass to go potty was hilarious. She had never stood on grass before, because she was always on cement in the animal shelter. She was scared of it and her paws had strange jerky movements.

Finally she started showing some personality on Christmas day. We were ecstatic that she started playing with the wrapping paper because it was the first thing she showed interest in besides scratching. We knew that in order to start training her we needed to come up with a name. We had a list, and voted on it at Christmas dinner. We finally decided on Sadie Buttercup. These days we joke that her middle name should have been "Naughty".

The first toy that we bought her is a stuffed duck that quacks when you squeeze it. The first time she made it quack it scared her half to death and she took off running with her tail between her legs. After a while she was playing with it and every time the duck quacked she whimpered. It was about the funniest thing I've ever seen. Her favorite trick now is to come up behind us and squeeze it. It makes me jump every time!

Every day is a challenge with her, but each day is a little better than the last. I think God gave us Sadie to help me practice patience before we start a family. Most of the time she's a little angel, but sometimes she sure infuriates me. Like this morning, when I took her out first thing in the morning; I was so proud of her because she pooped and peed right away. About 10 minutes later she left a huge poop for me right in the middle of the carpet! Really, Sadie?? Do you save that little turd special for me?? I was so mad at her I couldn't look at her for about an hour. Her sweet puppy kisses make up for it though!

This was taken at the shelter, right after they poured blue stuff on her. What a pathetic mess! Can you see why we called her Blueberry?

This was the second day. Notice how bad her neck is now. I'm surprised she stopped scratching long enough for me to snap this picture! Poor baby.

Her kennel was definitely her "safe place" for the first couple days. She let us put this harness on her after a couple days. She looks like she's up to no good in this one!