Putin's dog gets sat-nav system

MOSCOW,RUSSIA: Every dog has a day, it is said. And when it comes to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's pet dog, now the adage assumes greater significance.

The black Labrador has the distinction of being the first dog in the country to have collar with a satellite-guided positioning equipment.

Though global positioning system is not a new technology, and it is available around the world through the US Global Positioning System, Russia wanted its own system, and the latest collar fitted with the system is part of that mission.

In December 2007, during a discussion about the country’s plan to launch new navigation satellites, Putin, then president, had asked his deputy to get a satellite navigation dog collar to keep track of his pet Connie.

"When can I get a system for my dog, so she can't go too far astray?" Putin is said to have asked Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov. And now it has become a reality as the collar was slipped on Friday around the neck of the pet dog.

Put says Connie liked the new device around its neck. After installing the color, Putin's deputy Sergei Ivanov, briefed him about the progress of the Global Navigation Satellite System.

Ivanov said that the equipment goes on standby mode when "the dog doesn't move, if it, say, lies down in a puddle."

Though the GLONASS navigation system was supposed to be fully operation earlier this year, it got delayed due to many technical snags, say reports.

Russia is planning to have more than 20 satellites for this purpose so that the navigation service would be available to everybody in the Russian territory.

According to Sergey Ivanov the global positioning system would be available worldwide by the end of 2009.

Thus, 51 years after sending a dog, Laika, to the space to create history and also explore the possibility of sending humans to the space, Russia is on to it once again by bringing space to the collar of a dog!