A rumor spread that he had been hit by a truck driver who, fearing the wrath of the people, hid his body in the woods to conceal the evidence, thereby walking away from responsibility.

In his memory a homemade billboard was erected with the legend "Dog, teach us love and devotion", but it was often blown away by the wind and hooligans threw stones at it, so the city of Tolyatti initiated a campaign to construct a bronze statue of Kostya.

[1] The bronze sculpture, about 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) tall[2] and set on a granite pedestal of about the same height,[6] cost about 250,000 rubles[2] It stands in District 21 at the intersection of South Highway and Lev Yashin Street.

The dedication was attended by about 100 to 150 people, half being members of the Tolyatti Rotary Club which had financed the monument[6] and the others being journalists and private citizens.

And here we have in Tolyatti – a monument to the dog whose loyalty has become a legend!After the official unveiling, Mayor Utkin, mindful of the vandalism of The Little Mermaid, put the memorial under guard until such time as an alarm system could be installed.

The song "Watchdog" by Cat Sasha (the stage name of the Moscow singer-songwriter and rock poet Aleksandra Pavlova) on her 2013 album Intercity Traveler is about Kostya the dog.