MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) – The owner of a silver retriever named Agatha has been allowed to take his dog along with him to perform military service, a Russian army official said Wednesday.
“The recruiting commission has ruled in favor of the request by the young man to serve together with his dog,” Lt. Col. Yury Pogrebnov said.
The 19-year-old conscript has been interested in dog breeding from a young age and Agatha has placed highly at dog shows.
Pogrebnov said this was the first time in 20 years that such an arrangement had been approved.
The pair, from the Volga region of Samara, has been assigned to a canine unit training center in the Moscow region, he said.