In Turkmenistan, the Alabay, one of the oldest breeds of dog, estimated to have originated more than 4,000 years ago, is used at customs, border guards and to protect particularly important facilities.
The Alabay is one of the quintessential animals, its image preserved on clay figurines of Altyn-Depe of the Bronze Age.
In modern Turkmenistan, on the last Sunday of April, a festival is held in its honour and a six-metre gilded sculpture is installed in the centre of a new residential area in Ashgabat.
The breed is distinguished by its imposing size, strong bones, broad physique and well-developed musculature. All this makes the fearless wolfhound indispensable when patrolling a flock of sheep or, if necessary, a family home. His potential adversaries can be snow leopards and wolves.
When they are born in Turkmenistan, they are necessarily registered in the state pedigree book.
Specialists told Daryo that the Turkmen Alabay needs early socialisation under the guidance of a professional dog handler to serve in the security forces.
"This fearless breed of dog almost never shows aggression first. When it sees a stranger on its territory, it first warns him by barking and growling, and only when provoked, starts to act."
During Soviet times there was a mass shooting of these powerful animals under the pretext of controlling rabies, but now there is a real fuss about them. Overseas nouveaux riches are attracting them to protect their mansions.
Apart from Turkmenistan, where the breed is legally banned from export, most of its relatives live in Afghanistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Eziz Boyarov, Ashgabat
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