Zaltana Anatolians

Tricks Update

Update on my Anatolian Ayla's tricks. In my first posting about her tricks she wasn't able to hold the sit pretty position, but she was very enthusiastic about trying. Now she is able to keep her balance much better and she can really sit pretty as can be seen on this picture.

She is also doing great with her bow when I step back a few steps. Previously she would only do the bow if I stood right in front of her.

And then there is the trick holding up her paw. She offers that to anybody who pays any attention to her.

the last one is "belly up", last weekend we went to watch an obedience trial and Ayla was noted for asking for belly scratches from anybody who came walking by. The TV crew even filmed her for the local news commenting on how they filmed her when she was just hanging around and relaxing.

Smelling the Roses

Just a few pictures of my Anatolian Leydi smelling the roses.

Just a normal Day
I thought I just put up a few pictures of what my dogs have been up to this afternoon. Starting with the girls Ayla and Leydi. Kobi the Jack Russell Terrier loves to be the center of attention. His newest game is to keep both of the girls off the couch while they take turns being "attacked" by him. The picture shows him in his favorite pose to get them to dare him.

After they were finished wrestling over the couch the trio took off to look for some more adventures. Since they couldn't find anything interesting,
they figured why not wrestle some more. Ayla usually throws herself on the ground so she and Kobi can play safely, he doesn't seem to be concerned about his size, but it seems that all my big dogs realize that they are much bigger and they don't want to hurt him.
Even Nanuk, who to my knowledge had not been around small dogs before, seems to be amused by the little fireball. This morning Nanuk offered lots of playbows to Kobi who seemed a bit confused about the intentions. Kobi loves to hang out with Nanuk, it's really comical to see them run together if something needs to be checked out at the fence.
The girls still weren't tired. Leydi thought that maybe Ayla was interested in a game of chase. Now one never has to ask Ayla twice to stretch her legs and do an imitation of a greyhound. She loves to run, whether it's her chasing Leydi or the other way around doesn't seem to matter, they are taking turns in who is getting chased. When they get going all bets are off.

One day they ran Nanuk over much to his surprise. Ever since he makes sure to stay out of the way when he hears their thundering paws coming towards him. The picture of both of them running is a little blurry, the sun went behind the clouds and the dogs were running fast.
In the end everybody settled down to enjoy a colorful sunset.

Togetherness in the hallway

Both of my Anatolian girls were sleeping together in the hallway today. My first thought was "they really like being together, now they even sleep together neck to neck". But then I wondered, are they really sleeping together because they like to be close, or do they both want to occupy a strategic spot and neither of them wants to give it up? Maybe a mixture of both? There was no posturing or any other indication that there was any competition over the location.

They slept there for quite a while and alternated using each other as head rests until the garbage truck came and everybody hurried outside to bark at the garbage truck.

Ayla Girl's first Birthday.

Ayla's first Birthday was on August 25. It's amazing how fast time goes by. When I look at her puppy pictures I can't believe how quickly the cute little puppy has grown into this great companion. She is an adolescent now, lots of energy, lots of pestering the other dogs for a game of chase and she has also discovered that she has a passion for digging. She loves to hang out with me, and has an interest in just about anything from cleaning floors to gardening and home improvement projects. She always has to see what's going on. She loves to be groomed, doing nails, having teeth brushed, ears cleaned and once when I was vacuuming with the shop vac I thought let's see if I can vacuum her coat and she thought that was just fine with her too. Charming visitors is another one of her specialties. Hard to resist her when she so obviously wants attention, offers her paw, sits pretty or rolls over to show her belly, all the while gleefully basking in the attention. On the other hand she is just very content and never complains about anything. She still has a lot of growing to do and the color of her coat is still changing too. Can't wait to see what the next year will bring.