1. The recently commissioned Alabai statue in Ashgabat may seem strange to Western eyes but in Iran it's easy to understand. Here's the Persian mastiff (Iranian shepherd dog) from Persepolis.

2. Dogs had an exalted place in Zoroastrian Iran and Iranian laws before the Arab invasion specified 3 types of dogs, their role in society and how they must be kept.

3. The dadig (legal books) specify two chief categories of dogs: sag-e shubanan (shepherd dog) and sag-e manbanan (house dog). Their duties are defined as "cattle protection" and "house protection".

4. There're two minor categories: vohunazga (masterless dog attached to the local community) and finally the tauruna (young dog). Proper quantities of food are listed for man, woman, child, and the three kinds of dogs.

5. A sick dog is to be looked after as carefully as a sick person, a bitch in whelp as solicitously as a woman with a toddler, and all puppies must be cared for for six months.

The punishment for not following the laws were quite severe.

6. Until the mid-20th century when a house dog died its body was wrapped in a sacred girdle, and was carried to a place outside the village and brief rituals were performed for its spirit.