Bebek the puppy settles into her new home

I believe in fate, and our new puppy had our name on her the day she was born I am sure of it. Life moves in mysterious ways, because how she meandered her way to us from so far away I just can't imagine, but she did. On Saturday she will have been here for three weeks. So how has she settled in to the family?

Bebek - Baby

As mentioned in my post 'A new young lady joins our family' I spoke about how she walked in the door and laid straight down as if she belonged, and how meeting our other two dogs passed without event. Also that we had to think of a new name because Kizim which she was called was too close to Kizi who we already have - our German Shepherd.

We asked readers of our blog and facebook page to offer suggestions. There were some excellent suggestions and after much deliberation we shortlisted two. We just could not decide between those two and in the end we each wrote on a piece of paper which we thought. When we showed them to each other we had each chosen a different one. But in the end we agreed on Bebek (baby) as her new name.

Not really lap dog size but 'our baby' loves a cuddle

She seemed very happy with our choice because within a couple of days she responded to it, and as she settled it really seemed to be the right choice. She just is our baby! Somebody commented that when she is fully grown the name won't be right. I disagree, babies are indicative of new beginnings which we needed after losing our beloved boy Tyson, and she will always be our baby.

At first she was a bit too interested in the cats! But she soon came round and now she is as good as gold with them. This afternoon she was laying asleep on the terrace next to one of them quite happily. She also fell in the pool three times in the first few days, so she has had to have a crash course in swimming and more importantly how to get back out, as we only have ladder steps.



Bebek loves her swimming lessons!

She seems very relaxed here and is very loving. In the mornings when we come down, or if we have been out, she screams with excitement to see us, and likes to be picked up and cuddled a lot. Might be a bit tricky as she gets bigger, but it's OK for now.

Our eight month old puppy Little-E is totally in awe of her and they play together for hours. They have had a couple of spats when things get a bit rough, but it soon passes over and they are busy playing again.

The partners in crime when questioned had no idea how the sun lounger cushions fell off or indeed got torn! In fact one of them did their best to hide the damage !!!!!

Sometimes the German Shepherd will play with her, but she seems more pleased to be able to stop having to play with Little-E and lead a somewhat more mature life, so everyone is happy. But Bebek will often lay with her when they are having a siesta.

Little-E watches over her new best friend

She has been to the vets for her second multi injection, and returns next week for rabies then after that kennel cough. She was a very good girl and not at all bothered, and enjoyed her day out with us which included lunch at a cafe and a pint in a restaurant on the way home.She's really good on a collar and lead and loves to go out for her walks.

But the really spooky thing is that she is gradually developing lots of Tyson's little ways. She cocks her head to one side when you speak to her. She lays upside down with all her legs spread out. She sticks her head in the dish-washer to try and lick the dirty plates. She smells into the air like he did - for instance if there were goats about, or a strange dog outside he knew before the others because he could smell them. She loves to carry things about. Neither of our other dogs do these things and it seems like Tyson sent her to live with us. I realise that sounds bizarre, but it's how we feel.

Bebek cocks her head to one side just like Tyson used to do

For those of you who are not aware Bebek came from a litter of five puppies born to a street dog which turned up pregnant. A lovely caring lady took them in to care for them. Unfortunately the bitch was very poorly and unable to feed the pups so this lady hand reared them from about one week old and has really done an excellent job. All the puppies look superb and one was re-homed which then left three after Bebek came to Fethiye.

She is happy to keep two of them, but has been looking for someone to take another bitch puppy for some time. We were therefore delighted when last week we heard she too was going to a forever home in Dalyan. Unfortunately this did not work out and she was returned after a couple of days. This left the lady with mum and three large and boisterous puppies which were getting to be too much. So as the situation reached a crisis this week, we agreed to at least foster Bebek's sister so she is travelling down to Uzumlu on Saturday to join us here and we will see how it goes.

But fate moves in mysterious ways and we do have a spare name at the moment ..............