Here:
Says Eurasianet:
The new monument that was commissioned several years ago puts the Alabai in exalted company at the forefront of state propaganda.
The Alabai being a breed of dog. The statue, which is in the middle of a roundabout, celebrates the entire breed, rather than any individual dog.
Previously the only animal to be celebrated in local sculpture was the Akhal-Teke horse. …
So, aside from dog statues, how has Turkmenistan been doing lately? Not so well, it would seem:
Berdymukhamedov’s professed love of native animals, expressed through poetry as well as more encyclopedic works, has only grown as the country slides deeper into an economic crisis …
Don’t take your people’s minds off their miseries with foreign wars. Do it with a dog statue!