UNLIKE the US space-flight pioneers — monkeys who couldn’t handle the pressure and were nervous wrecks on their return — Soviet scientists found that Moscow’s stray dogs were far more amenable and relaxed about the whole extra-planetary  experience.

[[{"fid":"14238","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"1"}}]]Street-wise ruffians, they displayed intelligence, enterprise and solidarity. Each candidate was observed for weeks before snatch squads stepped in and scooped them up and then they were put through rigorous training.

Space flight was not the first time dogs contributed to science in Russia — they were the research material of Nobel prize-winning psychologist Ivan Pavlov when developing his theories on conditioned response.