What is the name of the dog the main character identifies strongly with?
Laika is memorialised in the form of a statue and plaque at Star City, Russia, the Russian Cosmonaut training facility. Created in 1997, Laika is positioned behind the cosmonauts with her ears erect. The Monument to the Conquerors of Space, constructed in 1964, also includes Laika. On 11 April 2008  at the military research facility where staff had been responsible for readying Laika for the flight, officials unveiled a monument of her poised on top of a space rocket. Stamps and envelopes picturing Laika were produced, as well as branded cigarettes and matches.Future space missions carrying dogs would be designed to be recovered. Four other dogs died in Soviet space missions: Bars and Lisichka were killed when their R-7 rocket exploded shortly after launch on 28 July 1960; Pchyolka and Mushka died when Korabl-Sputnik 3 was purposely destroyed with an explosive charge to prevent foreign powers from inspecting the capsule after a wayward atmospheric reentry trajectory on 1 December 1960.Although never shown, Laika is prominently mentioned in the 1985 film My Life as a Dog, in which the main character (a young Swedish boy in the late 1950s) identifies strongly with the dog. Laika, a 2007 graphic novel by Nick Abadzis giving a fictionalized account of Laika's life, won the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens. Laika is also mentioned in the 2004 song "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)" by Arcade Fire, included on their debut album Funeral. Lajka (in English: Laika) is a 2017 Czech animated science fiction comedy film inspired by Laika.
Laika