According to www.spacetoday.org, Laika, the first animal (dog) sent into space by the Soviet Union was a stray estimated to be about 3yrs old.
A Soviet dog named Laika.
insect(fruit fly)
The first animals to cross the Karman line at an altitude of 100 km did so in a V2 rocket.
It was a female dog used for the first rocket test.