The German Shepherd is an honored Russian Guardsman and a veteran of the service. Zhair honestly worked in OMON for six years, which is the maximum term for a service dog. The story of Zhair and his master Roman K. was told by journalists of the publication "At the combat post". During the six years of his service, Zhair completed 1,346 tasks, inspected over three thousand objects and terrain areas, and made more than 320 combat exits.
When Roman K., an employee of the special forces, began his work as a dog handler, he did not have time for the distribution of animals, he was on vacation. Deep down, he was worried that he would get a future partner on a residual basis – one of those dogs that no one wanted to take. However, he was worried in vain. A very young black-and-red dog was waiting for him in the aviary, funny ears flattened, looking attentively at those around him.
"What's his name? - Zhair. We have heard that in the Middle East it means "helper". - Let's get acquainted, Zhair," Roman put his hand on the top of Jair's head, and the dog licked his hand and wagged his tail. "Well, it looks like we'll work together," Roman said with a smile.
At the qualification exam, despite the pouring rain, Zhair showed one of the best results in the search for explosives. And the first real test awaited the young dog and its mentor at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. Before and during the event, Roman and Zhair examined dozens of objects on an area of more than 12 thousand square meters, checked more than 400 cars. On his first combat mission, the matured Zhair set off as a trained mine-hunting dog. The tandem of Roman and Zhair helped the fighters to find caches of weapons and ammunition, during the "engineering" patrols, the partners checked the roads for unpleasant and dangerous "surprises".
Jair especially distinguished himself in his third combat mission just before leaving home. The squad then received information about an SUV allegedly carrying explosives.
OMON soldiers set up a roadblock at one of the motorway junctions. The task was complicated by the fact that there was no information about the make, color or driver of the car being searched. Therefore, the fighters checked all the cars. They worked hard for several hours and it became noticeable that the dog was getting tired.
There was no more than half an hour left before the end of the shift when another car appeared on the road. At the request of the fighters, the crossover stopped and Roman began to inspect. Zhair walked slowly around the car, looked into the trunk. Suddenly, he sniffed warily at the bumper and froze. Everything inside the dog handler tensed: this conditional signal meant that his ward had smelled explosives.
By the most conservative calculations the bars of TNT attached to the bottom could have destroyed an apartment building. The driver and passenger were detained, traffic was blocked on the highway. The car was moved to a deserted place and destroyed. So the partners became the main characters of the day.
On his return to base, Roman received the commander's praise and thanks, and Zhair was ceremoniously rewarded with a large piece of meat on the bone. This trip was the last for Zhair, because six years of combat service is a solid period for a dog. And at the beginning of the summer, Zhair retired, handing over his post to a Labrador named Marcel. The dog was escorted to retirement in a solemn atmosphere by the whole squad. According to the tradition of the special forces, Roman took Zhair to his home in order not to part with his comrade-in-arms.
Photos of the Rosgvardiya press service.