e5e9 American Hunter - A Stubborn Old Golden  A Stubborn Old
Golden  Yesterday was a sad day for the Skipper family—Chelsea,
our 12-year-old Golden Retriever, finally had to be put down.
She wasn't the first gundog that we had to lay to rest, and
unfortunately she won't be the last. But she was something
special. From the start, she seemed like she was meant to be
with my family—as we came to find out, she'd even coincidentally
been born on my mom's birthday, Oct. 17.  Chelsea was a bit
different for a golden, to be sure—she had a mean streak that
made it impossible for another dog to be in the field while she
was hunting. Every now and then a new hunting buddy would scoff
and bring their gundog along anyway. That would always be a one-
time occurrence. No matter where you were, it was Chelsea's
field and they were her birds.  She had that fire from day
one—no more than 20 minutes after my dad brought her through the
door as a pup, she climbed up on the couch, sat down and bared
her puppy teeth at our 6-year-