We had kept Genghis on a lead when walking him in Cyprus because we were worried he might run off and get lost, get run over, or eat some of the poison bait that the local people put down to kill foxes and stray dogs. Sadly we had heard of several people’s dogs that had died in that horrendous way and it was extremely upsetting. We decided to try letting Genghis off the lead in the fields behind our house for the first time as there were no roads nearby so he would be quite safe. We took some treats with us and let him know we had them as if all else failed we hoped that greed would bring him back to us. However we needn’t have worried as he was quite attached to us and although he galloped off at an amazing pace once let off the lead, he made sure he kept an eye on us despite running around like a whirling dervish. When we called him he came back straight away and it was obvious he wanted to make sure he didn’t get left behind.
As the days went by we noted that Genghis had separation anxieties and that he was extremely fixated on food. In the mornings when he was let out to be fed he would gallop around the garden screaming with excitement, looking out for birds in the bushes and trees. We put this down to the fact that he had been abandoned and starving and we supposed that it had severely affected him, far more than we had anticipated, as despite four months of having plenty of food and being cared for he was still anxious that he would be thrown out on his own to fend for himself again.