Wilderness to Water: Poppy's Story

By Michele McCrindle

The whole idea of the book came from video diaries and photos that my husband sent me from his work camp in Saudi Arabia. It started off when orphaned Poppy turned up at the work camp and Callum felt the need to look after her by giving her food and water. Every day he sent me updates on her progress and I would share the videos on Facebook. Friends were soon fascinated by the video stories of Poppy and other wild desert dogs that Callum was caring for. I joined "desert dog "groups on Facebook and again people were intrigued by the video diaries. I learnt so much about the desert dogs plight from people in the Middle East that I decided to help educate children about a subject I once knew nothing about, by writing our experience of adopting Poppy and getting her from Saudi Arabia to the hills of Scotland.Undo

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Aug 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546280880

Michele McCrindle

I am a 50 year old mother of 4 grown up children. My father was Hungarian and my mother is English. I originate from Kent, England but recently moved to Girvan on the West coast of Scotland with my husband Callum.Girvan is Callum’s home town. At school I always enjoyed poetry but never thought of writing a children’s book until now. We presently have 4 dogs that we enjoy taking to the local beach and surrounding countryside. I work as a registered Childminder and love my job. I have always been interested in animal welfare and my ideal future would be to own some land and have rescue animals to care for.Undo

Book preview

WILDERNESS

TO WATER

Poppy’s Story

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MICHELE MCCRINDLE

AuthorHouse™ UK

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403 USA

www.authorhouse.co.uk

Phone: [phone]

© 2017 Michele McCrindle. All rights reserved.

Thanks to my husband Callum McCrindle for his photos and video diaries

that encouraged me to write this book.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/28/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5462-8089-7 (sc)

978-1-5462-8088-0 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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CONTENTS

Introduction: By Michele Mccrindle

Chapter 1 Poppy’s Story- Arriving at camp

Chapter 2 Poppy’s story – Meeting Callum

Chapter 3 Poppy’s story – Getting to know Callum

Chapter 4 Poppy’s story- My new owner

Chapter 5 Poppy’s story- Goodbye Callum

Chapter 6 Poppy’s story- Fun and games

Chapter 7 Poppy’s story – Learning new games

Chapter 8 Poppy’s story- I’m getting a forever home

Chapter 9 Poppy’s story- Good bye to the desert

Chapter 10 Poppy’s story- Final flight to United Kingdom

Chapter 11 Poppy’s story- Meeting Shelby

Chapter 12 Poppy’s story- Journey to Scotland

Chapter 13 Poppy’s Story- Adjusting to domestic life

Information: Baladi Dogs

WILDERNESS

TO WATER

The true story, of Poppy, the orphaned wild dog of Saudi Arabia.

Read how Poppy eventually learnt to trust man and her journey from the desert to the hills of Scotland.

Poppy tells her story through her own eyes.

BY MICHELE MCCRINDLE

Introduction

She lay, curled up, alone, in the scorching desert heat. The red, dry sand, blowing onto her thick, cream, puppy fur and into her beautiful dark oval eyes. She looked so tiny as she lay on the little sand hill, observing the trucks as they regularly pulled in and out of the petrol station.

She watched day-to-day, as men stepped out of their trucks and filled their petrol tanks, strolled into the station then returned to their trucks and pulled out of the petrol station again. Sometimes, she would hear them say something to her or get thrown some old food from the cab of a truck by the men. She didn’t know what they were saying too her, but it made her tail wag from side to side. She would feel a rush of excitement, much like how she felt when she once played with her brother and sister. She would sit up slowly, when the men threw her food, stretch her front legs out and raise her ridged rear end, yawn, compose herself and stare back at the men. Not attempting to eat the food until the men had gone. She knew if she stayed around the petrol station she would get food occasionally.

She still tried to find her own food, though, by digging in the sand and finding beetles to eat. She had taught herself to listen to the ground for any tiny movements, then she would dig with her nose and front paws to get at the nest of beetles.

At night, in the dark, she would lay in a little hole that she had dug out herself, curl up into a little ball and lay in it for shelter. Laying in the hole also protected her from danger and kept her warm during the cold desert nights.

Sometimes the men in their trucks didn’t even notice her at the petrol station because her fur was very much like the environment she was surrounded by. She was camouflaged and many times a truck nearly ran over her when she was busy looking for beetles or curled up in her special sandy bed. The petrol station wasn’t the safest place to be, but it meant she got food sometimes if she stayed there.

At night, when the desert becomes cooler, the desert came alive with different sounds and smells. She could hear other dogs snarling, growling and barking at each other and sometimes she could hear dogs being aggressive. These wild dogs nearby would be aggressive over scraps of food or territory. Sometimes, the female dogs are heard growling or barking at other dogs that come too close to their pups. Female dogs are very protective over their pups and will do anything to defend them. Dogs have been known to snatch small puppies from vulnerable dens. Mother dog digs the dens especially for the pups to live in while they are still tiny.

Many nights she would hear a wicked fight between the bigger dogs. She would curl up even smaller and constrict her, already, small body, in her little hole,