What happened with one particular stray German shepherd, whose actions captured the fascination and imagination of many. Thick mist descended on the east side of the city of Istanbul, Türkiye. People gathered in bustling heaps, making their way along the streets through the increasingly dense crowds to finish their morning business.
One German shepherd sauntered along both the narrow alleyways and the wide stone paths of the central square, stopping in front of apartment entrances and supermarket sliding doors. He gave a kind glance and wag of his tail, hoping for the curiosity of passersby, as well as for the generosity of local salesmen to toss him a part of their breakfast buns or a piece of ham from their sandwiches.
To an average observer or tourist, the dog was seemingly just roaming around the many maze-like streets in the city, much like any other street dog. Emil, who owns a small local Deli, noticed a brown and black shape standing a little way down the street. It would not have been anything out of the ordinary, except for the fact that the dog seemed to be sitting oddly on one leg, right in the middle of the street.
The canine’s back was turned and his head intently facing downwards as if it had fallen asleep. Emil thought this quite funny so he took the initiative to walk up. However, he not only found the dog wide awake, but intently looking through the metal bars of a drainage tunnel gate. This fascinated Emil and he took a picture to share on social media. But the comments that poured in stunned him.
Some astute commenters looked at the picture carefully and noted something interesting about the dog himself. The German shepherd seemed to always be either standing or sitting in his right leg, and he seemed to be wearing a white tag on his left ear.
Emil was advised to call local shelters to find out more and perhaps even find the owner. But before doing so, he posted the pictures on public Facebook groups, asking anyone if anyone had a missing pet, or knew who the dog belonged to.
Emil’s efforts did not go to waste. Although he was yet to get any concrete response, his search on social media garnered attention. “The dog that stares into a grate” became a hit local story. Some reached out to Emil to try and aid him in finding the owner of the dog, however, many instead took time off their day to visit this extraordinary part of the city.
The canine quickly turned from a shade, often unrecognized and unnoticed, to suddenly having one or two visitors a day. The people would often pet and feed the dog, and moreover, they would engage in conversation with Emil, who would share the story and spread the message. However, when asked why the dog looked into the grate, and what the odd sounds were, Emil was always stumped to answer, which made him wonder every time.
News of the story spread like wildfire among local social media groups. So much so that soon enough, there were a handful of people gathered around the stray at each moment of the day. Even people simply walking down the street, unaware of the events, would stop and ask out of curiosity, and stay out of fascination hoping to catch a glimpse of some sort of answer.
But the old dog merely sat silently, watching the grate, while people crowded around speculating amongst each other. Why was he sitting like that? What was the tag on his ear? And most importantly, why was he so intent on staring silently down an empty hole, day after day, and what were the sounds that now many have claimed to hear up and down the street? However, what happened next shocked not only the visitors, but Emil and everyone following the story.
Near the end of the week, as Emil was just settling into his lunch break, he heard a loud commotion coming from the direction of the dog. There was a loud and piercing shriek and continuous barking. Emil abandoned his lunch and research and rushed out to see what had everyone so perturbed.
As he approached, he pushed past the crowds only to see the dog clearly angered for one reason or another. Standing on all fours, with his tail and ears down, and a vicious snarl on his face, the German shepherd was barking madly at the grate as if something had attacked it from below.
Asking around, Emil found out that a woman had tried to look into the grate, even getting down on her hands and knees, which drew the anger of the dog. Emil decided to call the fire department. He explained the situation and begged them to come quickly so that they may check what is underneath the sewer grate.
The firefighters arrived and quickly got to work bringing out crowbars and other tools to open the sewer grate, as well as a mobile camera that could be used to check what was lurking in the black depths of the drainage pipes. The emergency workers used their cameras to probe the drainage pipes. At the same time, Emil received a call directly to his phone from an unknown number. This was when he noticed the message on his phone that shocked him.
The firefighter responsible for the camera looked stunned. He whispered something to his partner as he tossed the camera aside, and reached in to the pipe. As he dragged his arm from the pipes, the echoing whines got louder and louder. When he finally pulled himself free, in his gloved hand people saw a small shape with tufts of orange and white fur. With dirty eyes and a soaked tail, a small kitten meowed loudly, as the firefighter triumphantly held her by the scruff.
By the time Emil ended the call, the firefighters had already somewhat dispersed the crowd. The firefighters explained what they had found. They presumed that the kitten most likely fell in the drain and tried crawling through to find an exit, and got lost. They also theorized that the dog may have been aggravated by the meowing or the movement within the drain. But Emil knew better as he explained everything and told the firefighters that he would call a pet shelter to take both the kitten and the dog in.
He explained that he walked to the sidelines while the firefighters were busy with inspecting the sewer grate. He received a call from an unknown number, but he also noticed a text message that he had gotten earlier explaining that it was one of the local shelters he had been trying to contact over the previous days, who recognized the dog from the photos and wished to ask if he still knew where the dog was.
They told him that the German shepherd was one of their rescues who seemingly disappeared overnight without a trace. They had searched for the lost dog but he was nowhere to be found. They had almost lost hope of ever recovering him.
However, what they told him next broke his heart. The old German shepherd had led a full life. He was born and raised as a Search and Rescue dog. He had been serving local communities, as he was employed by a police department in a nearby county. He spent most of his life aiding the police in searching for individuals who had gone missing, and suspects in active investigations.
The upper portion of his back leg was severely wounded one day in a work-related incident and after months recovering from this injury, he was retired and sent to live with an old couple in the countryside. He was treated well, however they eventually had to give the old dog to a shelter for better care that they could no longer offer him.
Of course, after having been through so much with his new canine friend, he decided to adopt the lonely old dog, and care for him. The shelter offered him the chance and he happily took it! Although the adoption papers have still not officially gone through, they have been living happily together in his apartment.
The old dog, whom he named Aslan, goes out on regular walks, meets with other dogs around the neighborhood, and is the gentlest of dogs when it comes to small children and other dogs. However, as he closed out his last update, he did note that Aslan retained his habit of looking down dark holes, as well as his appetite for cheap smoked sausages.