Lucky Max

When I was a child I liked dogs very much. I liked their selflessness, devotion and courage. I had a thought: “It would be great to have such a wonderful friend!” I liked two dog breeds much better than others. These were the German shepherd and the Cocker spaniel. The first seemed to me an ideal bodyguard, and I admired the Cocker spaniels’ beauty and cheerful temperament. It is not easy to have a dog in a big city so my family postponed a purchase of a pet from one year to the next.
All at once, there was an unforeseen event. One of our friends phoned us and offered a cocker spaniel that was one year old. Its owners were moving into another city and they couldn’t take their dog. The dog would be abandoned on the street. Having discussed the matter, we decided to take in this little dog. I was rejoicing! I thought: “I will be an owner of a dog and it will be the bread of my dream!”
Several days later we brought the dog called Max home. He had intelligent brown eyes, a nose like a small button, fluffy paws, long, soft ears. The color of the dog was light red like the color of gold. In addition, he had a short tail and he could wag it very fast. The tail was as an exact indicator of Max’s mood. When Max was happy he did a little dance on all four paws, and his tail wagged as fast as the wings of a dragonfly. When something alarmed him he stood at attention like a soldier in front of a general, and his tail was still.
Max’s charm did not leave anyone indifferent, and very soon all my neighbors knew my dog by name. Having seen him, strangers said: “What a cheerful doggy! What a gold little dog!”
I took him on the Moscow subway a couple of times. There was no doubt that he was frightened by unusual noise. But my Max found a witty way out of that situation: he copied the behavior of the passengers around us in a carriage. He jumped up on the passenger’s seat next to me, sat down and looked around proudly. If he had had a newspaper in his front paws he would have seemed a real human. People observing us seemed to be touched by the scene. Children were smiling shyly. The looks of even the grumpiest-looking adults mellowed. I bet that some passengers decided to get a dog. My Max proved that he is a real aristocrat!

Actually, Cocker spaniels are real aristocrats! It is one of the oldest hunting breeds. The homeland of ancestors of the dogs is Spain. The breed was created in 15-16th centuries there. The English word ‘spaniel’ was formed by the Spanish word ‘espanol’. so you can read it in the name of the breed even nowadays.
Though spaniels were breed specially for hunting, there was a period when these dogs were not used as assistants for hunters and were used as a decoration of palaces and castles. It is said that the appearance of Cocker spaniels was the most beautiful in that period.
Initially, only one breed of Cocker spaniels existed. It was divided into two breeds in 19th century and difference was based upon weight.
There are three well known kinds of Cocker spaniels in Russia. They are called the English, The American and the Russian Cocker spaniel.
Modern Cocker spaniels are superb hunter with excellent sense of smell. Obviously, any borders of countries and difficulties of translation are not obstacles for these dogs, so they are very popular all over the world.

When I look at my dog I think: ‘Well, Hello, my devoted friend is a Spanish aristocrat from England who was born in Russia!’/ Каждый раз, когда я гляжу на свою собаку, мне хочется сказать: "Ну, привет, мой преданный друг - испанский аристократ из Англии, который родился в России!"

I will be grateful for correcting of my English