As time went by I was spending more and more time alone. I was getting pretty lonely and my only real entertainment was my golf ball collection. When I was about seven months old some strangers came to the house and took me away. I remember that day because it was the last time anybody ever put me into a tiny travel crate. The people I was living with at the time showed the strangers the tiny cage they kept me in and one of the strangers who I learned later was Mama, told them it was unacceptable for a dog my size and that I needed a much larger crate. The strangers took me away from that family and left the little crate behind.

We rode in a car for a long time together and I wasn’t really sure what was going on or where we were going. I guess you might say this was my first adventure. I was suspicious of these people but I wasn’t scared. They were pretty nice: playing with me and fussing over me as we rode along in the car. During the ride I came to learn that two of these people were going to be part of my new family; Mama and Papa is what I call them today. After a while of riding along I fell asleep. Later I awoke to the road getting a little rougher and the car making swooping turns and going up and down hills.

Finally the car stopped in front of a big red house and out from the house came all these strange looking dogs, there was the big hairy guy named Sandy and two guys about the same size as me named Chaffy and Rebel and another little guy with a long tail trailing behind named Gizmo. A couple dozen people of all shapes and sizes followed behind the dogs.

After the traditional K-9 butt sniffing festival, the other dogs and I had a great time chasing each other around the house, inside and out. Most of the time I was the one being chased. The big hairy guy Sandy was a lot of fun. I could run under him and between his legs. He’d pounce up over me then stoop down on the ground and I’d jump over him, he’d roll over on his back and I’d jump on his chest and try to give him a smack on the lips and he slobbered my face with his long tongue. I’ll tell you up to that time in my life Sandy was probably the best playmate I ever had.

After a long time of playing we started settling down in the big room, where everybody was gathered together talking about us dogs. This is when I noticed my big buddy Bubba. All the other dogs were settling down next to their special people and Bubba was sitting on the floor watching me wander around trying to pick out the best place to settle in. I remembered jumping over him when all us dogs were playing earlier and he would laugh and cheer me on. I went over to sit next to him and he started petting my back. He even found that special spot that always tickles when you scratch it. When Bubba laughed, I looked up into his eyes and knew he was going to be a great buddy. Well I was pretty tired from playing with the big hairy guy and all the other dogs so I just laid down there next to Bubba and listened to the conversation in the room as bubba continued to scratch my back.

Later after dinner everyone moved to the long deck that over looks a huge lake at the front of the house. I vaguely remember the subject of names coming up and something about a dog named Molly who chewed on furniture and did a lot of peeing in the house. I know they couldn’t have been talking about me because I’d been too busy playing with the other dogs and following Bubba around to chew on any furniture in this house. And I don’t go to the bathroom inside; that’s a disgusting habit reserved for mongrels. They were mentioning a lot of other names such as Frances Hannah, Theophylis Theodora, Mariah Henrietta and Casey Coon. Then I remember Mama speaking for the first time and saying "Clancy". I liked Mama from the first time I saw her and anything she said had to be important, so as soon as she spoke I sat up and paid attention and though I didn’t know it at the time that’s how I came to be known as Clancy.

Pretty soon it was time for everybody to go to bed. I followed Bubba who probably had the biggest bed in the house. It lay in front of a huge window over looking the front yard and the lake. I was pretty tired from all the activity of the day so I fell right to sleep in the big bed.

Several times during the night I woke up with a strange feeling of loss and not being sure where I was. But each time I awoke the big hairy guy Sandy walked over to the bed and reassured me everything was all right. It turns out Sandy is what they call a Collie which is some kind of working dog. He’s great fun to play with, but as he told me his real purpose in life is to patrol the house at night after everyone goes to sleep and make sure everything is safe. That’s how he new whenever I woke up restless.

Book I, Chapter III

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