The Cappadocia Street Dog

Street dogs tend to be very hit or miss when it comes to personality. Oftentimes, they’re either cute and sweet and use that tactic to get food from you, or they’re gnarly and aggressive and look like they’ve definitely seen some shit in their life. That line, however, is not nearly as defined as it sounds when you actually meet a new street dog. In fact, they can be pretty deceptive when it comes to which side they’re leaning towards, and because of that we tend to keep some distance between us and the canines when in a foreign country.

But Ekemk was different. Ekmek was a street dog Sierra and I met in a small town in the Cappadocia region of Turkey. By the way, ekmek translates to “bread” in english and I have no idea why we named him that but I apologize if you are Turkish reading this article because the rest of it is going to sound really weird when I continue to call a dog, Bread.

Anyways, Sierra and I were headed to a cafe in the town in order to feed my caffeine addiction before heading out on a little hike which would take us to the next town over, through a beautiful little canyon. On our walk there, Ekmek came trotting over to us from a far, which initially put us on edge slightly having no idea as to what his intentions were. But needless to say, he was incredibly sweet and just followed us to the cafe to sit with us while we drank our coffee. The interesting aspect to him was that he looked totally healthy and even when we offered him bits of food, he actually tended to turn them down. 

After our coffees, we began our journey to find the trailhead of the hike, which proved to me a much longer process than we anticipated, and Ekmek followed us the whole time, wrong turns and all. At this point, Sierra and I started to come to the realization that as much as we like this adorable dog, it’s probably not a good idea to take him to a completely different town and then leave him, because we planned on taking a bus or taxi back. So, we did everything we could before starting the hike to lose him or make him go back home, and, of course, were totally unsuccessful. I mean he would even get distracted by a cat and Sierra and I would dip into an alley to lose him, only to see him running after us at full gallop, tongue out and all. This dog was as ride or die as it gets.

After starting the hike, we continued our trend of poor directional skills and got lost more than once down random side trails, but Ekmek still stuck with us the whole time and looked as stoked as could be. Eventually we found our trail, made it to the town after a few miles in about 90 degree heat, and were desperate for lunch. We finally found a cafe and sat down to eat, Ekmek included of course. To our surprise the restaurant owners were totally welcoming to the random street dog “as long as he wasn’t bothering us.” After lunch we headed to a museum that we were positive was our last goodbye for Ekmek. So we bid farewell and gave him some love and headed into the museum.

Well, sure enough, Ekmek managed to sneak past the security and followed us right in. To this day Sierra and I have no idea how none of the guards saw him as he slipped past.  But he was with us till the end at this point so the three of us went through the incredible Uchisar Castle turned museum all together and had a ball.

  After we left there with Ekmek, much to the surprise of the security guards at the entrance, it really was time to say goodbye as we wanted to get back before dark. Once the taxi driver convinced us there was no way Ekmek was coming in the cab, and the locals assured us he knew his way back, we said goodbye to our little Ekmek for good. 

That street dog is not only the most loyal street dog I’ve ever met, but probably the most loyal dog in general that I’d ever met. He stuck by our side for something like 8 hours after literally meeting us that morning, with no desire to nag us for food. I doubt even my own dog would do that. Maybe we can all learn a little something from Ekmek and perhaps when we meet a stranger from a completely different background than us we can be a little bit more welcoming and a little bit more like Ekmek.