March 17, 1990 to April 30, 2002

In September 2002, Paige Reder sent us a tribute to her special guy, Clancy.

I was so excited driving that Saturday morning in April 1990 to Ramona, California to pick out my new puppy. It was very easy . . . all those little bundles running around but our eyes met and he said “I’m the one,” and I said, “I know, let’s go home.”

Clancy was a beautiful proud gentleman who loved playing ball and swimming in the ocean. He was born on St. Patrick’s Day in 1990, on my husband’s 47th birthday. People use to tease me because I took a year off work to “have” him. When Clancy was just 14 months old it was discovered that he had hip dysplasia in both hips. We had a pelvic osteotomy done on both hips and he went on to have wonderful pain free years with lots of exercise. Every day we went for long walks and he slept under my desk in my home office. At night, he would come for a head rub before settling down at the side of my bed. “Sweet Dreams Clancy” are the words he waited for every night.

Clancy had a special buddy, Cinco the cat. Clancy would carry Cinco by the neck up and down the hall. Cinco was abandoned by his mother when he was born. He thought Clancy was his mother. We had to prepare people who visited our home that they may see a dog carrying the cat around by the neck. Quite a sight.

On the 14th of January 2003, I noticed that when Clancy was eating from his food bowl, he would not bear full weight on his right rear paw. An x-ray indicated a “suspicious” area on his right leg. The bone scan and biopsy confirmed osteosarcoma. What followed was five weeks of consultations with experts from California to Colorado in an attempt to save the leg. It was not meant to be. On the 27th of February 2003, Clancy had his right leg amputated. He then had a happy two months. We got him fitted with a K9 cart and he was able to get around with some assistance.

In April Clancy started to get tired and stopped eating. X-rays revealed a splenic tumor. Throughout this last month, when I knew his cure was not meant to be, I started praying that he would have a happy death and just fall asleep one night and cross over the bridge.

It happened just that way. A precious Golden heart stopped beating at 10:03pm (PST) on Tuesday, April 30, 2003. Clancy was just 12 years, 1 month, and 13 days young. In addition to my husband Ed and I, also present in the room were our other Golden babies, Riley and Casey, and his pal, Cinco the cat.

Cinco stopped eating the next day. Despite all attempts to encourage Cinco to eat and many trips to the hospital nothing worked. His heart was broken. Cinco died five weeks later on June 7, 2003.

Here is the card that Paige and her husband Ed sent out after Clancy died.