Zaltana Anatolians

Sand Storm
We had quite a fierce stormy day today. Now at night the temperature has already dropped below 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit). The dogs had fun with all the cold and windy weather today, Nanuk was laying sprawled out letting the wind ruffle his thick fur. The picture shows Ayla with the wind blowing in her face, ears up like sails in the wind. On the next picture both she and Leydi get their ears blown in the wind.












Ayla adores windy days. In the last couple of weeks my neighbor's poplar's have all dropped their leaves, and what hadn't dropped before, came off today. Ayla loves to chase leaves.










She will stalk and chase them for hours. It's really funny to watch her as she runs after them. She gets a lot of exercise on windy days. The last picture shows what a sandstorm looks like, it's like a thick fog, but if you go outside, you taste and feel the sand in your mouth, and yes, it really stings in your eyes too.

Two new dog houses
As we are getting ready for Leydi's first litter, I built a dog house out of 16 straw bales and some lumber, the roof measures 8 x8 feet, I wasn't even finished building it, and Leydi moved in, didn't even bother her that we were still hammering in the nails for the roof, she claimed the house as hers. She has been sleeping in it day and night since last weekend when we put it up. She has a doggie door to come inside the house, and a nice soft doggie bed too, but she prefers her new house. I guess she just likes to have a place of her own. Little does she know that she will soon need to share again with her offspring (well, we think she is pregnant).
The youngsters Kobi and Ayla think the new big dog house is a great place for their chase and wrestle games. These two have me in tears with their antics every day.


The dog yard with the big dog house will be the puppy yard. Recently I found a igloo dog house at a yard sale, it's a bit small, but I think it will be great for the puppies. I set it up in it's own little yard inside the dog yard, the area is filled with pine shavings. It's certainly big enough for a whole bunch of puppies to pile up in.
I was curious to see if Ayla would try to go in, and sure enough, yesterday I saw her going in, unfortunately I was too far away and didn'thave the camera on me. But today I was prepared and I got some good shots of her squeezing herself in. Actually once she is inside there is enough room for her to be comfortable, it's just the entrance that is rather low. Of course as soon as Kobi saw this, he claimed the house as his and stood in the entrance daring her to come in. He is hilarious, he grabs a piece of skin under her mouth and holds on and she actually pulled him all the way out of the dog house as he was holding on.
Leydi isn't in the pictures today, she sat back and watched all the action from the straw bale platform outside the dog yard. Later she went to investigate the igloo, I am curious to see if she will try to get in too, it's probably too small for her, but knowing Anatolians, I wouldn't be surprised if she found a way to crawl inside.
Ayla has also started to dig a tunnel for the puppies, I guess she is making sure that they will be properly introduced to the art of landscaping and digging tunnels to Turkey, just in case they want to visit their relatives there.

November Afternoon

Leydi just had to check out what Kobi was up to.



Then she had to go and check out something at the fence.
Then the usual rough and tumble action began which of course means that there is a lot of racing around.
Ayla and Leydi often run shoulder to shoulder at breakneck speed. The two Anatolian girls and the little Jack Russell Terrier just love to wrestle and play.
It is so nice to have young dogs again. When Nanuk was younger, my other two dogs were both older. Simba did love to play with him, but she just couldn't get around that well anymore and we didn't have the space for a lot of running. Nanuk is getting a little slow these days and isn't much into playing anymore, maybe it's because he has a real job now and no time to play. I am very happy to have 3 younger dogs that are having so much fun together, I never get tired watching them and it feels good to know that they are getting plenty of exercise.

Ayla at the dog park
Ayla girl went to the dog park today, this was her second visit to this particular dog park in Las Vegas. She has such a good time at the dog park, running along with the other dogs, checking everybody out, dogs as well as the humans. She even invited herself to a picnic. I think the pictures speak for themselves. The little basset hound wasn't too happy at first being surrounded by all the big dogs, but after a few minutes the tail was up and she had made some new friends.