Like many military victims of a Taliban attack in Afghanistan, Athos was treated by US doctors in the field, flown to the US Ramstein base in Germany for his recovery, then awarded for his bravery back home.
But Athos is a bomb-sniffing German shepherd who was helping Czech forces in Afghanistan, not a soldier, and during a ceremony honouring him on Tuesday, he received a buffalo bone and a leather collar.
The four-year-old dog was seriously wounded in a rocket attack on a military base in Logar province on September 30, 2012.
During the ceremony at a military dog centre in Chotyne, Czech Republic, Defence Minister Vlastimil Picek called Athos "a soldier's irreplaceable friend".
If Athos passes his medical check-up in January, he may be put back through basic training.
