The ethics of working animals are sometimes fuzzy, at all times complex. Red is going on 10 years of age, he has worked every day of his life, in Northern Ireland, Virginia and both Bedlam Farms. He has recently experienced continuing issues with his spine and with arthritis in his legs.
You wouldn’t know it to see him working, but you would know it if you saw him getting up in the house afterwards.
Border collies are notorious stoics, and he is doing his work fluidly and very well. But his medical program is now about maintenance, not cures – anti-inflammatory medication, laser treatments and massage, perhaps acupuncture down the road. Hey may need some or all of these treatments for the rest of his life.
I believe it is getting close to the time I have to consider retiring Red from the grinding, and fast-paced intense work of sheep herding and focusing his work on therapy. I’ve had a number of border collies and all of them begin to struggle at this age if they work every day.
This is the age when hard-running border collies often begin to decline, and I want to be careful to preserve his health for therapy work and a life of love and leisure. Retirement for a border collies does not mean no work, it can mean light work. Red loves to sit in the pasture and be with the sheep, he can do that forever.
He may be able to work for some time, but seeing how stiffly he moves after work, I am starting to believe I need to start planning for the sake of the farm, and of Red. Another injury or worsening arthritis and I will have to stop him from working for awhile, if not for good.
So what are the implications of that? It means a new dog down the road, a border collie most likely.
Fate is a wonderful creature, she will be with us for years, but she can’t herd the sheep and they pay no attention to her. So that means thinking about another dog in a year or so. I think Red will be strong for that long, but I’m not sure. We’ll just have to see.
So. I will call Karen Thompson (Red and Fate’s wonderful breeder) shortly and talk this over with her. She has the best ideas and instincts of any dog person I know.
I have no doubt Red could work for several years if I wanted to push it, but I don’t. In recent months, he barely moves when he isn’t working, he is happy to be around me or in the car with me all day. He does not rush to the pasture, or linger outside. He sometimes moves slowly and stiffly. He is content to be still inside for long periods. He does not rush to the door to get out to the sheep.
When I write about something, that usually means it will happen one day. I like to think this will be in awhile, not soon. I have never had an easier or more responsive working dog than Red, he runs the farm with great efficiently. He is the only dog our herder permits to be inside the shearing pen.
I believe in working dogs, I believe dogs should fulfill their destiny. But it is the responsibility of the human to decide when a dog like Red should begin easing out of hard work, for the preservation of his future.
Red is a beautiful and healthy dog, I wish to keep him that way. I lost Izzy and Rose fairly young, I wish to adopt a different philosophy and a preventative medical approach for Red. I’m sure his body has taken a beating over the course of his life. I don’t wish to keep him working as a gift to him, I want to ease back on his working so he will be with us a long time and do his therapy work and be a source of joy and comfort to countless people.
And of course, to me.
It is very difficult to separate what people need from what dogs need, and I am working hard at it. I need to start thinking about getting a working dog for the farm. An older dog, I think, with some experience, we have enough going on without another puppy. The dog will have to be competent and of good temperament, I never want a dog that will hurt people or other animals.
And he or she has to be of especially good disposition, for my dogs meet a lot of people and go a lot of places, and they are likely to have two dogs hanging around with them, Red sitting and watching, and Fate running in ever wise and beautiful sweeps around the sheep.
My ethical duty to my dogs demands that I speak for them, not that I put my thoughts and words into their heads Red loves work, he is still keen to do it, but my own instincts tell me he needs to retire from the hard running and herding sooner rather than later. I’ll keep you posted.
