Mongolia is a country in the middle of Asia. Its land is mostly high, flat plains called “steppes.” About three million people live in Mongolia. Almost a million of them are nomads.

A nomad doesn’t live in one place all the time. Nomads travel. Most Mongolian nomads herd livestock. They live in movable houses made of wooden frames and fabric. A nomad family sets up its tent-house at a good spot for grazing the herd. When the grass is gone, the family and herd move to another spot.

This has been a way of life for nomads in Mongolia for thousands of years. But the way of life is changing. Mongolia’s capital city is growing. Buildings and roads creep outward. Grazing areas get smaller. The nomads and their herds are pushed farther into the steppe. More wild animals are there, like snow leopards, wolves, and bears.

Those wild animals make living on the steppe dangerous. It’s dangerous for people. It’s especially dangerous for the sheep, goats, and yaks that the herders tend. People now realize the value of the bankhar dog to the nomad’s way of life. The more the population pushes herders into the steppe, the more the herders need the old-fashioned help of a working dog.