I brought a few Akbash to America for a client a similar breed not for all either breed.
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I looked - yes, they are a bit similar, but as I understand it, Akbash comes from Turkey, and Alabai is from Turkmenistan. There, these Alabai are so popular that the president of the country, partly for personal reasons, partly to please his subjects, erected a huge monument to this dog in the capital.I brought a few Akbash to America for a client a similar breed not for all either breed.
Preaching to the choir here.I looked - yes, they are a bit similar, but as I understand it, Akbash comes from Turkey, and Alabai is from Turkmenistan. There, these Alabai are so popular that the president of the country, partly for personal reasons, partly to please his subjects, erected a huge monument to this dog in the capital.
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The state there is very much tied to sheep breeding, and no one lives there without these dogs.
In Russia, they are used a little differently, here they often guard yards and livestock buildings.
The Alabaev breed has a number of behavioral features that must be taken into account:
1. They do not like change of place very much, they become attached to the territory no less than cats. I knew a case when the workers lived in a change house with an Alabai, and when they left, he ran away from them and returned to his old place. The change house had been demolished by that time, he sat in the place of this change house and howled. The owner had to come back to pick up the dog. The owner had to come back to pick up the dog (the dog did not want to move from his usual place even with the owner).
2. They are very conservative and stubborn, they do not like change. If you do something that the dog is not used to, he will most likely bite you. They have the same attachments to animals - if an alabai grows near geese and is accustomed to them, he will protect them, but if he met geese already in adulthood, and had never seen them before, he would most likely try to eat them. Alabays have the same relationship with cats and even with people, they get used to a certain group of people and do not like strangers.
3. Alabays have a habit of becoming very attached to 1-2 family members, and then they begin to guard them fiercely, not letting anyone near them. I had cases when alabai took my mother under guard and did not allow me to approach her when we worked in the garden. If I came too close to her, he began to growl and bite, and he bites very painfully.
4. When the dog begins to grow up, he tries to become the leader of the pack. At this time, the alabai begins to check others for reactions, the dog begins to try to command. From the last three Alabai I had lacerations on my hands, because the dog wanted to become the main one. They don't bite to kill, but they bite to prove that they are stronger and that they deserve to be the leader of the pack rather than the master. Unfortunately, I could only stop it with blows with a strong stick. After that, the dogs accepted the hierarchy of power and subsequently lived with me for many years without having to beat them even once. This is one of the key problems of Russian breeders - they have this big dog as a toy, they think it looks like a big plush polar bear, but when the dog grows up, it bites them and they can't handle it. And unlucky breeders are starting to get rid of these dogs. Another of the mistakes of the establishment of this breed is the establishment of this dog in a cramped apartment. This dog should have a large guard yard, if he has nothing to do and no one to guard, he will get angry and bite the owners.
Fortunately, they bite mostly only men, they do not perceive women and children as competitors in the pack, and do not bite them.
5. I have to do the vaccination of these dogs myself, because the dog will not like a stranger - a veterinarian. Therefore, for injections, I usually consult with a veterinarian, buy the necessary vaccines from him, and do the injections myself.
The guard instincts of these dogs are very developed, if they live at the farm, then all nights in any weather they will guard the animals and not let anyone near them. And during the day they will sleep off.
Another interesting feature of these dogs is going to the toilet - they choose a place somewhere far away from the site in the bushes, and do it only there and nowhere else. I never taught them this, but this breed only goes to the toilet in one place away from housing and places to sleep and eat, they never go to the toilet anywhere.
This breed does not like to swim, and is generally afraid of water. At the same time, they have an interesting coat - they never get dirty. Even if they are taken out in clay, once the dog dries a little, all the dirt falls off and the dog becomes clean. Apparently, such wool developed in the process of evolution while they lived in the steppes.
Maybe I don't know how to handle dogs. They periodically bit me and I have a lot of bites and lacerations on my hands. I don't see any problem or tragedy in this, but maybe I'm a bad influence on animals. When I kept parrots - I taught them to pluck, once I survived the rape of a goose, all the dogs always bit me, the roosters peck and the goats gore. Perhaps they all perceive me not as a person, but as an animal and behave accordingly.Preaching to the choir here.
Maybe it's just a problem of the region where I live. The inhabitants of Moscow and another places never think about anything at all, they can even get a wild animal within the city, to the point that they can lead a cougar or a young tiger through the park without a muzzle.Wow. Definitely not a dog for everyone. Hope yours is protective of goats.