Intro: Hey there, my name is Chancey, and I’m going to tell you my story, but first I must caution it’s one of tragic losses, life long friends, the brutal ways of man, learning to trust again. And most importantly, finding out where I truly belong, but enough of that let’s get this started shall we?

It was a bitterly cold night, the night I was born in the dank always of London, England. I was the last pup born to a proud Dalmatian mother; my father had ditched us, go figure. Oh well, there were eight of us little darlings, all healthy and strong, except me, I was the runt, the smallest and weakest pup in my litter, so my brothers and sisters always beat me to the food. It was a rough start to life, Mom cared for all of us as we grew, but my weakness wasn’t going unnoticed by her, and neither was my little oddity, Of course, I was too young to understand how bad it was, but she wasn’t. I had no spots! A Dalmatian without spots is like a zebra without stripes, it doesn’t work! So, thanks to my flaws, I soon found myself alone, whimpering, hungry, and scared, on one of the coldest, stormiest nights of the year.

Even now I’m not sure how I Managed, but I pulled it off, I survived on my own for a few weeks at least, however, I really need to learn to respect my boundaries, wandering the dark streets of new turf, alone, at night, not my smartest move. I was stumbling my way down some rickety back porch steps when BAM! Light washed all over me like noon time. I looked at the man behind the flashlight. He looked old and ugly, and he smelled really, really bad! I was frozen like a deer in the headlights, he easily scooped me up by the scruff and grinned an ugly grin, his teeth (The ones that were there anyway) were yellow and rotting, I shivered as he took me into…I guess it was a house. It was small area with a little wood stove, crates and papers and trash littered the floor and the cupboards looked to be in tragic shape, he flung me into the floor and I landed with a yelp. “Ah, shut up!” he snarled at me, he rummaged around grumbling until he flug something at me, it nailed me square in the head and fell to the floor with a thud. It was a bone, I’d seen better, but who cares? It was food! I tackled it and immediately started gnawing at it hungrily, after a while I was full, well as full as I was used to being, I was actually starting to fall asleep when something pressed itself tightly against my throat, I gagged, my eyes snapping wide open, and looking down at the prickly barbed wire around my neck, it hurt!  I whimpered at the seemingly unending pain in my neck and received a violent kick to the chest for my efforts. I flew backwards and slammed against the wall before landing painfully on the floor, I curled into a ball and whimpered, praying he’d leave me alone, but he didn’t. More violent kicks and hits came, I’d cry out, and he’d hit me harder, by the time sun rose, I found myself in a cramped up little barred cage, licking the blood off of my previously snowy white coat.

          I don’t know how many days or weeks passed, but I was getting older, and the barbed wire was getting much tighter, it was choking me, I had to get it off: more than that, I had to get out. The man, I called him The Grump, was passed out by the stove with a whisky bottle in his hand, drunk again. He’d made drink some of the stuff before, it was awful, I don’t know how he was able to stand it, but I didn’t exactly care either. I carefully edged myself up to the door of my cage and used my claw to remove the hinges, I gently pushed, it open, but not even I knew what happened next would happen. More humans stormed in, dressed in strange uniforms and grabbed The Grump up off the floor, he started to yell and shout and curse as the drug him outside. One human, a young man, noticed me. “Ah, you poor lass” he said and reached out for me, but I didn’t trust him, I bit his hand, hard, and jumped out of the cage. I landed clumsily on the floor, but quickly scrabbled up onto my paws and bolted out of the “house” as fast as my paws would allow.

I was free!, I couldn’t believe it, all those long days of torture were over, but…where would I go now? I didn’t have a family or friends, I was alone. I ran well into the night, reaching a small village just before dawn, my neck was hurting, as well as my paws, head, and well, everything. I trotted down the cobblestone streets and stopped before what seemed to be a barn…or something, it was hard to tell. I wasn’t really sure going in was a good idea, but I was tired, and I wasn’t fond of sleeping out in the open in case The Grump got away and followed me. I cautiously entered and collapsed in the warm hay, falling asleep instantly.

I woke when I felt someone gently nuzzle me, memories of my mother flooded back to me and unconsciously mumbled “Mama?” I heard someone chuckle and looked up into a pair of soft brown eyes belonging to a large black Labrador. I scooted away from him immediately; I had never come across another dog before, let alone a full grown male. He sensed my worry and smiled at me. “There’s no need to worry, I won’t hurt you.” I glared accusingly at him “how can I trust you?” My eyes found the floor “everyone hurts me.”  There was a short awkward silence before he spoke again “I’m so sorry, but you have my word. I Charles the Labrador will bring no trouble to you miss…?” I giggled and answered “Chancey” he chuckled and continued “I will bring no trouble to you Miss Chancey.” He squinted at me a moment “Chancey, what’s that around your neck?” I swallowed “a collar” he stepped closer, inspecting it. “No, child, this is barbed wire, it’s harmful to dogs” he informed me. I frowned and said “well now it makes sense”

“What does?”

“The Grump didn’t like me, he put it on me the night he got me, I’ve worn it ever since.”

Charles looked appalled at this “didn’t like you? You seem like a perfectly alright pup to me.” I nodded “yeah, but I’m not normal, that’s why Mama left me. I don’t have spots, I’m a Dalmatian, I’m supposed to have spots.” Charles gave me a comforting nuzzle. “We’ll have to get it out, it’ll kill you otherwise.” I nodded, accepting this. “I’m going to get a friend of mine, to help, I’ll be right back” and then he left, but true to his word he returned…with a human! I growled at the elderly man, but Charles intervened. “It’s ok, he’s just taking the barbed wire out, then, I’ll take you to a new home alright?” I nodded and the man gently picked me up and lay me across a nearby table. He had some weird things with him, one of them was layed out flat, and it was pink colored (a towel) the other was rolled up and fat and white (bandages) and the last was a strange shaped metal object (pliers). He picked up the strange tool and it’s teeth grasped the wire and pulled it, I squirmed and yelped with pain, he released and stroked my ear. “This is going to hurt, there’s no way to avoid it. I’m sorry.” The tool’s teeth grasped the wire again and pulled it, some of it came out, but I was in so much pain, and it started bleeding. My eyes found Charles and I looked to him for comfort as the pain overwhelmed and more wire broke loose, along with more blood. I whimpered pitifully. “It’s ok” Charles assured “It’ll be alright.” I hoped he was right. I was on fire, my neck throbbed and ached uncontrollably as the man ached. I squirmed and writhed uncontrollably, shaking like a leaf in the wind. It felt like forever. But finally, he put the tool down and started cleaning my wound, and put the white thing tightly around my neck. I was panting heavily and sweating, but actually felt pretty good to have the thing out of my neck.

I stayed with Charles for about a week, I talk for a few days, but that seemed like a small price to pay. I was fine now, but I still didn’t talk much, I’m not much for it. Charles told me about the farm he’d be taking me to, it sounded nice, but at the same time, I didn’t know if anyone there was trustworthy, what if they hurt me, but I guess I’d figure that for myself. Turns out Charles’s owner was going to drive right by the farm when he left to go see his sister this afternoon, so we were just going to hitch a ride with him. Charles talked to me the whole way there, telling me stories and comforting me, all of a sudden he picked me up (gently) and jumped out of the truck. We were ther already? I really didn’t want to leave Charles he was the first kind dog I’d met that hadn’t abandoned me. He walked me up to a barn where two dalmations were waiting, they both wore kind smiles, but looks could be deceiving. Charles gently set me down and spoke to them. “Pongp, Perdi, it’s good to see you again” he greeted. “You as well Charles” the female, Perdi, greeted “Is this the little one we were told about?” she asked giving me a warm smile. “Yes, this is Chancey” Pongo smiled at me as well “welcome to the farm Chancey, I’m sure everyone is going to love you” he said, I flashed a small smile“She’ll be well looked after Charles” Pongo said stepping beside me, Charles smiled. “I knew she would be so long. He turned to leave “wa-ait” I croaked out