Tyson (no, we didn't name him!) was semi-abandoned by the caretaker next door, who had to go back to his village and couldn't take the dog, who was about 6 months old by that time, and already big. Mikey came next. Aimee (sucker that she is) agreed to help a friend round up some stray dogs to take them to the dog farm. When they got there, only one puppy was around to catch: a pretty little border collie look-alike, who appeared to be snoozing in the sun. He wasn't snoozing. He was dying, of dehydration and anemia, brought on by the 200 or so ticks which had taken up housekeeping in his ears. He couldn't even stand up! Needless to say, Aimee and friend whisked him off to the vet. After many weeks of stuffing the little boy with chicken livers and other nutritious morsels, we pulled him through. Naturally, he grew up to be another giant. Then came Daisy (so-named because she insists on sleeping in our beds of African daisies.) She is very sweet, and quite plump. All three have been fixed. Three at a time is our limit.

(the years 1998 - 2001)

TASH - that rhymes with "Osh Kosh, B'Gosh", is Bulent's little sweetheart. The truth is, he went to what we call the "Dog Farm" to find a puppy, and she ensnared his heart, the little hussy! That was back in November... Now she's a snappy-happy, garbage-collecting dog, stealing all the neighbor's clean laundry, and enticing all the neighborhood boy dogs (it's false advertising, though, because she's fixed). As I write, Bulent is out collecting all the garbage with which Tash has so stylishly "decorated" our yard.

KARA - now, he adopted Aimee. He was a free agent, what they call a "neighborhood dog", over at Bulent's sister's summer place (over the ridge, in another town), where we were living while we built the house.
Kara sings the Horny Song:
Alright, so we didn't get around to getting him fixed, yet...Our punishment is that a stray female (referred to hereafter as that slut, or the poor little thing, depending on my mood) and her entourage of admirers, have moved into the neighborhood. She seems to think that Kara should be her gallant knight, and protect her from the rest of the returning Crusaders...Now, where did I leave that chastity belt? The problems are threefold:
The Racket.
The potential Vet bills (did I mention that one of the dogs is BIG BIG BIG?)
Puppies?
I'm thinking of making friends with the slut by feeding her, drugging her, taking her to the Dog Farm, where she will be fed, isolated, given shots, and fixed. And she could get some rest, the poor little thing. Then maybe all the other dogs would GO HOME.
SLUT UPDATE: As if you all didn't know it would happen, the "Poor Little Thing", renamed "Honey", has now joined the family. Bulent almost killed me, but after we took her to get fixed (dog farm was all out of room), I had to take care of her, didn't I? And I had to fall in love with her, didn't I?  The upstairs balcony was her recovery ward... I think she was so grateful for the rest from all her suitors, that she didn't mind the operation so much. It was more stressful for Kara; he sang to her from the lower balcony, but to no avail.
Now they are purely platonic friends, and the doggie duet has become a trio. And someday, if we can ever manage to get him into the car, Kara will be joining the rest of us non-breeders.
Honey: (see above)
Now that we've got her, it turns out that she's the only one of the dogs that likes to go swimming (something we wanted) and she even climbs on the fishing boat and from there, onto the sailboat! Go figure. She's making friends with all the fisherman down in the little harbor, here.

Guess what? There's a new slut in town. We are trying very hard to sleep, with pillows over our heads, through all the latest doggie arias.
 
 (the year 2004) Aimee finally gets up the courage to talk about the fate of our old friends. Tash, Bulent's little sweetheart, was shot by a retarded boy with an air rifle. Somehow he managed to get her right in the heart. She never made it to her first birthday. Kara was hit by a car the following year. Honey, one of the most loving dogs we have ever known, disappeared two years later, and was probably poisoned, because many other local dogs were poisoned at the same time. Despite the fact that it's illegal, poisoning is commonplace here as a way of ridding the area of strays, because there is a great fear of rabies. Aimee swore she would get no more pets, but that didn't last long.