How the dog waited for the owner at the airport for two years, and then flew to Kiev

This story is nearly half a century old. In 1974, at the Vnukovo airport, the owner of Alma couldn’t persuade the staff to require the dog onboard without a certificate. Thanks to eye damage, the Eastern European sheepdog didn’t pass vet control.

The owner was the last to board, and before that, he took off the collar and said goodbye to his pet for an extended time. The powerful IL-18 liner carried a person to the north. The dog ran for an extended time on the runway, trying to catch up with him. She didn’t accept the loss, didn’t leave the airport. Neither the people who tried to catch her nor the local dog group tearing up the newcomers had forced Alma to leave her post. Gradually, they got used to dogs. The port service began to feed and protect the sheepdogs.

She still didn’t trust people, hiding at the slightest danger, and still saw off every plane. This went on for 2 years until the pilot saw the dog running after the plane from the cockpit of the plane. For her safety, Vyacheslav Valentine contacted the dispatcher and invited her to take the dog away from the runway.

They explained to him that it had been useless, Alma was trying to find the owner and didn’t let anyone get close. Then, the pilot often sees a shepherd dog, which hopefully meets every plane.

Vyacheslav Alexandrovich went through the war, was a prisoner of Dachau and then the camps — he knew what grief was and saw it in the dog’s eyes. He visited the editorial office of Komsomolskaya Pravda and asked to write down that Alma was still waiting. that each commander will take it on board if only there’s an owner.

After Yuri Rost published an article, thousands of people from all over the Soviet Union wanted to participate in the fate of the shepherd dog. And in Norilsk, the pilot was overtaken by an anonymous letter. Its author, the owner of a sheepdog , didn’t consider himself entitled to be the owner and was scared of condemnation of his betrayal.

However, the loyal Alma is destined to satisfy the same loyal and selfless friendship. Vera Kotlyarevskaya, a descendant of the Ukrainian classic, left her job in Kyiv and spent several weeks in Vnukovo. She patiently and punctiliously tamed the shepherd, spent all her time together with her . Knowing that Alma wouldn’t leave her post of her own discretion , she was given a sleeping tablet . The dog was getting wont to the new environment with difficulty. But here she was expected, she was welcome.

People tried to talk softly, and so the doors were always open so that Alma didn’t desire a prisoner. TheWhen she saw the dog gently petting her sleeping daughter, the lady realized that the dog had accepted the family. Soon the shepherd became a mother herself and not tried to go away “her” people.

This story inspired the creators of two films. “On a leash at the runway” was released back in 1988, and in March of this year, the premiere of the Russian film “Palm” happened .