A Day At The Dog Beach!

All week Rob and I had talked about taking the girls to the dog beach at Fort De Soto Park this weekend.  We had taken Charlotte to the dog beach there before, and like it, but the drive to Fort De Soto is fairly long.  So I found a dog beach at Honeymoon Island State Park which is only a 10 minute drive from us.  

Our Saturday started out like this... 

After getting all the lazy bones out of bed and spending most of the afternoon hanging around the house, we packed up the car and began our 10 minute journey to the beach...

At first the girls sat quietly in the backseat.

Chelsea enjoyed sight seeing

While Charlotte made her way into Daddy's lap

When Chelsea looked back, Charlotte was gone...

 When Chelsea realized she was in the front seat
then she wanted to know what all this front seat fuss was about.

So before we knew it she had climbed onto the middle partition 

where the drink holders are and was sitting in between us on it, looking out the front window. 

When we arrived at the beach both girls were eager to get out and explore.   Of course, I was a nervous wreck because of the signs posted all over saying "Beware of Rattlesnakes".    If it isn't a gator, it's a snake.  Ugh!  

We loved the beach at Honeymoon Island State Park!   The water was nice and warm and the sand bars allowed the dogs to walk in the water that was only up to their bellies.   It was a pretty place and we'll definitely be going back.

Here are the girls getting acclimated to the water:

Chelsea and her sandy paws :)

Finally back in the car...

"That was fun guys, can we do it again next weekend?" :)

Now that we are home the girls are exhausted and sleeping like babies, but all-in-all it was a fun day for all 4 of us. 

The Day Charlotte Came To Stay

All this writing about Chelsea makes me remember back to when we adopted Charlotte.  For those of you who may not have known us then, or may not know the story, I thought I'd post an entry entirely on how Charlotte came into our lives.

Charlotte in 2006, the day we adopted her, at only 6lbs.

As I mentioned in the "About Me" section of this blog, Charlotte was roughly 8 years old and found wandering on the street in NYC.  I can't see how she would have run away because she is the kind of dog you put on a sidewalk without a leash and will just follow you no matter where you go.  She definitely isn't the type of dog to just run away or walk away from her owner.  So how she wound up on the streets of NYC completely baffles me.

She was picked up by the ASPCA of NYC and was placed in the shelter there.  However, knowing Charlotte's personality she was probably terrified of the other dogs and being locked in a cage so that fear translated into aggression, in typical Charlotte fashion.  So when it came time for her evaluation to see if she was adoptable, the verdict came in that she was definitely too aggressive as she was very quick to squirm and bite whoever handled her.  

Every day we thank God in heaven for Robyn from Precious Paws Rescue Group.  She came into the shelter and thought Charlotte was just too cute to be on doggie death row, so she brought her to a foster home in the Bronx, where Charlotte stayed for a little while until Robyn felt she could go to a good home.  Then she put up an ad on Craigslist.org saying Charlotte was ready for adoption.

At that time, Rob and I had been contemplating getting a dog.  We had gone to pet stores and checked out local adoption events.  There was one dog that we really wanted to adopt but it just never worked out.  One day, I checked Craigslist.org and happened to see the posting about Charlotte.   No photos or anything, but I emailed anyway.  Robyn told me she could bring Charlotte by our apartment to meet us, so I arranged a meeting.  

Rob wasn't thrilled about the fact that Charlotte was a Chihuahua or that she was 8 years old.  He had his heart set on a puppy, and hopefully something with a mix of cooler breed (he was set on trying to find a dog that looked like a miniature german shepherd). 

So the entire morning I was nervous wreck, hiding wires in our apartment, making sure every spot and corner was completely clean incase Charlotte wanted to explore.    Rob on the other hand would go out of his way to continue to remind me "it's not like we're getting this dog so I don't know why you are going through all of this".  He was convinced Charlotte wasn't the one for us.

Finally, I looked out the window and saw the taxi pull up.  Out of that yellow cab hops Miss Charlotte, the dainty 6 lb little girl that she was.  Robyn followed her, holding her leash.  With Robyn was her 10 year old daughter who had taken a liking to Charlotte a lot and wanted to make sure she went to a good home.

Excited I raced for the door.   As soon as I opened it, there stood Charlotte looking at us like "now who the heck are YOU people??".   She trotted right on in and sniffed us and all over the immediate area.  I pet her, and while she seemed shy and nervous, she was definitely interested in us both and wondering what kind of food we had to offer her.  

After a few minutes of talking to Robyn about Charlotte and the other foster dogs, we turned around and noticed Charlotte had peed on the bathroom floor.  Robyn apologized and said "when she has accidents in the house, she goes in the bathroom".    I couldn't get over how adorable she was and how good she was for peeing in the bathroom of all places.  I looked at Rob who couldn't take his eyes off her and kept saying "aww".   He finally looked back and me and said "I'll go get my check book".

After we gave Robyn the check and said goodbye to her, her daughter, and the best $150 we've ever spent, Rob looked at me and said "I gotta go to the store!"  There were dog bowls, toys, food, and whatever else that needed to be purchased.  We may have gone a little crazy on what we bought her, considering to this day she hasn't touched any of the dozen or so toys we bought her, but the rest was totally worth it.

By the time he came back she was sleeping in a blanket on the couch.  Rob presented each toy to her like it was Christmas gifts.  She watched him, completely not interested in any of it. 

One thing we did learn was that she was sick.  Originally they believed it was kennel cough, which is common in dogs that have been around other dogs in shelters or foster homes.  But after a while it grew to become pneumonia.   We took her to a vet my parents used in NJ, who we knew and trusted, and they prescribed her radioactive pills.  We weren't allowed to touch them and had to wear gloves to feed them to her.  But sure enough after a few weeks she was all better and Rob was happy she was done with the pills because every day he had to take his hour long lunch break to take the train up to the apartment, give her a pill, and come all the way back to work (an hour long commute) and forgo his lunch.   Amazingly selfless considering he didn't want the dog until he met her.  :)

Then she started to feel better.   The positive part about it was she was better and she doubled her weight to 12 lbs which was normal for her mix of breed.   The negative was that her attitude started to get worse.  She'd bite every time someone would try to pick her up.  She was afraid of Rob and took to me quickly and we thought maybe that was because she was abused by a man.   We also noticed she had weird fears.   For example, this is a list of things that caused (and some still cause) Charlotte to freak out:

-The vet's office

-Other dogs

-Brooms

-Pigeons

-Pulling the tape out of the tape measure (not sure why but the minute you pull it out she growls at you).

-Anyone getting out of a car before her.

Things like that cause her to either bark excessively; growl; bite; put her ears back; a line of hair on her back to stand up like a mohawk; and make this face...

But after some time with us she got used to being loved and pet and cuddled with, and now she is the BIGGEST cuddle bug.  She always wants to be on our laps or getting pet or giving kisses.  She won't even let you stop petting her.  She'll continue to nudge your hand until she decides it is time for you to stop giving her affection.

So that is the story of how one tiny little dog trotted into our lives, peed on our floor, and stole our hearts. :)

Here are some of my favorite photos of our little girl.

Here she is with her "Uncle" Andy, my parent's dog.

These two are total opposites but mirror images.

And here she is taking a nap with Daddy, 

when I woke them both up for dinner.

 Taking a nap INSIDE the couch.  Only Charlotte...

Smile! :)

On 4th of July after the parade (she hated me for this outfit)

Our little family together during a summer BBQ

Now Charlotte is 13 years old and has spent 5 wonderful years with us.  She has lived in New York, New Jersey and Florida, gone to the beach, gone on long road trips, taken public transportation, stayed in hotels, ate filet minion for her birthday, and now that she has "retired" to FL she enjoys sleeping on the balcony, soaking up the sun, and living the last years of her life getting all the love and attention she can possibly get.   I'm just so glad we were able to give her the life she deserved to live.

Adopt Your Pets!

Saw this online and thought it was too cute so I had to share:

I am considering getting 2 for the girls to show my support.

They come in all different sizes and colors and can be found at Store.FamousChihuahua.com

I found it while reading a blog someone posted about their adopted Chihuahua and how even though the dog was expected to be vicious and unmanageable all it's life, this wonderfully lady took a chance on it and the dog has not only changed completely, but has completely changed her life too!

You can check out the story here: http://www.famouschihuahua.com/featured-chihuahuas/chica-2/

REMEMBER TO ADOPT YOUR PETS!

The Maintenance Man Pays A Visit

I put in a maintenance order the other day since the bad storm completely blew out the screens on my balcony.   I also had some other things around the house that needed fixing too, so I assumed if I put the order in Thursday night, they'd process it and come on Saturday.

So I went about my morning and started doing the typical Friday activities which include cleaning and laundry.  Then came the knock on the door followed by the guy screaming "Maintenance!".  So I scrambled to hide my piles of dirty laundry I had been sorting and went to answer the door.

I was worried about how Chelsea would react.  This was the first stranger to come into the house since she has been here.  Charlotte went crazy as usual.   Barking up a storm, tail straight up, hair on her back standing up.  At one point she even lunged at the poor guy which I have NEVER seen her do.  Luckily I grabbed her mid lunge and corrected her immediately.   After a while of sitting in her "time out" spot barking like a mad dog, she finally settled down and let the poor guy go about his business.

Chelsea sat up and shook for a little bit, but when she saw me correcting Charlotte and saw how calm I was about the stranger in the house, she calmed down too.  By the time he was done working on everything, Chelsea was curled up sleeping and Charlotte was sitting there in front of her, almost as if she was protecting her.

Once he left Charlotte borrowed into the blanket and now the two of them are back to cuddling.  

Here is a photo of them before the maintenance guy disrupted their lazy morning cuddle time together:

Char is completely knocked out and 

Chel is looking at me like "seriously mom, stop with the photos" :)

The Old Chelsea

Chelsea's rescue Mommy, Cynthia, was kind enough to share some photos with us of Chelsea at her house, where brings all the rescue dogs.   Those who don't have Facebook were unable to see them, so I figured I'd post them on here to share them:

Here is Chelsea in the background with her rescue buddies.

The adorable little wide-eyed guy in front is Boo who Cynthia says has found a home & is doing great!

This is Chelsea, following her best buddy the German Shepherd.  

What is weird is here eyes are glowing and she REALLY looks like Charlotte here!

And here she is, in her element! :)

Close Call

At the beginning of the month we got our community's monthly newsletter with a note that said:

I didn't think much of it because until then I hadn't seen the alligator in our lake and assumed it was just a one time sighting.  However, very quickly I began noticing him/her whenever I'd look over by the lake.

The first photo I caught of "Ali" was while standing on the pier overlooking the water.  The gator just swam up expecting me to feed it.  I took some photos and backed away slowly...

Now whenever I go near the lake I'm extra careful.  Especially now that I have Chelsea who walks with me near the lake.   So today, during the storm I knew Chelsea had to go out because she kept walking over to the gate by the stairs.  So I put the leash on her and picked her up knowing she wouldn't walk down the steps in the rain.  But since it was still raining heavy and there were still a few bolts of lightning in the distance I didn't want to leave the shelter of the building, so I figured I'd take her to the other side of our building, through the breezeway and take her to go on the grass by the stairs by the lake, which was sheltered from the rain a bit by our building.

As soon as I got to the first floor I put her down and walked to the lake area.  But as soon as I stepped out onto the grass I noticed not by 10 feet in front of me there were two eyes peering at me from the water's edge.  And to make it worse, the water had risen from all the rain so what used to be a little wall of land between the water and the grass was now non existent.   The owner of the 2 creepy eyes could have easily lunged out of the water and right onto the land to come after me.   

Without thinking twice I reached down and grabbed Chelsea in my arms (thank God she didn't run from me or freak out) and I took off running back to the other side of the building and up the stairs.  I decided to go to the other end of the breezeway once I got on the 2nd floor, just to look over the lake and see if the gator moved or came out after me.   

He was still there, watching.  So I snapped two photos, with Chelsea still in my arms, before running back to my door:

Here he is peering, you can just make out his eyes and nose.

 Sorry it's so blurry, between the rain and the iPhone zoom

And here is the photo from the top of the steps, so you can see how close he was!  

I was literally right on the grass there, under the steps when I first saw him.

I just feel bad for Chelsea since she has no idea why I'll be changing out walking path from now on...

"Good Girl Chelsea!"

I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately.  As we near the end of week 2 with Chel-Belle, she astounds us every day with her progress.

Yesterday she did great, as usual, on her walks.  In the morning I took her all around our complex and then down by the lake as usual.   In the afternoon I took her and Charlotte down to the mailbox and back to get Charlotte some exercise.  Then in the evening right, before Daddy came home, I walked her down around the complex and through the lake area.

The best part of walking with Chelsea is she gets so excited about walking that her tail wags a mile a minute as she trots down the street.

I wish I could get a good photo/video of her walking but we walk so fast it is hard to capture it.   And she is so attentive when we walk.  She watches everything and then looks up at me to see what I am doing.  She will stop and sniff, and then come back to me, stand beside me and look up as if to say "Ok, I'm ready, we can keep going".   But if anything scares her or she isn't sure about something, the first thing she does it look up at me.  It's really cute. 

We'll get to a certain point in our walk where if we cross the parking lot we can go over to a patch of grass by some water.  A lot of dogs go over there to use the bathroom, so she likes to go over there and "read her pee-mails" as I like to call it when dogs sniff each other's "messages".    But I only take her over there once a day.  So on each walk she'll stop at that point, look at me, and if I say "Ok, let's cross over" then we go.   But each time she anticipates it's. 

On the way to the lake someone in their car behind us, got out and slammed the door and Chelsea panicked and took off running.  Luckily we have the retractable leash so she only got so far before it caught and she was forced to stop.  I showed her I wasn't scared and it was okay and she came right back to me and resumed walking behind me.

Then on our way back from the walk we saw Rob pull into the complex and I told her "Chelsea!  Look it's Daddy! Come on, let's go get him!"  So she trotted back with me towards the apartment and watched his car and then stopped when he parked.  She looked at me and then he got out and she waited.  He came over and pet her and we walked to the apartment together.


Today we got hit with a pretty bad storm so I took her out before the storm rolled in and we walked the long walk again.  The sky looked pitch black by the time we got back to the apartment so I was glad she did her "business" on this walk since I figured we wouldn't make it out for the afternoon walk with the storms going on all day.   When the bad part of the storm started there were talks of probable tornados in the area going right over us so I did my usual "drill" where I put a flashlight, blanket, water bottles, and food and water for the dogs in our guest bathroom since it's the only safe room in our house with no windows that in the interior of the building.   I put the dogs on their collars/leashes just in case.  My biggest fear was always that something would happen to the building during a bad storm and if Charlotte got lost she wouldn't be wearing her collar.  So I always do that when a bad storm comes in, just in case.

So the girls laid on the couch with me, Chelsea on the far side and Charlotte right under my arm.  As the storm got worse, Chelsea gradually moved closer toward me on the couch, until she was using Charlotte's backside as a pillow.

After the storm died down and I cleaned out the bathroom, I came back and fed the girls.  The other day Rob made some beef cubes we had frozen for a while.  He made risotto and asparagus to go with it.  I've been feeding it to the girls for the past few days.  Usually after our walk I'd make a tiny bit for Charlotte and Chelsea.  Today I made some for them, they ate it and then Chelsea (who usually runs away from me when she is on the floor) followed me into the kitchen to see if there was more.  Then she walked over to the gate by the steps and looked at me, which I assumed meant she wanted to go out.  So I got her leash out, expecting her to run from me when I came close, but she just sat and let me put the leash on and then we made our way down the steps.  But as soon as I opened the door I realized how bad it was raining and she wouldn't come out of the apartment.  She peeked around the corner from the stairs and laid down as if to say "No way! I'm staying here!".  So we went back upstairs and I took off her leash and she just sat there while I pet her (which she NEVER has done before).   So I gave her a treat for being such a good girl.   It was the first time ever that she let me reach out and pet her and didn't run while she was off leash and walking around.

Anyway, here are some photos from last night to close with:

See!  I caught her sleeping with her tongue out!  

She had JUST opened her eyes when I took the photo

Chelsea, half on my lap and half on the blanket.

I think she got too hot under the blanket.  But it looks like she is smiling. :)