Letuchaya Shares Struggles and Joys of Caring for Her Pet Dog
Yelena Letuchaya shared stories about her family«s pet, an Akita dog named Akita.
Yaroslavl TV host Yelena Letuchaya talked about her four-legged beloved — the Japanese Akita dog named Akita. The TV star and her pet appeared in the pages of the February 2026 issue of Marie Claire.
«Akita has a passionate nature; she»s freedom-loving and won«t let anyone near her if she doesn»t like them. And despite all her beauty and stature, she«s as clumsy as I am. It»s hard to imagine how much!« said Yelena.
The TV host admitted that at home she might bump into furniture or even collide with her husband in an empty apartment. In this, they are similar to her pet: Akita, according to Yelena, can fall over on her side while trying to catch a Frisbee.
Letuchaya«s dog is a crossbreed with a Japanese Akita mother and an Alaskan Malamute father.
Together with her four-legged pet, Letuchaya loves to spend time in a small house in Karelia, a region in northwestern Russia. However, such a location has its own peculiarities— the proximity to wild animals.
«One time I wake up in the morning, go out on the terrace with a cup of coffee and smell something… Akita approaches me, smeared in fresh moose droppings. I held my ground until my husband came back from fishing, then we barely washed her off in Lake Ladoga with all four hands. You should have seen that satisfied face— the dog was in seventh heaven,» said Yelena.
Lena takes care of the dog herself, including regular walks, for which she had to adjust her work schedule. Despite all the difficulties, she adores her four-legged friend.
The TV host urges everyone considering getting a pet, particularly a large breed dog, to make a well-considered decision.
«A pet is a living being that has trusted a human; it gets sad without attention, wants love and affection. So the main advice: before bringing a puppy home, promise yourself to take full responsibility for it,» believes Yelena.
Yelena Letuchaya is a journalist, host, producer, and artistic director of the Ostankino Higher School of Television. She was born on December 5, 1978, in Yaroslavl to a family of civil engineers. When Yelena was 8 years old, her family moved to the city of Tynda in Amur Oblast for the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. By education, Letuchaya is a financier. She gained popularity from the program «Revizorro» (16+) on the TV channel «Pyatnitsa!», where she checked the quality of services at establishments. In 2016, Yelena married entrepreneur Yuri Anashenkov.
