1st Visit to the Vet

This morning we had to get up early and get ready to take everyone to the vet.  Even though the vet is literally around the corner, we had to make sure the girls were walked, fed, and ready to go for our 10:00AM appointment.

While getting Charlotte and Chelsea ready, I noticed Rob and Chloe hanging out on the balcony.  She was so content sitting on his lap listening to the morning birds singing. :)

After hanging out for a bit it was time to go and we packed the girls into the car.   As usual, Chelsea and Charlotte took the 2 middle seats, and Chloe sat in her carry case that was on the middle divider between us in the front seats.

Even though the drive took only a minute, the process to get everyone in the car and out of the car was what took forever.  Charlotte had to go in the backpack carry case that Rob wore (since she hates the vet and can't walk in unfamiliar places on her own now that she is blind).  Chelsea was on her leash but was terrified once she smelled/heard the other dogs howling and barking.  So Rob ended up carrying her.  I had Chloe in the smaller carry case.  

Once we got into the vet and did the paperwork, we noticed Chelsea.  She was definitely scared but it seemed like she was taking comfort in Charlotte who was laying down and shaking in her case.  Charlotte is always nervous at the vet, especially now that she can't see the other dogs but knows they are all there.  So Chelsea ended up laying in Rob's arms with her head on the side of Charlotte's case, and Charlotte had her nose up to the mesh siding and they were literally laying there nose-to-nose with each other.  

Chloe was the life of the party.  She was trying to get out of her case and explore.  Everyone was going crazy over how adorable she is and she was loving all the attention.  She would stop and watching any of the dogs who were barking.  She was so alert and interested in everything going on.

Once we were called in, Chelsea was first.  They gave her some cheese to help her relax and enjoy.  Rob held her and I pet her while they took some blood and checked her temperature and teeth.   She was SO good.  No growling, no teeth showing, no biting.  She just stood there in Rob's arms and let the vet do whatever she had to do.  She was amazingly well behaved and I was so proud of her.   They also weighed her and she is 11 pounds, which is the perfect weight for her size.

After that it was Charlotte's turn.  Charlotte had to be muzzled, as usual, because with her she tends to snap when scared.  They took her into the other room to take her blood (not sure why) but then came back and weighed her.  She is 15 pounds and slightly over weight but the vet says that could be because she isn't as active anymore now that she is older.  

Chloe was last and after the vet spent 2 minutes kissing and cuddling her, she weighed her and confirmed she is a whopping 2 pounds.  The sweet little thing didn't need any shots or anything (we go back in 2 weeks for those).  So for now she was just weighed and given a big dose of love and affection from the staff.  After everyone passed her around and kissed her, she was given some flea medication and heart worm pills, and all the other girls were given heart worm & flea pills to take home too and we made our way back home.

On the way home we made sure to stop at Burger King and get a small chicken nuggets for Chelsea and Charlotte to share (Chloe won't get those kinds of "snacks" until she is a bit older).   It was a tradition we'd do when we took Charlotte to the vet, to reward her for being a good girl and to associate the vet's office with getting her favorite food.   

Now the girls are sleeping like babies after their ordeal.  

Rob and I are now getting ready since we are having unexpected company stopping in.  This will be the first time friends/family will visit while Chelsea has been with us, so this is a big test for her.   Chloe, I am sure, will not be a problem as she loves people.   Let you know how it goes... :)

Settling into a Routine

The hardest part of having 3 dogs is that just when dog # 1 settled into a routine, dog # 2 disrupted it.  Now that dog #1 AND # 2 have settled into a routine together, dog # 3 came along and disrupted it.  I'm wishing I could fast forward 3 weeks or so when they have all settled into the same routine as well.   Then life will be a lot less hectic.

My current routine is wake up when Rob gets up.  Chelsea has been having tummy issues lately so there is almost always a mess to clean (though she has done it on the potty patch and on the bathroom rug mostly, so it is a lot easier to clean than the carpet).   Once Chelsea's mess is taken care of, Charlotte has to be woken up to go potty, or else she'll wait until I'm in the middle of something else and demand I take her then.  Then Chloe comes out of her nighttime kennel and I take her right over to the potty patch where she immediately does her business.

Then I put Chloe in her play pen, where she has food, water, toys, and her bed (and a wee wee pad just in case).

She plays in there with her toys while I get Chelsea ready for her morning walk.  I'm usually walking out the door with Chelsea for her walk at the same time Rob is leaving for work.  By the time I get back home with Chelsea and give her and Charlotte their morning rawhide bones, Rob is texting me that he is at work.


Chelsea is warming up a lot more lately.  Now she goes and sits by the gate at the top of the steps when she wants to go out.  I come over and put on her harness and leash and we go from there.   She is also letting me pet her more when she is on the floor/walking around.   And she is listening more to "Come here".  When she is in the other room, I'll go in there and tell her to come here and she almost always follows me.  Gone are the days of having to carry her everywhere.

I even took her to stop in at the Leasing Office in our community.  They have dog treats there and I figured it would get her used to unfamiliar places and seeing people.  She didn't want to walk in at first, and the maintenance guy (same guy who comes to the apartment) came over to see her.  He has a min pin at home and was shocked at how Chelsea was so afraid.  He thought it was sad whatever her previous owners did to her to make her this way.  But he let her sniff him and then reached out and pet her, and even though she tensed up, she let him and was a very good girl about the whole thing.  In the end, she got the dog treat for it. :)

Yesterday was funny.  I was giving myself a manicure/pedicure and was trimming my nails.  I look up after about 2 minutes and see Chelsea, sitting up, staring at me with her teeth showing (it almost looked like she was just sitting there smiling at me).  She looked so vicious and angry that the hairs on my arm stood up!  I figured out that she hates nail clippers.  Kinda like how Charlotte hated tape measures and as soon as you'd start to pull the tape out she'd show her teeth and growl.  So I went over to her with the clippers (as soon as I got close to her she stopped showing her teeth) and she sniffed them for a little bit and then I showed her how it worked by clipping one of my nails, and she was fine with it after that.  It was funny, but freaky at the same time.   Only two other times have I seen her do that, once when poor little blind Charlotte jumped up on the couch and didn't mean to but hit her in the face.  The second time was when Chloe was being rambunctious and climbing and pawing at Chelsea's face.  So we make sure to monitor Chloe around both the girls to make sure she isn't annoying them too much.

Chloe has her new play pen.  I took her to PetSmart yesterday to pick it out.  She also got some new toys (a little ball and a tiny rope bone with a stuffed animal attached to it).  She already ripped the stuffed animal head off of the rope bone.  Poor little guy, who I named Oscar, only lived one day in this house before the wrath of Chloe was brought down on his soul. :)

She also got a name tag, but unfortunately the ones the other girls have are too heavy for her (probably weigh as much as she does).  So I got her the smallest I could find, which ironically fit her personality the best.

The other day, before I bought her any toys, I gave her this little stuffed dog (almost as big as she is).  I got it from Victoria Secret when I bought a whole bunch of stuff during one of their promotions once.  Well it came with a little hoodie on the dog.  I wondered if it would fit her since she as practically the same size as the stuffed dog.   I had to cut the middle part so I could get it over her giant head, but it fit and she looked adorable in it.

Charlotte and Chelsea have been stuck together like glue.  If Charlotte wanders into the bedroom to nap, Chelsea follows.  If Charlotte comes back in the living room, Chelsea follows.  It's cute.  It makes me wonder if Chelsea is really only 1 year old, or if she is older than that.  Even though she is active outside she seems very lazy when inside.  Maybe she just still needs to warm up a bit more.  I just expected a 1 year old to get tired of sleeping and want to play at some point, but we'll see.  Or maybe she is just following what Charlotte does.

Here is a great photo from the other night.  Rob and I were watching a movie and Chelsea was sleeping next to Rob, Charlotte was by his feet, and Chloe was in his arms.  He looked like the Dog Whisperer with his mini pack. :)

Day 1 of Operation 3 Chihuahuas. :)

Yesterday, Rob came home and met Chloe for the first time.  He instantly fell in love with her (who couldn't??).

Rob couldn't get over how tiny she is.

Today was (is still) a busy day.  Finally, after 2 weeks, Rob's car will be done and he left work early so we we can go pick it up in a little bit.

This morning, Rob woke up and went about his morning, but took Chloe out of her crate and put her in bed with me.  Immediately she jumped on my face and kissed me to wake me up.  It was a really sweet wake up call.

I took Chloe to the potty (she is using the potty patch we have and Chelsea has been too whenever she has to go at night).  It's been an awesome help, and a welcomed brake for the poor rugs in my apartment.

After Chloe and Charlotte did their business, it was time for Chelsea's walk.  I enjoy our walks because like Chelsea, I'm cooped up in the apartment all the time, so I sort of sympathize with her.

Here she is, enjoying the scenery on our walk:

Chelsea is slowly getting used to Chloe.  She allows her to jump all over and around her, but doesn't seem too interested.  

Chloe loves her to pieces and just wants to climb into her skin.  If she could, she'd cuddle up with her and sleep, but Chelsea isn't looking for a cuddle buddy.   Apparently she already has one...

So for now, Chloe is using me as her cuddle buddy.  Hopefully in a week or so, Chelsea and Charlotte will get used to this rambunctious little girl and allow her to cuddle with them too.  Until then, here are some adorable photos of Chloe, doing her own thing and cuddling solo. :)

The good part is, she understands "NO!" which is said a lot in this house lately.  She also understands her name already and looks at me when I call her.  She is SO smart.  I can tell she is going to be a great dog to teach lots of tricks to. :)

New Baby Solomon Sister :)

So Rob and I had been toying with the idea of getting Chelsea a "little sister or brother".  One that would have enough energy to play with her and cuddle with her and help keep her active.  Also, someone who she could grow up with.

Of course, we initially wanted to keep the dog all black just like the girls, but it's hard enough finding a the right dog let alone finding a matching one.  Chelsea and Charlotte were pure luck.

I guess fate sorta took control the perfect fit just fell into our lap... literally.

Her previous owner, Tarah, brought her to our house to make sure it was the right fit.  She put this tiny dog (who they had been calling Tequila) in my arms and immediately she stretched up and kissed my face.  There was no going back now.  She completely stole my heart. :)

I changed her name to Chloe, to go with Charlotte and Chelsea (who both came to us with those names).

As you can see in the photos below, she is tiny!  Here is a photo of her next to my house phone:

She is a mere 2 lbs and only 12 weeks old, and will probably be no more than 5 lbs when she is fully grown.  She is a pure bread Chihuahua, mostly black with white paws, belly, a little white on her face/head, and just the tip of her tail.  Her ears curl a bit at the ends but in a few weeks they will uncurl and will match Charlotte and Chelsea's ears.  She is the perfect baby sister for the girls!

Chelsea already seems to like her.  In fact, as I write this Chelsea is sleeping and Chloe is sleeping right beside her.

Charlotte is a little farther down the couch and as I expect, it will take her some getting used to, but I am sure she will manage in a few months when everything has settled down.

Here are some more photos:

Exploring....

 Sleeping on my lap

Ahhhh so sweet. :)

We definitely didn't plan on having 3 dogs, or getting the second two within a month of each other, but now that we plan to "settle down" here in FL, we feel comfortable expanding our family both 2 and 4 legged (though the 2 legged expansion will come probably in a year or so when we are ready to buy a house). :)

The good thing is, both Chelsea and Chloe are great with kids (Chelsea doesn't bite and has a very calm demeanor and Chloe was born with kids in the house).  That was important to us since we aren't sure if Charlotte will be around when we have kids but I am sure Chelsea and Chloe will.

Right now all 3 girls are sleeping on the couch together.  

Welcome to your forever home, Chloe Baby! :)

A few cute photos of Chelsea

There isn't much going on today.  Since it's so hot out (almost 90 degrees) I have the balcony shut, so both girls are sleeping the day away instead of wandering and exploring like usual.   So, during the lazy moments of the day I was able to snap some cute photos that I thought everyone would enjoy.

Chelsea enjoying her new beef flavored Dingo Bone

Lazy girl laying in my arms last night :)

Someone was really knocked out. HAHA!

I definitely didn't mean to wake her but she looked too darn cute I had to get a photo!

Peek-A-Boo!

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.