This is a brief summary of the real-life dogs that became the inspiration behind Chadori, whose character did not exist in the first conception of the Youngho and Chadori series. Even the first provisional title was the profoundly cheesy My Korean Santa (ooh, how it hurts to admit this!). Long story short, I included a Welsh Springer Spaniel as Youngho’s companion dog in memory of Victor, a family dog who had just died and who had been with my parents-in-law for many years. My husband and I then had a dog of our own, Emil (also a Welshie), who tragically perished shortly after his third birthday due to a congenital kidney disease. After losing him, I was consumed by anger and grief, and buried myself in writing, which is my refuge whenever I feel lost – be it diaries, essays, songs, poetry…