A man dressed up as a dog took part in the Dog Day celebration in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on 25 April.

Turkmenistan’s leader (a Soviet leftover) has already written an ode to the country’s celebrated and extremely large national dog, the Alabai, and built a gilded monument to it. But now the country has gone further, introducing a new national holiday dedicated to the dog, with the first holiday taking place on Sunday. It featured a contest to find the best Alabai dog, a courage award to a border service dog, and a race.  (https://i.guía.co.u.k.).

My comment: My wife and I  visited Turkmenistan years ago (she on business).  The alabái dog must be the only living thing going for the country. I wandered around Ashgabat, the souk and so on, talking to the locals.  All of them ( I mean all of them) wanted to get out of the place.  The only good thing was that they dressed me up as a very imposing medieval Turkmen chieftain, and I had my photo taken, sans camel. Alas, I could do nothing for the benighted Turkmen themselves.