I was watching the Westminster show on TV right after my dog Kippy had passed on.  The working group paraded into the ring and what caught my eye - a  BERNER.  He was gorgeous and he won the group that day.  I began researching the breed and found it could be the right one for me.  I found the breeder of that dog that won the group, Penny Parliman in Goshen NY.  I contacted her and went up to her place for a visit.  She sat me in a chair in her yard, opened the kennels and I was instantly covered  by Berners.  They were wonderful, beautiful and everything I wanted in a dog.  Later she told me that her dogs liked me so she would certainly sell me a puppy.

Chelsea came to me when her new owners backed out of purchasing her.  Penny offered her to me and I jumped at the chance to get her into my life.  She was an adorable puppy, beautiful and so playful.  She got along great with my cousin's Weimaraner and every other dog she met.  Travis the Pap was my second dog and they were truly the best of friends, they played together and even slept together, he curled up next to her.

She was my first obedience dog, three friends took our dogs to an obedience school on Long Island.  Chelsea was very quick at picking up exercises and fun to work with.  After seeing a demo at the school of the AKC obedience classes, our interest in doing competition with the dogs was whetted. 

Chelsea was a wonderful heeling dog, she was attentive and for a large dog quick in her responses to my commands.  We went to a number of Berner specialties in obedience and even to the Gaines Eastern Regional in Novice.  We had a great time at Gaines.

Chelsea was unfortunately plagued by physical problems through her life, had surgery for FCP in one of her front elbows, which stopped her from ever going past novice  Open and jumping were out of the question.  She had surgeries for removal of mast cell tumors, but throughout it all was always the same sunny Chelsea.

She finally succumbed to lymphoma.  She was and will always be sorely missed by me, she was a wonderful dog and a great companion.

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