Autumn in Azerbaijan

Apples are being Ladad in. Trees are turning and the temperatures are dropping. No rain yet though. The country side is dry, dry, dry. That is good news as the roads are remaining passable.
A split second after the shot below was taken these dogs did their Cujo impersonation and vaulted toward Andy (the photographer). I imagine the flash spooked them. Fortunately the quick witted shepard blocked their attack and we ended up chuckling over the incident... However it did remind me of why they call dogs canine. They have mouthfulls of huge teeth, the largest ones being the canines.
I was lucky enough to get out last weekend and wowee... I remembered why I wanted to come to Azerbaijan. Big mountains, small roads and ferocious dogs. Well maybe I wasn't dreaming about the big dogs, but then again they seem to be behaving pretty well so far. Below you should find assorted shots of an epic 11 1/2 hour mountain bike ride the Baku Bike Club undertook last Saturday. We climbed from 800 m (2400ft) to 2520 m (7560 m). It was an incredible day out and there is another ride planned for first weekend in November! Life is grand.

During the last two months I have developed a short list of rules that have worked for me, therefore it is probably a good chance they will work for you when/if confronted with these sheepdogs from hell.

#1 stay calm and do not show fear...... very hard to especially when surrounded by 1/2 dozen tails flying, big teeth showing, jostling for position animales, but once I figured out that they haven't really bitten any of the riders so far, me included, and they have been definitely close enough to, I figured they really don't want to bite.. They are there to intimidate and scare the living shit out of you, and to impress each other. Protecting the flocks also probably comes into play as well.

#2 Remember their masters are human, so stop and get off the bike so they know you are human as well and talk to them.. It doesn't really matter what you say. It is just that they hear your human voice...preferably not screaming, but low pitched and calm. My theory is that screaming shows fear. You have to act like you are their master and they are just stupid, little dogs. Inconsequential.

#3 and #4 are very important, probably as important as any of the rules... Don't look them in the eye and reach down and act like you are picking up a rock. These are the ways dogs can retreat and save face. If you don't look them in the eye, you are not challenging them.. and if you reach down for a rock... it is well known by dogs in developing countries world wide, that when a human bends down for a rock this signals a perfectly acceptable excuse for retreat. No bruised pride, no lost face and both dog and rider can continue on with their business.

Now that I have gone through all these steps I will probably get bitten this weekend... We'll just have to see.

In any event cheers to all and enjoy fall or spring wherever you are.

Sue in Baku