A phrase worth mentioning in the Mongolian countryside is, hold the dog.  Often the nomadic people have a dog or dogs to protect them and their livestock from intruders (most likely other animals) more so than people since people are few an far between.  Most of these dogs are called the Bankhar breed (related to the Tibetan Mastiff.... so BIG DOGS) , and are mostly black with some brown and white and a bushy tail.  More often than not they are quite friendly, but when approaching a ger, instead of getting out of your car and going up an knocking on the door, you shout out to the family - HOLD THE DOG.

All of the families we stayed with had great dogs, but I had seen a few when we were driving that still put me on edge.  And - since I had almost gotten attacked when I was hiking in the Lake Como area, I was a bit anxious when my friend and I went out hiking around Terelj National Park.  No sooner than 10 minutes after leaving the tourist camp we encountered 3 loose dogs.... one of which came tearing across probably 200 yards barking like a maniac at full speed with it's entire mouth of very sharp teeth on display so vividly I could have counted them if it weren't for the paralyzingly fear that overcame me.  If I was alone I probably would have been left for dead, bleeding on the ground.  Luckily there were two of us, and Sophie was the first to just start yelling at it. I had a big rock in my hand that I didn't end up throwing... as I subconsciously think I didn't want to lose my only weapon in the event I needed to use it to beat something with.  Thankfully after a few laps around us and noticing that the other two dog buddies it was with didn't really take that much interest in us - the viscous one went far enough off and continued barking but let us be on our way.  After that, I found a stick in addition to the rock and remained irrationally paranoid the rest of the day (and the next) hiking...and probably for eternity.