Chelsea was a Yorkshire Terrier and her registered name was Kathy's Little Chelsea Girl (AKC# TC254316). She was born on March 11, 1984. Her dam was Brandi Lindy Lee (AKC# TC138860), and her sire was Lee Shorty (AKC# TC227595). I got Chelsea before I really knew much about researching and finding a quality animal, but Chelsea was quality in my eyes.

She was born in Lakefield, MN, a small town in southwest Minnesota, about an hour from Sioux Falls, SD. I came home with Chelsea in May of 1984. She was a tiny 8/10 lb. bundle of joy. She was so tiny that when she'd walk in a room, she would stay next to the walls because she was nervous to venture out into the "wide open spaces" of the average room.

Chelsea was very insistent and pushy from the start. She decided immediately that she would NOT be relegated to a kennel of any sort. After about 3 sleepless nights, listening to this incredibly small dog scream with a voice that would break glass, I gave in and brought her to bed with me so I could get some sleep! And she slept with me forever after. She hated cages so much, that if I left her at the vet for any reason (teeth cleaning, boarding, etc.), the would practically pay ME to pick her up because she'd scream the whole time she was caged. Most often, I'd get to the vet to pick her up and the one of the techs would be carrying her around. And she would have this incredibly smug look on her face that said "You see, they didn't realize that I am the Queen of the Universe and should never be in a cage! But now they realize the error of their ways and things should be o.k." Chelsea was a tremendously huge personality in an extremely small body. She never had any clue that she weighed 5 lbs. In her own mind, she was the reason the sun came up in the morning - and many days in my life, she was right.

When I brought Chelsea home, she was greeted by an older sister, a black lab, named Snickers. At first Snickers couldn't decide exactly what this little puff-ball was, but she quickly fell madly in love with Chelsea, and Chelsea pretty much took over the house. Snickers would let Chelsea get by with murder - and Chelsea could never understand why she couldn't go duck and pheasant hunting with Snickers. But knowing Chelsea, she'd want to carry the shotgun! It was always so much fun to watch the interaction between the two of them - Snickers worshiped Chelsea and Chelsea certainly took advantage of that fact.

I took Chelsea to Obedience School and she did wonderfully. I was going to go farther with her, but life has a way of getting in the way. We ended up moving to Minneapolis. We rented for a few months, then bought a house. About 2 years later, Chelsea and I moved out on our own. Snickers went to live with my mother. Chelsea and I did fine living with our friend Amy. Chelsea even gained some weight because Amy's partner, Dale, was a sucker for Chelsea's "Starving Biafran Terrier" routine and he would feed her anything she asked for. I think at one point she was pushing 7.5 lbs!

In 1991, we moved out to Colorado Springs. Chelsea seemed to like it out there until Tara came along! While she never really LOVED Tara or Hayley, they certainly loved her. She was always the Alpha dog and would push them around even though they each outweighed her by 15 lbs!

In late 1995, Chelsea developed a cough. After a few weeks, I took her in to the vet. After some time, we finally discovered she had gallstones which where blocking her bile ducts of her liver. In late 1996, I took her to the University of Minnesota Veterinary Teaching Hospital. There they did surgery on her gall stones. I knew she was feeling better when I called and found out from the Vet Techs and Students that they all took turns carrying her around after her surgery to keep her from screaming and possibly tearing her stitches!! That's my girl! No cages for her! I just laughed and told them they weren't the first she'd had wrapped around that little paw of hers!

Chelsea had a few good months, but by spring, I knew things were turning for the worse. She and I talked, and I could see she was in the early stages of liver failure. I asked her if she was ready to quit fighting, and she told me yes. On Friday, May 23, 1997, her vet, Dr. Hofmeister came to our house and helped Chelsea to cross the Rainbow Bridge.

There has never been, and never will be, another Chelsea. She was a one of a kind dog. She was with me through some of the worst times in my life and she kept me going. Her unwavering love and faith in me made me feel like I was really a person that would make it through and come out on top. And I tried my best to live up to the faith she placed in me. I have always felt the greatest gift I was able to give her after giving her my heart, was to save her from the suffering at the end of her life. She deserved to go out as she lived - brave, feeling safe with her family, looking into my eyes as the light went out in hers. And with her went a big part of my heart - a part that will always be hers and only hers.