Putting canines on a pedestal

Presidents (including those soon to be so) and their affinity for dogs are enjoying renewed limelight with the imminent re-entry of First Pets in the White House.

So, it is befitting that Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow has unveiled a 19-ft-high gilded statue of his favourite indigenous dog breed, the Alabai, at a prominent roundabout in Ashgabat.

While there were yowls of protest about wastage of money on large statues, it has no doubt put Ashgabat on the map for dog lovers. It may even become a tourist attraction like Hachiko, the faithful Akita whose statue in Tokyo and in the homeland of his breed in Tohoku are popular with locals and visitors.


India has ‘hero stones’ erected by ancient southern kings to memorialise their favourite pooches, but none recently. Maharashtra could consider erecting one of Waghya, Chhatrapati Shivaji’s beloved dog.

Putting dogs on a pedestal appears to attract more interest than those commemorating humans. No wonder most people unaware that not far from the golden Alabai there is a statue of Berdimuhamedow astride a horse.

Even a rather large likeness of Kazakhstan’s late first president Nursultan Nazarbayev unveiled by his successor Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev in the capital (also named Nur-Sultan) just this July went unnoticed too.