Jerusalem, Dec. 24 (PTI): A German man has been jailed for five months for teaching his pet dog “to perform a Nazi salute”.

According to the British tabloid The Sun, the man with a Hitler obsession taught his dog to lift its paw sharply into the air when it heard the words “Heil Hitler”, Ha’aretz online reported. The man named “Ronald T” by the tabloid called his dog “Adolf” and planned to put the pet to sleep” to mark the anniversary of Hitler’s suicide in 1945.

The former car salesman was reportedly caught after he boasted of the trick to police. The dog has now been placed in an animal shelter where staff are training it to raise his paw to shake hands, rather than perform a Nazi salute. The German man fears that he will not get his pet back after completing his jail sentence. Performing the Nazi salute is outlawed in Germany, as is Nazi insignia and holocaust denial.