Chel-Belle & Char-Monkey

Of course, everyone who knows us knows Charlotte responds to more than just "Charlotte" or "CharChar".  She also goes by "Monkey" or "Munks" as some of us call her for short.  This is because when we adopted her 5 years ago, she was only 6lbs and a tiny little girl with phenomena and a 50/50 shot at recovering.  After only a few months with us she not only recovered but gained back all of the weight she lost, and then some.   After doubling her weight Rob and I started calling her "Chunky Monkey", like the ice cream.   For some reason the Chunky Monkey turned into Charlotte Monkey when we noticed how much energy she had and how she'd climb on everything!  So after a while we dropped the Charlotte part and called her Monkey.  It caught on with family and friends and before we knew it we'd call out "Monkey" or "Munks" and she'd come running.   

One Halloween I thought it would be funny to get her a monkey costume, so when someone called "Monkey" she'd come out wearing it.  It was all too adorable, even though she hated the thing. :)

Here she is in her costume, looking very unhappy with me.

So, I assumed Chelsea would have a cute nickname like that too.   We're still in the market for an animal nick name for her.   I was thinking Chelsea Cheetah since she runs so fast!   Though I find myself calling her Chel-Belle a lot, just because she is such a pretty girl.  :)

Anyway, back to the normal day-to-day stuff.  Chelsea has been doing good on her walks.  A few times she got skittish, but has still been very good.  I rarely have to pull on the leash, and only do it when I notice she is too focused on something like a squirrel, and want to break her concentration so she doesn't chase after it.  

Last night she slept on the couch all by herself and this morning when Rob got up to go pet her she ran and jumped on the bed (and definitely stepped on poor Charlotte who was sleeping under the blankets) and laid right by me.  It's strange how when he approaches her she runs to me and when I approach her she runs to him.  It's not like she is scared of either of us more, it's just like whoever is not approaching her is her best bet for safety.

Last night I was hand feeding her and she was literally eating out of the plate I put on the ground in front of me.  But Rob made a move on the couch and she stopped and ran over to see what he was doing and if he was coming over there.  She is SO skittish about that stuff.  But at one point she panicked and didn't know where to go so for the first time she came into the kitchen where I had been cleaning up.

Chel looking pretty and hanging out in the kitchen while I do the dishes.

Now she has spent pretty much the entire day sleeping in there on the red dog bed.  After our walk this morning she went in there following me thinking I had food for her, and she laid there watching me unload the dishwasher and put away all the clean dishes.  She just watched my every move.   

I'm trying very hard to "force" her to face her fears.  Like today, after we came home from our walk I made sure to come very close to her and pet her.  Normally she'd run, but coming straight from our walk she was used to being near me, and I think the harness being on helped her to remember that I was in control.  She just sat and watched me approach her and I pet her and she didn't move, which was the first time she has ever done that while not laying on a bed, couch, or anything else.  When she is standing on the floor she always takes off running, but not this time.

By the way, this was Charlotte Monkey and Chel-Belle this morning in bed.   Yet another sweet moment between the two girls. :)

And here are the girls again, sharing the couch.  They are definitely warming up to each other.

At one point yesterday, Chelsea was scared and hid behind Charlotte. :)

I'll leave you with a cute story from my walk with Chelsea yesterday.   I took her down to the mailbox to get the mail and when we came back she was sniffing some of the parked cars.  One of them, a VW, had a silver bumper.  She sniffed it and I noticed she jumped back a little, looked up and me, and back at the bumper and started to sniff again, and jump again.  I couldn't figure out why she was afraid of a car that wasn't even moving, but then I realized she saw her reflection in the bumper and it must have startled her every time she moved and it moved too.   She was too funny!