To my friend Nadya
I posted this story in a topic "How did you end up with a corgi", and I also want to save it in my blog.

This story began several years ago in a remote, snowy Russia.. Not exactly snowy, though... :) It was October in Moscow, it was not cold at all, and the trees were still in those fall colors: red, yellow, golden brown...

I was a college student then. I don't remember what kind of problem I had that day (was it a broken heart, or.. C on Economics quiz), but my friend Nadya found a good solution. "You need a dog!" she said. "The dog will change your life!"

Nadya had a mutt, and she was absolutely confident that mutes are the best and smartest dogs alive. Since they combined so many breeds in one dog, they were really multi-dimensional treasures, she was telling me.

"We'll find you a dog," she said, when we were standing outside of the University building, in the center of Moscow. "Here, look! That one!" she suddenly exclaimed. There, between the trees, I could see a small dog, going back and forth on the spot. During those Perestroyka years, we had many stray dogs, running around town. Some of them were just lost dogs, and some of them never had an owner.

"I am not sure this is a good idea," I said. "Even though I always dreamed of a dog, I live with my folks, and my mother does not like dogs, and I do not know how to handle dogs..."

"It's simple," Nadya said. "Look how cute this dog is! Your mother will love her! And I'll teach you how to handle dogs. Now, help me to catch her! You'll be very happy, believe me!" And chase began.

"Go from that side! Herd her towards me!" she shouted to me. "I'll drop my jacket to cover her!" I followed her commands. Finally, a little red dog was caught and wrapped up into Nadya's jacket.

"Let's go home," she said. I lived with my parents, and used public transportation for commute. We hide a dog under Nadya's jacket because the dogs were not allowed on metro at the time.

We were lucky not to find anybody at home, when we were back. Nadya helped me to wash a dog, and to feed him. It was her, actually. I gave her name "Kimka". When I finally was able to see her clearly with my own eyes, I've got excited. She had a thick red hair, short legs, pretty big ears, and a smily expression on her "face".

"What if we stole someone's dog?" I asked Nadya. "No worries," she said. "She does not have any collar, or anything. And you would not be able to find her owner among the 9 million people in the city." And she was right.

Well, it turned out, my mom really fell in love with her, like I did. "Kimka" was the smartest dog I knew ("Told ya!" Nadya said. "Mutts are the smartest!"). Kimka even knew some commands. She was such an easygoing and sweet dog. She either was housebroken before, or just smart not to do her business at home. For me she was just unbelievable!

And I was really, really happy with her. Until I went for a trip during a spring break, and when Kimka stayed with my mom, she caught distemper. I think, it was distemper. She died very fast. My mom cried when I was back. And I cried later, for a long time. I was devastated. Kimka was my first dog!

Several years fast-forward, I got married, we had a son, we moved to the US, we got a cat (because dogs were not allowed in our apartments). One day we went to buy some food for the cat in Petsmart. I was looking at the magazines on the shelf. "Wait a minute!" I said to my husband. "Remember, I told you about my dog? About my Kimka? Here she is!".

And there she was, on the cover of the magazine with a title "Corgi"! I bought that magazine. I always thought she was a mutt, a stray dog! But surprisingly, she was not. I am not sure, though, that she was a purebred. May be some mix. I don't remember for sure. I don't want to deceive myself. But she definitely had corgi blood in her. "She had her relatives at the Queen's Palace", my husband said, jokingly. I read every article in that magazine, to find out more about the corgis.

This summer we decided to have a dog. We live in a house, our life settled down. we were ready to get a dog. What breed? I think you know. This is how I've got my Charlie.