The northern Japan prefecture of Akita and a committee for protecting its native dog breed, the Akita, have gifted Russian figure skater Alina Zagitova with an Akita puppy.The 15-year-old reportedly became enamored with the breed after seeing a magazine photo while training in Japan ahead of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. After asking her parents for a dog of her own, her mother told her, "If you perform well in the Olympics, we'll think about it," Zagitova said in a press conference.Zagitova went on to perform as well as she possibly could, winning a gold medal in women's figure skating …READ FULL ARTICLE
