He was a stray dog without a name, he had never been given one. And he had a story just like anyone that no one knows, a story to remain untold unless someone cares to tell.
I was on a hiking trip to Igneada with a group of friends when I came across this friendly soul two weeks ago. Igneada lies in the northwest of Turkey, a small region that is quite known due its Floodplain Forests, which is pretty close to the border between Turkey and Bulgaria. The forest area is an absolute beauty and it delivers such a cool and unique landscape which any hobby or professional photographer can enjoy capturing pretty cool shots especially if it is right time of the day. That was exactly what I was doing during the hike through the forest when I realized my friends had already been way ahead of me as I had spent so much time to shoot almost every single tree. And I noticed "him" staring at me from a distance. He was all alone and there were no other dogs around. I walked towards him to meet him properly although he seemed to be reluctant as I came closer. So I turned around and pretended to walk away from him to see how he would react. Surprisingly, he started to follow me slowly and each time I stopped walking he did the same thing as well. Eventually, it was not difficult to understand how he wanted to make friends with me but was scared to interact at the same time.
I cannot dare to say I am a "dog whisperer" like Cesar Millan with all due respect, nonetheless I think I have learned a lot about dog psychology after taking care of a number of stray dogs and having lived with three dogs at home within the last 14 years. What I have also learned through the years is that one needs to own trust of an unfamiliar dog before touching and petting the animal because they feel insecure against strangers and such insecurity triggers a defensive instinct which sometimes result in undesirable incidents. Whenever I want to interact with an unfamiliar dog, I try to earn its trust by speaking to the dog with a sweet tone just like speaking to a baby and get down as much as I can to level our stances. By doing this, I make it easier for the dog to establish eye contact which is very important while trying to communicate with any dog. Secondly, I move my hand slowly towards the dog to let him smell and figure out that I am no threat to him. One common mistake people do is acting reluctantly while meeting a dog for the first time as it causes the dog to feel uneasy about them and their intentions. If you want to touch the dog, just do it, and if you are not sure about it, do not try to. How would you feel if a stranger who is taller than you and cannot speak your language was trying to touch your head when you meet for the first time? Just like you cannot do it to a man, you also shouldn't do it to a dog.
His physical features were exactly the same as most of the stray dogs in Turkey. It might sound crazy to most of the readers, but a stray dog is almost a particular breed in Turkey. Almost all stray dogs in this country have light or mild brown coat, the look of a Kangal dog although their average size is significantly smaller than a Kangal and relatively similar to a German shepherd. I am not a canine expert therefore I cannot explain why there is such a breed like this, but that's how they look. As I implemented my own method as I told above, he started walking towards me and came nearer. I continued to talk to him until he felt secure to make a full eye contact, and that was good enough. Maybe he was hungry, maybe not. Unfortunately, I did not have any food that I could share with him, but he did not seem to be looking for food. Otherwise, he would be looking for someone else who was carrying something with a tasty smell. He was looking for company, that's all I can tell. That is the only answer I can find considering the fact that he walked more than 2 kilometers along me through the silent forest. Whenever I stopped for something, mostly to take a photo, he walked a few meters, sat in front of me and waited until I start to walk again. He stopped as I stopped and walked as I walked. This ritual continued until I reached the return point where I met my friends again. His eyes were like telling me to take him home with me as if he knew that my family had 2 members of his species and he could be the third member. I really wish I could. When it was time to say goodbye to this lonely soul, it felt no different than disappointing someone begging for help. An orphan or a dog, what is the difference? Every soul needs love and connection. Every stray dog has a story, although not everyone knows or cares about their stories which are untold. There are some people who actually care and they sacrifice a lot to help those poor souls who are eternally sentenced to hunger, thirst, loneliness and danger. Though, most of the efforts are individual and can only reach out to a small number of those animals. Animal shelters are not sufficient to hold as many as required.
We, as mankind, domesticated dogs and made them a part of our society thousands of years ago. We killed their hunting instincts, made them not only our friends but also our dependents that rely on us to survive physically and emotionally. It is a wild world, but it is such a strange wilderness that even the wildest and strongest predators are victimized by the "lesser wild". Humans have damaged the earth more than any species and created a new environment which has become even more survivalist than the nature itself. An environment where even the fittest may not survive.
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