Chelsea Hunter is a female Springer Spaniel,10 yrs old. Her owner has asked us to keep her name anonymous but she is very proud of her dog. She entered her dog in this competition as she felt she has one of the most unique and special. dogs she has ever owned. The competition deals with overall personality and skills, unlike traditional dog shows.
What makes Chelsea so unique? We called her owner and visited Chelsea to find out. The first obvious trait is that this is a 10 yr old dog, yet she looks no older than 4? Her owner shared what she believes is Chelsea's anti aging secrets " I have always told her since she was 4 that she was a puppy and only 2 year old. She seems to have allowed this information to go into her subconscious and its working! She amazes vets and dog professionals of her youthfulness. Basically, we don’t believe in aging in my household, it's all in your mind. We call it the anti aging zone!! So we plan on Chelsea staying healthy and young for many more years. She also takes a vitamin, gets plenty of exercise and lots of hugs and she adores, well goes crazy for Philadelphia soft pretzels.
Her special skills- Chelsea is a Springer Spaniel- a Hunting Dog, She is supposed to hunt birds and small animals, but the only bird she has caught is when she was 1, a pup - she came in the house quite excited with her catch, and dropped it on the bathroom floor while her owner was getting ready for work. That caused a few screams. However, her owner believes she found it and did not actually hunt that bird. She will dart out of the house if she sees a squirrel or rabbit, or hears ducks, but she never catches anything. She constantly carries a toy in her mouth, we think she believes she caught it!
Key words that get Chelsea excited and barking:
Birds
Squirrels
Rabbits
Ducks
Chipmunks
Dig – if you say this word..she will spring into action and dig a deep hole. If you say. One paw..she will dig with one paw, if you say double paws..she goes back to two.
If she is outside and you say, Guard the house, she comes back in.
Leash- Chelsea never has to be on a leash. She stays on the property. Her owner stated that many people ask her if she has an electric fence, she responds NO!
Yet… Chelsea will growl and bark at any dogs walking by but she never leaves the grounds. She is very protective of her owner.
She has never learned to really go for a walk on a leash. She would walk half a block then stop and want to go home. It took a long time family friend who is a British Horseman to come visit to teach her after 10 yrs how to go for a walk. She is improving.
Toys: Chelsea loves playing with her stuffed dog toys. She carries them in her mouth constantly. She loves to have you toss the toy as far as you can, she will run to get it, however she will not bring it back. She stops halfway and drops it , sits and stares at it. You have to walk over to it, and re – toss it . She will repeat this for an hour.
Evening Hugs: Chelsea is a very affectionate dog with those she loves. When her owner comes home at night from her office the dog expects to get hugged before the owner’s daughter. If the owner tries to hug her daughter first, Chelsea will jump up and push the daughter out of the way to get hugged first. She will keep hugging her owner until the owner tells her she loves her and she looks beautiful. Then she checks bags and briefcases to check for soft pretzels.
Turtle: The owner’s daughter has a pet turtle. Often the owner has to feed the turtle when she returns home from her office, as her daughter may have been busy studying. Chelsea gets very very upset when the owner feeds the turtle. She jumps up on her owners back and then forces her to kneel down and hug her instead. Chelsea won’t look at the turtle, she ignores its existence out of jealousy.
Panic Attacks
To get Chelsea into the car you have to say, “car ride Chelsea”, she will nervously run to the car. The owner has to reassure her that the just going to pick up her daughter, stop by the office or go to the store or get gas. “ I don’t normally bring her with me to get gas, she thinks the gas attendant is evil and growls and snarls at the window. I have to slightly open the window ajar and hand the man the cash, they seem scared of her.”
Her owner stated that Chelsea has a tough time going to the Vet or getting groomed. She shakes and won’t get out of the car. When taking her to the vet her owner who is a petite woman has to carry her in like a baby. This dog weighs 40 plus pds. She then holds on to her owner wrapping her paws around her shoulders. ‘Its always quite a scene” stated the owner.
Special talents:
Chelsea is such a sweet and very polite dog at home. If the owner brings food upstairs for her daughter and friends, and the tray is left on the floor, Chelsea will not grab a bite. She will sit and stare at the tray, often placing one paw on it. But she will not take the food off the tray. She waits for someone to offer it to her.
TV Watching
If the owner and her daughter are watching TV, the dog will stare at them not at the TV. If they laugh at something, she wags her tail. Her favorite action show appears to be “24” with Jack Bauer.
Food:
She tries to eat all day long. She will sit in front of her food tray looking very hungry for different family members. The owner stated, my mom or dad may come by to help with my daughter when I’m at work. The dog may have eaten, but she sits by her bowls and licks her lips. She then gets extra food. We were all unaware that so many of us were feeding her, but I was curious to why the vet said she was a few pounds overweight,. Chelsea was put on a diet.
Food Games
Her favorite game to play is pick which hand has the dog treat in it. However, instead of using her snout, the owner says, “Use your paw to choose.” She will lift up her paw to the correct hand and get the treat. That is amazing talent the owner stated.
Other special traits: Chelsea will sit and cross her paws. Her owner said that always looks very ladylike and she tells Chelsea when she sees he do that… Chelsea that is soo talented!
Junk Yard Dog…when she was 5 and 6 she loved playing junk yard dog. This is when she would pretend to attack you and grab your shirt sleeve, growl and snarl, but she was joking around, however one day a neighbor came to visit and thought it was real. So we stopped playing Junk Yard dog.
Her owner stated that other wonderful traits about Chelsea and why she deserved to win is, “ one winter I got a very bad flu, she lied on my bed with me for 5 days only leaving momentarily to get food and go outside. But then she came right back up. She used to sleep in my room for yrs, but then she moved to my daughter’s room. However when we have a major thunderstorm she runs through hallway and runs in my room to sleep with me. She also knows how to open our home front door from the outside. Which is not good in the winter as we will let her out , go back upstairs, feel a chill, then figured Chelsea let herself back in.
The owner stated she has owned many dogs in her life from a poodle to golden retriever to a cockapoo, But Chelsea is the best dog she ever owned! With Chelsea it’s often scary how much she understands. She is so intelligent, but so sweet even with her neuroses. No matter what happens in my day, I can always count on her unconditional love and a big hug when I come home.
We congratulate Chelsea and know she will continue to be a wonderful dog and family member. This writer wants her anti-aging secrets as well. She truly looks 4 not 10!
