Expedition Portal has published an article, written by Petra Elfstrom, about the Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project! Check it out here http://expeditionportal.com/the-mongolian-bankhar-dog/

Dreds

Spork

Baavgai (Bear)

Arslan (Lion)

(Photos By Soyolbolod Serguleng)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/soyolbold/

Zara Morris-Trainor from the University of Aberdeen, is doing her PhD research on the impact of cashmere production on wild prey and snow leopards in the the protected area of the Tost Mountain in the South Gobi. For the past few months she has been studying grazing patterns of domesticated ungulates, collecting survey's from the local nomads that live there and attempting to observe grazing patterns of wild ungulates and the territory of wild prey. Her goal is to familiarize herself with the Toast area and make a plan of action to help restore the pasture lands to a healthier state. The Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project was lucky enough to be accompanied by Zara a few months ago when we drove down to the Gobi to check on our pups. And she was lucky enough to see one of pups in action, guarding the sheep and goats. To learn more about Zara's research check out her blog, Goats and Gers. She has some amazing stories to tell and pictures to go along. Here are a few of her photo's from her trip with the MBDP...

The Golden Gobi...

 Can you spot out pup?

The pup is too far away in this picture but she's in there with the sheep!

Pictures by Zara Morris-Trainor

A great blog post by our Project Specialist and Social Media Coordinator, Petra Elfstrom. Check it out for some insight into Livestock Guardian Dogs and how they are a non-lethal approach to removing predators and protecting your livestock...

http://adkforeverwild.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-livestock-guardian-dog-tool-for.html

The Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project​ has a Ted Talk! Check out the founder, Bruce Elfstrom talk about the project to learn more about what we are doing.

www.beautiful-lands.com Has also wrote a piece on our project check it out here.

Lastly take a look at our fundraising video to see some footage of what I've been doing for the past 8 months!

Our recent July trip to the Gobi had us checking up on the pups we placed there 3 weeks earlier. We set out in our dependable Russian Furgon, appropriately named "Ivan the Terrible", for we could always depend on it to breakdown. Nonetheless Doug, Greg, our translator and myself confidently headed to the GPS locations marking there Ger locations...

Alas when we showed up to an empty mountain valley, we quickly remembered the Nomads and their tendency to move... After several stops at neighboring gers to ask directions, we eventually found our old friend Sugar!

Sugar is the community leader for his district and showed a lot of promise as a host for our project dog. He had previously owned dogs that would follow the herd and has won many awards for his husbandry practices.

So visiting him again was exciting, we looked forward to seeing his progress with the pup who was close to 7 months old at this point.

 As we rolled up to his ger, we immediately spotted the pup hanging among the sheep. And after saying our hello's and sain baina uu's, we watched sugar herd his livestock to the pasture with our pup walking in and around the sheep.

It has been really difficult to work with the herders here. They do not take advice from young foreign strangers often, especially if they think they know more then you. This has been one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome. Seeing Sugar using his new pup in an effective working manor was incredible and we are hoping we can rely on his influence and wisdom to pass our message along to other herders in the area and maybe all over Mongolia.

After eight grueling months of Mongolia, its finally time for me to go home. But the project of course will continue. We are very excited to have Greg Goodfellow, the project scientist take over on the ground in Mongolia. As a biologist he has a lot to offer to the project and has already approached it at a scientific level to further our development. As Doug and I leave Mongolia for other endeavors, Greg will take our place, battling the day to day life of Mongolia. The short time I had to work with Greg was memorable and I look forward to following the progress from home in the states. Best of luck Greg!

Also don't forget to check out the MBDP website at http://bankhar.org/ 

AND take a look at the fundraising campaign here http://igg.me/at/bankhar

Please take a minute to share our Indiegogo fundraising page with friends and family, and consider donating to the cause. All funds go directly to the project to feed and care for the dogs. 

The Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project fundraising site is officially up! Check it out and donate here...

Indiegogo Fundraising Website

Also take a look at the official MBDP website at http://bankhar.org/

Once the vet students left, and the Ulaanbaatar Naadam festival came to an end, a film crew arrived in Mongolia to do a short piece on our project. It was a great opportunity to throw Greg, our newest member into a  Russian Furgon van and send him to the countryside, into the thick of it all. This time next year we should have more information on the film series. Follow the MBDP on Facebook for updates! https://www.facebook.com/bankhardogproject?fref=ts

Some photos from the most recent trip to Terelj...

Got our camera back from the Gobi after we lost it during our previous trip with the students. Thankfully Sugars kids found it. Here are some pictures from when the vet students visited...

Micro chipping the pups

Collecting DNA from dog with a funny eye

Our Terelj Vet

Back to the Gobi with our last pup, Dixie, who will be placed with Tungaa, the community leader of her sum. Happy to be placing the last pup, however sadly we are also bringing one back. Garbanzo's host family was unable to put the time in to train him and requested that we pick him up. So we are left with 3 tan/orange pups to find good homes for.

Six or seven months ago when the pups where brought in for there first vaccine...

And our puppies now at 7 or 8 months, playing together at Khustain National Park...

(Bottom 6 photos by Soyolbolod Serguleng)

The Naadam festival week is finally coming to an end and people are slowly trickling back into the city to begin work. With everyone celebrating the holiday, it is near impossible to get any work done. So the MBP and the Vet students enjoyed a trip to the countryside for some camping. Also joining us was the newest member of the MPB, Greg.

Greg is a biologist from Massachusetts who heard about our organization through his Connecticut College professor. It's already been an exciting week for him with Naadam, vehicle breakdowns in the countryside, Mongolian birthday celebrations and wounded dogs.

It was also very nice to see my parents! They traveled to the other side of the world to visit me and experience a little bit of Mongolian culture. Here they are with Suldee's 91 year old grandfather. A WWII veteran. He told stories, we drank vodka, ate Khorkhog (Mongolian Barbecue cooked in a pressure cooker with hot rocks) and donned Mongolian deels.

Saihan Naadarai!

We finished our sample collection and pup check-up in Khustain Park yesterday. With the vet's field work done they will now be collaborating with local students to analyze their samples in the city.

In less then a week, the country will shut down to celebrate Naadam. A festival of sports, culture and eating. In the meantime I will be renewing my visa in China. And Doug will be welcoming the newest member of the MBP.

Check out more of Soyolbolod's photos from the Gobi here...https://www.flickr.com/photos/soyolbold/19460258996/in/photostream/

Back from the Gobi, with plenty of blood, milk and feces from sheep, goats and camels.

Here are some pictures from our trip!

A shot of the Gobi landscape and one of the Landcruiser trucks we used for transportation.

Beautiful Gobi mountain pass in Bayasah Bogd

Our good friend and community leader, Sugar receiving his Bankhar Pup.

One of Sugar's many relatives posing with the pup

Finalizing the placement, which means going over the manual once more, signing contracts and injecting the pup with an electronic microchip for identification. 

UAZ, 80, 80, 80.

Garbanzo (Banzo) has a home! Placed with Tuvshinjargal and his wife Altansuvd, the young couple who see's snow leopard's frequently at there winter camp in the mountains. I have high expectations for Banzo and I believe his host family does too. 

Miga, a man of very few words, and even fewer snacks. He drove the second Landcruiser truck and was incredibly patient, easy going and a celebrity with everyone who traveled in our group. He is a geologist and had some interesting things to say about the landscape of the South gobi.

Our third puppy placed with this couple, Murdorj and his wife Enkhtuya. There only child lives in UB, so they spend a lot of there time tending to their herd. They were one of the most ideal host families we had interviewed, with few livestock, only one ger dog, a victim to predation and high livestock depredation. They expressed the most urgency and need for protection of their livestock and would likely suffer the most if their livestock were to be killed.

And the last puppy placed with his Murdorj's brother, Otgonbayar. Although they may not need the dog as much as his brother. The pup will be treated well and has lots of livestock to protect.

And as usual, things never go as planned. We left with 6 dogs and came back with two. The picture below is one of the the pups we came home with. She is one of the more aggressive pups, first to bark and most aware of her surroundings. However we did not realize how important the color of the dog is to the herders. This pups was the offspring of Arslan, our orange colored Bankhar. Half his litter came out with a tan/orange coat like Garbanzo. And when presented to the host families, they did not hesitate to refuse the tan colored pups. Reasons varied slightly but the main concern was that their sheep would become accustomed to this color dog and would not be able to distinguish it from a wolf. Then sheep would not run from the wolf thinking it was the dog that protects them. Or the sheep would already be used to this color as the color of a wolf, run away from the pup and be lost and killed. 

It all sounds a little ridiculous to me and is frustrating to see them turn down a pup with great potential. Alas two tan pups, Black Beard and Almost are back in Gachuurt looking for new homes in the countryside. 

Here is the pup Almost aka Chickpea playing on the singing sand dunes in the South Gobi.

More Gobi landscape

The family adopting Garbanzo liked the name Banzo and stuck with it.

Banzo just five months ago

Next stop with the veterinary students is Khustai Park to collect more samples.