The Egg: Clancy Mulligan Murtagh

The story of the Man, the big red dog....

Clancy was a Christmas Eve surprise almost 15 years ago for my brothers and me. He was the worst puppy ever until he was about 8 years old. My dad threatened to shoot him a few times and he destroyed every piece of valuable furniture my mom ever bought. He was notorious for humping relentlessly, grabbing scrunchies out of every grade school girl's hair, and barking for hours on end in the middle of the night. Clancy and I didn't speak for a few years. He was that annoying.

When he grew out of his puppy years (a whole 8 years laterish) he would sit around his blue bowl and bark until we filled it up. Never shutting the hell up, we'd continue to fill the bowl, until Clancy reached a hefty 103 lbs. Fattest. Dog. Ever.

My parents moved to Naples, FL when I was in college so my older brother Sean and I drove Clancy across country to his new home, Boulder, CO. I took him to the vet and he informed me that Clancy had a torn ACL for almost a year at that point, due to his obesity. Not like we had any idea, Clancy never told us. My mission: get Clancy to drop 30 lbs. Putting Clancy on an all wet organic dog food plan with absolutely no people food was nearly impossible. Remember, this dog's life revolves around food.

At the end of the summer Clancy weighed in at 70lbs and I'm happy to say has maintained that weight for over 4 years now. I'm 100% positive that is what has kept him alive after all these years (he's over 100 years old in doggie years). After Clancy and I graduated from the University of Colorado, he decided to further his studies at the University of Texas with my little bro Colin. Clancy even joined the UT swim team.

Last year, Clancy relocated to Jackson Hole with me to work in real estate. He comes to work with me everyday and sleeps under my desk until its time to show property. Clancy has been a part of the Murtagh Clan for more than half my life. I love him more than anything else in the world. This spring I decided to get some photos taken of him professionally for my family and they turned out better than I could have expected.

Cheers to Clancy Mulligan Murtagh and his old doggie days!