Sakin: His Name & Background
- Sakin Aslan Money
- May 3, 2019
- 5 min read
The name's Sakin (pronounced saw-keen; the word for calm in Turkish) because I'm from Turkey. I've got quite a story. I think I'm about 9 years old, but at least three of those years (my first 3 they think - I've forgotten) I lived at a shelter.
There is a bit of a problem in Turkey with stray dogs (that’s an understatement). It seems the culture doesn’t agree with the idea or spaying or neutering animals and, so as a result, there are more and more dogs on the streets. It definitely is a problem. But this problem has a happy ending – at least for me. Uncle Pete was made aware of three different dog shelters in the area of where he was living at the time. One morning he decided to make the trip to one of these shelters. It wasn’t too difficult to find (especially after he knew where he was going) and the sound of dogs led him there in the end :)
He actually went to the shelter on a day that normally it doesn't allow visitors. The sign on the side of one of the buildings at the shelter clearly read ‘Visitation Friday and Saturdays only from 10-5’. So, almost ready to ‘pack it in’ and go home as it was a Tuesday, Uncle Pete walked around to the side of the shelter to see if there were people tending to the dogs, only to be greeted by more dogs that were just roaming the streets looking for food. A little afraid of what might happen if he continued to walk up the street, I turned around only to discover one of the owners of the shelter who graciously invited him in to see the dogs. At this point, I was well aware that Uncle Pete was there; I could smell him a mile away! Him entering the shelter was all the dogs at the shelter needed. Once the gate was opened, each and every dog (and his or her mother, perhaps literally) gave them a very loud greeting!
You name it, every type of dog was there! Over the ruckus, he began to describe what he was looking for in a dog. At first, the look on the woman’s face wasn’t at all welcoming only to discover that she misunderstood what he was saying. She had thought that he was saying he wanted to give a dog to her with all of these qualifications. Once he cleared this up, her face changed from the dark, disappointed exterior to a very bright, glowing and pleased woman - she was so happy to know that Uncle Pete wanted a dog and from her shelter to paw! It truly made her day!
He had three requirements: one, the dog needed to be small because he lived in an apartment. Two, the dog needed to have a calm, quiet demeanour as his Turkish Landlord explained when he moved in that he couldn’t have a ‘yappy dog’ as it would upset the neighbours. And three, the dog had to be a non-shedding dog. As he continued to share a bit more with my Dog Shelter Tour Guide, he came across a pen with three dogs in it: Two of the three dogs were very happy and glad to see them and didn’t mind telling us, but me (not named yet, but stay with me) clearly was not bothered by the other dogs’ noises (it just doesn't seem 'in me' to bark); I didn't feel the need to bark out loud and contribute to their expressions of greeting. I was very content just to sit and let the others make the noise. This sold me to Uncle Pete because, clearly, this met one of his requirements – a quiet dog.
Due to this first impression, he gave me the name Sakin – I just seem to have within me the ability to be very calm in the midst of noise (a trait that is very rare both in dogs and humans I hear). The Shelter Owner didn’t really give them too much time to be around the pen (which I found out later why). Uncle Pete had put his hand through the pen fence and allowed each of the dogs to greet him with their tongues and acute sense of smell. His guide then encouraged him to meet the other shelter-workers. Typical Turkish culture, they had greeted him with ‘Hosgeldiniz’ (the word for welcome, in Turkish) and offered him something to drink.
After a few questions as to who he was and why he was in Turkey, he asked if he could see any of the other dogs that would fit my his criteria. Most of them stopped short of his need for a small, quiet dog, as he saw very clearly that there were many, many large and loud dogs at this shelter, but not many small and quiet. But he asked if he could go see me again...She agreed, but hesitantly.
They made their way back to the pen that I was in, and as they were coming closer, she began to clap her hands in greeting. I jumped up and stood on my hind legs and with my front paws, began to give her a waving motion– as if to say, ‘I see you! Thank you for coming back!’ Well, you can imagine this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Uncle Pete and I. He was guided back to the pen, but this time asked if he could go in the pen with the dogs. The pen was large enough – but can’t say it was comfortable - but he wanted to try something. He's a big believer in giving people (and in this story, dogs) the opportunity to relate but to never pressure anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. He crouched down against the pen wall and began to observe me. My demeanour remained very quiet and calm. After about 10-15 minutes of being an observer, I came over to Uncle Pete to say hello. He extended his hand in greeting. I sniffed and was ok with what I smelt. I walked around him, walked under his legs as he was sitting while hugging his knees. I then stopped next to him. All I did was stand there. I allowed him to pet me. But all I did was stand next to me with my tail wagging. I just simply looked outside the pen in this initial greeting...
There was definite communication here! This is what he was looking for: a signal to say, ‘Yeah, I like this. I feel I could get used to this…’ But this was not just me saying this. Uncle Pete was saying the same thing. And so...as they say...the rest is history.
What he found out as he was leaving with me in my arms is this particular shelter owner did not show me to many people as she sort of adopted me while working at the shelter; I was her ‘special dog’. She always appreciated walking up and down the path which passed by my pen – clapping her hands and being greeted by my friendly hello. She explained that she would not let me go to just anyone – but she knew, as soon as she met Uncle Pete, that I was the dog for him.
And so that day, April 30th 2013, I was given the name Sakin and adopted into Uncle Pete's family :) And that's the beginning of my story...
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