My Malisha

By Jack Alfonso

Malisha, an eight-year-old mix with what her owner assumes to be Chihuahua, came into Natalia’s life almost a decade ago in Russia, and since then the pair haven’t looked back.

“I brought her here to Australia from Thailand after picking her up in Russia, so she’s a bit of a traveller,” Natalia said.

After Malisha was picked up as a stray at around one-and-a-half years old, the pair have become almost inseparable, with Natalia, a housewife, labelling her like a “close, close friend.”

“She helps me always, because when I moved from Russia to Thailand I was alone – and she helped me,” she said. “Of course, it’s the same here, every day, and especially during lockdown.”

Oozing a particularly calm and placid persona, Malisha is very gentle and approachable for a scratch, and when asked what her four-legged friend meant to her, Natalia summed it up in one word; “everything” •