“He” had been having some “man” problems and I knew his age
was creeping up and it was something that Elaine and I had discussed several
times but I always lost, but this time it was different, Elaine knew it could
affect his health and we wanted him to live for as long as he could. This past Wednesday, Clancy was neutered…
This has affected me in many ways, one, time flies and it seems
like it was only last week we brought home a little 7 week old puppy named
Clancy and second, he has brought many offspring’s to people all over the USA,
from California to Florida and everywhere in-between there is a little Clancy’s
running and fetching that he can be proud of and me too of course and of course it will never happen. "When we do expect pups" they ask and generally ask
people to come for a visit and check out the dogs and to meet the parents, even
before the pups are born. Every time someone
comes over, Clancy will get on the couch with them and like clockwork fall
asleep in their lap or on their shoulder they always ask if take can take Clancy home and
I always explain “he is home”…
Tuesday night was business as usually, he slept inside with us, making
the family whole…you see, he is always with us and this night was no different,
but Wednesday morning, we headed off to Louisville to see my good friend and my
old boss at the animal hospital where I worked before for this surgery. It’s a fairly simple operation and I've been
through 100’s of them when I worked there but this time was a little different
because it was my Clancy. I had made
arrangements with the office to take him right in with no waiting and when we
arrived, we only had about 10 minutes until the surgery, so took him to the inside kennel and shut the
gate until it was time and as I walked away, he unlatched the door with his
nose as he usually does and walked out. I walked back and put the latch on and walked away
again and when I turned and looked again, low
and behold, Clancy was standing on his back feet with his front feet against the gate, something I
have never seen, except this day, you see Clancy is not a jumper, he is a
climber and he was up, wanting to be with me.
In just a few minutes, we were ready and I went and got him and as he
went to asleep, I held his head as I do with all of them until he was
under. The surgery was a piece of cake
and I “assisted again”, just like the old days and he came out of it with
flying colors as I knew he would. I tucked
him back in the kennel and covered him up and I went to lunch. My son came over for the surgery and to wish
Clancy the best of luck and after lunch, we
went back to the animal hospital and Clancy was standing up on his feet and ready to go
home, he had had enough of this place and wanted his domain back, something
that will soon pass to Doc and he will willingly give up because of the
surgery. If there is anything that I
hate about this is Clancy was “Clancy” and there will be only be one. He was proud and strong and ruled with wit and
determination. You see in the animal
world, it is different and Clancy will change and the younger will step up and
take their place and Doc will, in time.
Clancy was the first male dog I have ever had and if I only knew, I would
only have males. I love my girls, but on
old farmer once told me that “Girl dogs love you, but male dogs are IN love
with you” and this is true. Clancy was
always my companion, lover and worker.
I am an advocate of having your dogs spayed or neutered
unless you breed because of unwanted pups and health problems down the
road. All dogs should be “fixed” before
they go into their first heat cycle or 6 months for a male.
Hopefully Clancy will be with us for many more years, but
the sad part…there will never be another “Clancy” pup. If you have one, consider yourself lucky and
if they turn out anything like Clancy, consider yourself privileged, I know I
am, because I do have one, Abbie is from Clancy and Molly because she was rehomed to us.
Life will not change around the farm and things will go on
as usual, but as the clock winds down, so will Clancy.
He will always be proud but this door has
shut and a new door is getting ready to open because Clancy is getting trained
to be a therapy dog along with Dutchess and they will work together making
people and kids happy in way I would have never of thought of and I’m sure he will crawl
in their lap and go to sleep and dream happily ever after…
