If you have read my story about why we adopted, you will know that Chelsea came into my life at a time I was unable to conceive our third child and she quickly became my baby!
After the terrible experience of our "48 hour dog" biting my then 2 year old son, I wanted to get a smaller dog that would be good around kids. I researched the various breeds and soon fell in love with a rare breed called Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. They look like puppies even when they are mature. Finding a good Cavalier breeder can be difficult. Luckily we were able to find a breeder not too far from our city and after visiting with the breeder, we passed our interview and were able to take Chelsea home. This was July of 1994 and she was about 13 weeks old.
She was very much a companion dog and followed me everywhere! She didn't like being left alone and since she was small and liked car rides she often went on errands with me whenever possible. She slept on the corner of our bed. She was great with the kids! After we upgraded our computer and got online, I joined an Intenet group of Cavalier owners and we traded stories about our dogs and I learned a lot about the breed. Chelsea was my hobby and kept me from focusing so much on the fact that I wasn't able to get pregnant again.
Our family took a trip to Colorado in the summer of 1999 and Chelsea stayed with my parents while we were gone. During one of our phone calls my Mom said Chelsea really must be missing us as she was not eating well and didn't seem herself. When we returned home I took her in to the vet and was devastated to learn that "my baby" was diagnosed with a severe heart condition. Now many Cavaliers do have mitral valve problems but that was not what was wrong with her. I took her to a vet specialist for treatment and was told that she had dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition more commonly found in larger dogs, especially Boxers. Some dogs can have a pacemaker put in for that condition but since her heart had stretched out so much the wall of her heart was too thin and she was not a good candidate for surgery. The specialist told me Chelsea could live a week or maybe 6 months. Sadly she passed away in her sleep by my bedside 8 days later. Needless to say, I was crushed. I love dogs and treat them like people anyway, but Chelsea was the baby I couldn't have and now she was gone. Why did life have to be so hard? I was depressed. My sister who also loves dogs, quickly reacted to my grief and got in touch with a friend of hers who was thinking of placing her retired show dog with a "pet family". Three weeks later, in September of 1998, Shiloh, a beautiful 5 year old Brittany was on a plane and coming to live with us. Read Shiloh's page to learn the rest of the story!
