Thank you all. I love Mudcat, where else could I get hugs and condolences from people all over the world?

Micca, those pics are lovely. That was a beautiful day, wasn't it?

Clancy was my college graduation present to myself. I was renting a room from some cousins and they said I could get a dog. My cousin Brenda and her little boy Joe drove me to the shelter and we started looking around. I was looking for something shepherdy or terrierish, definitely not a lab or a golden or any sort of mix of either one. My criteria were: male, housebroken, good with kids and neutered. I had a husky/shepherd cross picked out that I liked, but I checked them all out several times. The beagle doing the wall of death around his kennel and barking hysterically was out. So were the two that growled at Joe. It was a lovely spring day (May 13th, 1992, it was a Wednesday) and a lot of the dogs were outside enjoying the weather. There was this one dog, a quiet fellow, who stood there and politely wagged his tail when I stopped and said hello to him. He had a thoughtful crease between his eyes and seemed mildly surprised that I had stopped to talk to him personally. He was this skinny, gawky yellow dog, obviously some sort of retriever mix. I liked him, but I did want that husky/shepherd. I then did one of the smartest things anyone looking for a dog can do: I talked with the shelter manager. I told her what I needed, she told me not to get the husky/shepherd, she didn't think he could be trusted around kids, but she had the perfect dog. She came back out with that skinny, gawky, quiet, polite fellow who'd been outside and said: "I don't know a whole lot about this guy's past, but he's very sweet." I didn't take a whole lot of convincing and named him Clancy right there on the spot. I'd always thought that would be a great name for a dog. He was about 18 months old at the time and had dumped off on the side of the road in Newcastle, Maine. The shelter had had him for over a month and no-one ever came to claim him. Stupid people. I'm glad they didn't realize what they had, because I would have missed out on 15 really great years with a really great dog.