■Nathan Shiga: March 5

The Russian figure skater Alina Zagitova won a gold medal at the just concluded Pyeongchang Olympics and along with it her favorite dog from Akita named “Masaru”. Alina loves pets and keeps two exotic chinchillas as her home in Moscow and Masaru is going to be a new addition to her pet “collection”.

The 15-year-old charm from Russia demonstrated an unbelievably high level of figure skating skill worthy of a gold medal at Pyeongchang. Alina was training in Niigata prior to Pyeongchang where she saw the picture of an Akita Inu and begged her parents for one for a present. The Akita Inu Preservation Society somehow learned of her interest for Akita Inu and offered a female Akita Inu as a token of its gratitude for her interest in Akita Inu.

The dog is named Masaru – a popular name for a boy meaning “winning” “victory”, etc. It’s a unique name for a female dog but might fit Alina, the victor at Pyeongchang.

Akita Inu is one of Japan’s six traditional breeds, rather large in size but charmingly tender in temperament. These days Japanese dog fans go for the poodle, Chihuahua, Dachshund, Pomeranian, and Shiba dog in that order. Akita Inu ranks 35th in the popularity list not because it is lesser in charms but that it is relatively large and strong, needs plenty of walking and food and generally not easy to keep.

Akita Inu was in the limelight some years ago in a movie “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale” starring Richard Gere, Joan Allen, and Sarah Roemer. Interesting, the Russian President Putin is also a great fan of Akita Inu named Yume or dream of all names.

—Sponsered Link—