How a dog replaced an adult family member

Evidence of the loyalty of our lesser brethren can be found almost everywhere if one is observant. For example, in one school, the parents, who always accompany the younger students to class and back, noticed that in the morning one of the first graders comes to school accompanied by a large dog. When the child enters the school, the sheepdog sits near the fence and sits like that for 10-15 minutes, then leaves. And at the end of the class, the dog comes back and meets the boy and they leave together.

Many were surprised – how is it possible to train an animal in such a way that it accompanied and met the child from school by itself? But the parents of the boy’s classmates knew the details of the story and were not surprised. It turned out that a little over a year ago the boy’s father, who was a serviceman, had gone into reserve and decided to take Altair with him, with whom he had spent the last years of his service. The man could not leave his faithful friend, and the family accepted the dog with great joy.

Altair practically became a full-fledged member of the family, and little Maxim became friends with the dog so that the dog even slept next to his bed. Soon Maksim had to go to first grade, and the boy was looking forward to it, almost everything was ready – a new uniform and a briefcase with notebooks, but then, like a thunderbolt from out of the blue, disaster struck. His father was attacked on the street, and even in spite of his military background and good physical training, the man could not fight off the bandits, two of whom sneakily attacked him from behind.

Doctors in the intensive care unit fought for his life for ten days, but nothing worked – the man died of his stab wounds. Grief came to the family, and everyone was in mourning, but Altair was grieving in his own way – he ate nothing and refused to take walks. Only when he saw Maxim did the dog wag his tail. The adults were not concerned with the dog at that moment, so little Maxim began to take care of his four-legged friend as best he could. He fed him and took him out for walks. And when one of the family members suggested that Altair be returned to the frontier forces, the idea was supported, but Maxim asked them not to do it. The boy was already in grief after his father’s death, so they decided to keep the dog.

On September 1, with a huge bouquet of flowers and accompanied by his family, Maxim went to his first-ever school ceremony. Everything was solemn if only his father were there! But instead of the broad-shouldered Lieutenant Colonel, a huge dog was at the back of the procession, keeping a watchful eye on Maksim.

The first time Altair uninterruptedly waited near the school until the end of lessons with the boy. The mother, who took the child to school, did not mind that the dog goes with them every morning – to her it seemed that the Altair as if the last order of his deceased master – to protect his son. Soon Altair was fully entrusted with the care of escorting Maxim, and in the morning the dog and the boy were on their way to school.

The whole family knew for sure that Altair would never allow any harm to the little master, and hardly anyone would dare to hurt the boy when a dog with a human eye was near him.