In ASL, the sign for “forever” is a combination of the signs for “always” and “still.”

Lancelot the yellow lab achieved immortality when he died last year by living on in his owners’ memories.

His immortality was assured in another way when his owners paid a commercial cloning company to produce a puppy with Lancelot’s DNA.

This week, Lancelot Encore came home. The owners remarked on the puppy’s assumption — or should be it resumption? — of authority over the 9 other dogs in the household within hours of his arrival.

To his owners, the lab is a second chance to be with the canine companion they loved and lost six months ago. Now they have Lancelot by their side for several more years.

“Henry also wanted me to tell you that a year is a small slice of eternity…. He said you’d understand later.” – Tony Foster to Mike Celluci, from Tanya Huff’s Blood Pact

But the real question here is whether or not Encore will ultimately live up to his owners’ expectations of the eternal canine companion. They have memories of shared experiences with the original Lancelot after all; in comparison, Encore is a blank slate. Hopefully Encore’s owners will see him as a continuation of Lancelot’s bloodline, if they don’t already, and love him for himself rather than who he was cloned from.

As Queen so aptly put it, who wants to live forever anyway?