Though it was France who took home the World Cup this summer, one man returned to Russia to finally bring home his own prize from the tournament – a dog named Businka.
Ricardo Lazo, from Lima, Peru, first travelled to Russia back in June earlier this year to see his national team play Australia in Sochi.
Peru won 2-0 and, after celebrating, Ricardo returned to his hotel where he was greeted by a stray pup sitting outside.
It was love at first sight for Ricardo and the chestnut-coloured dog, and he knew he had to bring her back with him to Lima.
Of course, taking a dog home with you is not as easy as just taking her to the airport with your luggage. Ricardo needed to get the proper documents and vaccinations for the dog before she could travel, so he placed her in a dog shelter while this was arranged, reports Metro.
However, Ricardo has now been reunited with the dog – who he’s named Businka, in honour of the Russian Sesame Street character – and the pair will travel back to Peru in a few days.
It’s not just Businka who Ricardo wants to look after though, as he reportedly plans to start his own animal shelter in Peru and wants to name it after Businka herself.
If you’re thinking of adopting a dog, but aren’t quite sure about just finding one on the street like Ricardo did, you can now adopt a dog which is certifiably friendly.
Dogs who failed government training because they were just too darn nice are now up for adoption.
While some dogs are born for the life of sniffing out explosives and catching criminals, others just want to spend their time playing and being stroked, and who’s to blame them? I know what I’d choose.
The dogs, who are just too pure and friendly to make it through to the graduation ceremony of government-dog training school, unfortunately had to leave – but that’s not to say they can’t still have a purposeful life doing what they do best; being nice to people.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has a dog adoption program to help re-home all the good boys and girls who weren’t cut out for a life solving crimes.
Of course, there are often certain types of dogs who are favoured in the contraband-sniffing department, so if you’re after a little Chihuahua to potter around with, this might not be the adoption centre for you.
Dogs like German Shorthaired Pointers, Labrador retrievers and German Shepherds are more common police training pooches, but with a lot of the dogs in the centres being ‘too nice’, I think any of them would be a perfect new companion.
There are a number of adoption centres who help in finding the ideal home for their four-legged residents, whether they’re old or young.
If you’re up for it, you can check out Freedom Dogs or Service Dogs.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.