Turkmenistan celebrated the first national holiday in honor of its native dog breed on Sunday, with its canine-loving president awarding a best-in-show prize at a ceremony in the capital, Ashgabat.

ASHGABAT (Reuters) - Turkmenistan marked a new holiday on Sunday dedicated to its national Alabai dog breed, to which its longtime leader has already erected a gilded monument and written an ode. The ...

A dog working for Turkmenistan's security services has won the country's "most courageous dog of the year" contest, the latest in the ultra-closed state's push to promote the national Alabai breed.

President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov proclaimed his love for the Central Asian shepherd, a breed known locally as the Alabai, by memorializing it in a 19-foot-high statue. By Isabella Kwai Some pet ...

Turkmenistan marked a new holiday on Sunday dedicated to its national Alabai dog breed, to which its longtime leader has already erected a gilded monument and written an ode. ASHGABAT, April 25 ...