June 9, 2013,
Dear Karen, it has been about a year since I came to live with Jon and Maria at his farm, and I think of you often. I hope this finds you well. I wanted to write you and tell you how I am doing. Sorry it has taken me so long, but I am busy here taking care of the sheep, the farm, the county, meeting new friends and keeping an eye on Jon, who has a lot of energy and will run all over the place looking for work and things to do. Training Jon has been a challenge for me – much tougher than herding sheep – but I think he has great potential, he requires great patience and thoughtfulness and I am even thinking of bringing him back into therapy work if I can get him to focus a bit more. A lot more.
Maria is a lot calmer, I think she comes from good and solid stock and is a pleasure to work with. She is very open and steady and patient with me, even when I can’t figure out how to walk on the smooth surfaces they have.
Learning to live in a house was a challenge. Jon wanted me to eliminate outside for some reason, so I do. It took me months to figure out stairs, and I am still wary of them. And those linoleum floors – I hate them, no traction.
I get on very well with the other dogs here. Lenore is a love bucket and it took Frieda awhile – she was eager to eat me at first, but I just worked with her and was patient and once she figured out I was going to live here, she just settled down. Lenore is a working dog, her job is to love everybody and everything. Frieda guards all of us and keeps the trucks moving away from the house. In cold weather, I can curl up next to either one of them to be warm. The donkeys tried to kill me at first, but I was patient and professional with them, as you taught me, and we worked things out. Simon and I are becoming pals. I met this great pony who couldn’t see, and I loved caring for him, but he went away a few months ago. Sometimes I look for him, I guided him through the pastures. I miss him, but I’m with Jon: life goes on, and on, and you can’t stop for it. Death and life are twins.
As for the other animals, the chickens, barn cats, I just ignore them. They don’t really exist much for me.
It was hard leaving you last year, getting into that car and driving away. I love you and you were so good to me. I was very confused and anxious, but you were right, once Jon took me to the sheep pasture, the world seemed to work again. We are joined at the hip, hard to find the right human.
Thanks for all of the work you did for me, my life with you, and now Jon and Maria. Ireland seems a long way off, a different life. I know you know what happened there, and I thank you for caring so much about me and your other dogs. You are a special human, a spirit human, an angel well known to us dogs. I know Jon isn’t much into the Rainbow Bridge thing – he sometimes pretends he is tough, he is just a squish – but if there is another side, and we are all on it, we will all remember you and see you there and toast your life.
I am very busy, so much to do, and I want to do all of it well. Life is a serious business for us working dogs, as you know. I work with sheep every day, usually twice a day, and this is very cool. I am training Jon to take me to the sheep every time I look at him earnest and wag my tail. This often works, if I can get his attention. Jon is a little hyper and we need to work on his distraction. Too many things going on inside of his head. He needs to be given work every day or he will find work. People like Jon have to have a job or they get wacky. Even with a job, he can be a little odd. I work in the bookstore every Saturday as a bookstore dog, making people feel easy, getting them to buy books for Connie, she is neat.
Jon has different work he does, which isn’t great for his working with sheep. He needs to move more out there in the pasture. He likes to stand around and and give orders, but his rear end has to get going. He is always dragging that huge camera around, or taking me in the car to do chores, or rushing around the farm, or sitting at this big screen and clacking away with his fingers. I can’t really imagine what he is doing or why he isn’t working with the sheep all day, every day. He is complex, hard to get a grip on sometimes. As you predicted, we bonded right away and when he goes to the door, I just come. I know we are going somewhere together and I have to be honest, I have a lot of girlfriends now – Kyle at the hardware store (baked biscuits at the cash register), Corinna and Alliyah at the Round House Cafe (organic treats in the back), Connie, Kate and Marilyn at Battenkill Books, Melissa at the farm stand, Glenn (a man) at the doctor’s office, the list goes on and on. I like women, Karen, I supposed it is my Irish heritage and they like me. Cuddling with girlfriends is the best thing in the world if sheep are busy or not around. I just look them in the eye, and they seem to melt.
But there is serious work to do. I need to get Jon to the next level in his training. He is calmer than before, he sometimes likes to sit quietly in the garden or in his big living room reading chair. I always lie down next to him in case we need to work the sheep or do something else and he takes me shopping, well, he takes me everywhere. I worry about him, he is often fussing about his writing or photos, wondering if he is over, trying to figure out publishing, technology, life. If he doesn’t write something he thinks is good every day or take a good photo, he can be impossible to be around. I am learning from Maria, she handles him very well, keeps an eye on him and tells him what to do without ever seeming to give an order. I see her roll her eyes at him sometimes, and smile. Jon loves here and is happy around her, and I think he loves me as well. Maria, she is very sweet and gentle. There is little arguing in the house, Jon generally does what he is told.
When I came, I smelled a lot of fear in Jon, his mind was racing, he seemed very anxious. I’ve worked with him every day, and much of the fear is gone. I sleep in a crate near his bed, but he leaves the door open now and often in the night, I come and lie by the side of his bed to keep an eye on him. He is much more at lease. I’ll keep at it. Hard to be steady without a good dog at your side.
I am working on some calming training with Jon, humans seem to know how to do everything but nothing and Jon is like a bumblebee, buzzing around. He is getting more and more obedient, though, working with the sheep more, taking more walks. I lie under his chair in his office – he is not as neat as you, Karen, we are working on it, so much training to do, little time.
You were right when you said I needed more than sheep in my life, more than farm work, I love working sheep but I am loving the new things in my life as well. Jon loves to have a dog around him, often Lenore comes with us, sometimes Frieda. I am never alone, only rarely in a crate. Jon talks to me all of the time, and I am beginning to make some sense of him. He even reads things aloud to me for feedback. He’s pretty good, his writing sometimes needs focus. We visit a lot of people, and they seem to really like me. I like them. In Ireland, I didn’t know people would like me so much, I sense their emotions, connect with them. My herding skills are sharp, there are five Border Leicesters here, and I have to tell you about one of them, Zelda, she is some sheep. I call her the White Marauder. She knocked me over and butted me many times, knocked Jon many times and led a breakout through the fence and up the road. I got after her and brought them all back. That will not happen again. She is a tough and smart sheep, but I am tougher, faster and smarter. I don’t mean to be arrogant, but she is, after all, a sheep, not a border collie.
Things are under control now. I am working on slowing Jon down a bit, keeping him focused. I’ve got him to speak more clearly, give fewer commands in a more distinct voice. He has a lousy “up” voice, but he has been around border collies and sheep a long time now and while he has a lot more to learn, he is coming along.
My life here is very good, Karen, and I am very busy and very happy. I love being loved by Jon and Maria and so many other people. I know I was loved by you, and I will never forget your generosity and great heart and selfless nature. You are a rare human. I hope to see you again. You will always be in my heart, you are the first human being I loved. And don’t worry, I will get things in order here, it might take me awhile but working with Jon has taught me to be a better dog. More patient, less frustrated, less uptight, less anger. I often say the only way to have a better human is to be a better dog.
Life is a great mystery, a crisis, a joy. I am grateful for every day. Jon often says how grateful he is that you sensed I was the dog for him, it was a miracle, he said. No big deal, I think, it’s just a man and a dog.
All Love, your faithful dog, Red.