The Dogs and Cats of Alanya Yat Limani.

Firstly I apologise if this is formatted wrongly but I can't preview this to look at the final layout, I think it has to do with the Turkish government shutting down Google blogspot so if it is higgledy piggledy I apologise, and obviously none of our new friends in Turkey can even read it!

Although Alisha and Kaylee have had a fairly lonesome winter with no other kids to play with they have had plenty of animals to run around with.......

 

Tarcin feeding lady the puppy who went to a Turkish family.

When we got to Alanya way back in October the first dogs we came across were Tarcin the 'marina dog' and her four puppies.  They were soo cute, one was being kept by a couple in the marina, one went to a Turkish home (which was lucky as I think we would have ended up with her onboard....)  and the other two boys are being kept as marina dogs, they have got bigger and bigger......

 

Rex  

 

and Sherrif

Lovely dogs on the whole but a bit boisterous, they come running at the girls and sometimes knock them over which is OK when it is dry but a bit messy when it is raining and muddy.  Unfortunately the mother Tarcin is a little unpredictable and has bitten Kaylee twice but only little nips to tell Kaylee to back off.  I think she sees Kaylee as a schreeching annoying little puppy.  The girls tend to stay well away from her which is no bad thing as it means they always play at our end of the marina and not near the entrance.  A lot of the cruisers feed the dogs, us included as they don't seem to get enough to eat from the marina which is a real shame as everyone will be moving on in a months time and then what will happen to them?  The mother dog was apparently owned by a fisherman who was quite keen to sell her puppies and wouldn't get her 'fixed' even though she had her first litter when she was only 18 months and it really took a lot out of her so one of the cruisers payed for her to get the operation instead.  The dogs do bark a lot at night especially at anyone they don't know which i suppose is kind of the idea of guard dogs.  Thankfully our boat is away form the office area where they live as it can be a little noisy.

 

Danni Doodles.

Danny is a labradoodle owned by an American couple on their motor boat 'Salty Dawg'  and she really is a salty dog having crossed the Atlantic a few years ago!  This is Sue who was dog sitting Danni and was trying to walk her but with Kaylee around that can be difficult as she always throws herself at Danni.  Luckily Danni is one of the nicest natured dogs ever and doesn't even bark really. 

Savannah the luckiest dog alive.

Savannah was found luckily for her by an american lady called Mary Lou when she was cycling home one night.  Savannah was lying in a ditch and looked like a pile of rubbish.  Mary Lou saw it move out of the corner of her eye and stopped to find the poor little thing with a broken leg and a skin condition (which you can see on her face.)  Mary Lou tried to get the authorities to take her but they weren't interested so she took har to the vets, paid for her treatmen, nursed her back to health and found her a home! Of course having a puppy to look after was pretty exciting fot the girls too.....

Mary Lou, Alisha and Kaylee taking Savannah for a walk in a trolley to get some fresh air!

Of course when Savannah was all better, she proved to be a pretty good tow for rollerblades.....

Kavai the party pup!

Kavai is one of the marina puppies who was taken on by an English couple called Paul and Liz and has to be the cutest little puppy in the world.  She is always so excited to see the girls and poor Paul and Liz never get to go for a walk on their own with her if the girls spy them.  She has been on our boat on a number of occasions, usually for small soirees and she fits right in as you can see above!  That was a night that Mary Lou came over to watch the 'Frog Princess' and Kavai got a prime viewing seat too!  

And now for the cats.....

There are three marina cats or bin cats who are very lucky to be fed by the cat loving boat owners. 

Joey 'smelly cat'

This is Joey who along with his buddies, Dolores and Gingerino walk all over all the boats on the hard standing.  We couldn't believe it when we had our boat out of the water and we saw these little paws walking past the saloon windows.  We thankfully didn't have the experience of one German couple who had bought some smoked mackerel from the market andleft it out in the cockpit until dinner time so it didn't smell up the boat.  Well it never did get the chance to do that they found Gingerino licking her lips after she had finished it.......  Thankfully these cats don't come down the pontoons especially smelly Joey who really stunk up Mary Lou's cockpit whist she was away.

And now finally for the sad tale of Teeny.

Teeny was a little kitten who turned up a the marina bar in October.  She really was skin and bones hence the name Teeny.  Every one gave her tit bits, we would go every day and feed her a little kitten food and the girls just loved her.  It was great for us too as the girls were quite happy to sit in the bar on Pub Quiz night and any other night we decided to go up for happy hour.  Kaylee would curl up sleeping with her on the sofas which I wish I had taken a picture of.  We did think of adopting her but as we are coming home in the summer for two months we would have had to get her into a cat home or fly her home which was just not going to happen.

Well poor Teeny was never seen again after the big storm when the stream coming down the hill broke its banks, flooded over the duel carriageway and down into the marina through the shop and pub and into the water taking trees and all sorts of debris with it.  A little kitty like teeny would never have stood a chance :-(

The girls however were told by the barmen that she went to a new home in the hills.  It probably was kinder in the end rather than trying to live of meagre scraps around the marina.

Anyway as you can see there have been plenty of animals to keep the girls amused over the winter.  There are actually lots more dogs n boats in the marina, Bobo a very cute little French dog who has also crossed the Atlantic, a little Belgian dog and even a malamut too.  

Alisha has told us we will definitely be getting a dog when we get home, we'll see.........