Turkish Dogs don't like water

Well, our turkish dogs don't.  I'm sure it is our fault for not starting younger.  But they just turned three, they are still pups!

Today was going to be 27! 80 to my American friends.  The weather is warming up but we still have some crazy weather changes.  It dropped 20 degrees F in a few hours.  It's like Tornado weather!  Anyways, I didn't want to miss another warm day.  I have been really sick.  Starting to worry it has turned into pneumonia.  But today, we said we were going!  Since it is considered still "cold" by the locals, we thought we would take the dogs.  They haven't been to the beach yet.  Kuş we could have brought sooner because she is so calm and friendly.  She had made so many friends in the neighborhood.  She doesn't even bark at other dogs.  Whines a bit at little yap dogs.  But with Çeçik, he is still have some bad anxiety issues (much better) and we haven't gotten a chance to socialize him since we have been back in Spain.  He is a good, lovable dog but he will protect my kids with his life.  And sometimes he is irrational about that.

Anyways, we head out right after breakfast.  It was a bit windy and cloudy.  We didn't see the sun much.  We wanted to try a new area that we had seen recently driving home.  Well, that took an hour and some interesting turns to get there.  When we arrived, we had very excited kids.  It was quite warm out and the sun was trying to come out.  Trying to handle the dogs and the four kids is quite a skill.  And somehow we managed to find the dog beach.  About 20 dogs running around off leash having a great time.  We weren't quite confident with Çeçik, so we were trying to figure out how to cross this little outlet.  Turns out it was quite deep.  After a bit, Joel finally saw there was a sandbar.  At this point, my pants are soaked and sandy.  I had Kuş, and she was not really happy about walking in the water but we finally made it across.  I had all four kids and I let them drop their stuff and play.  Joel tried to get Çeçik to cross and he was FREAKING the HELL OUT.  Joel wasn't even pulling him hard and he was acting like he was being murdered.  Everyone around Joel was worried about the dog.  And he was freaking out the other dogs.  So I finally gave Jocy Kuş and went to rescue Joel.  I had to give a bit of a tug but finally got Çeçik to cross to the sandbar.  After that, he LOVED the water.  He was jumping the waves and stayed in the water the WHOLE time.  Kuş on the other hand wanted nothing to do with it.  I got her in a few time but she ran right back out.  Then we decided to give them a try without their leases.  Normal, they do fine.  I'm guessing maybe they couldn't hear us because of the wind, but after a few minutes of run around us, they took off.  OMG.  I freaked a bit.  I didn't want Çeçik to get scared and bite someone or fight with another dog.  After ten minutes of a good run, they came right to Joel.  They didn't bother anyone. They just ran and played with each other.  I wish I could trust them more, because they seemed to have the time of their life. Çeçik came back to me and snuggled and loved all over me.  I was wet, smelled of wet dog and covered in sand.

During all of this, Nate decided he was going to swim... in his clothes.  Sigh.  Thankfully, he was the only one.  But the water was not as cold as I expected.  It was quite refreshing.  We took a nice stroll down the beach for a bit.  Since it was lunch time, we decided to turn around and head back to the car. Since it is off season, none of the beach tents are open.  I could have used a cerveza and bocadilla!

It was a lovely day!  I got a little pink and the sun did finally come out when we got home.  I hope this is a start to the beach season!  Next Friday 30.5!!!  87 for you Americans.