It is hard for me to write that Red’s time as a working dog is coming. He is slowing down and struggles to get ahead of the sheep. He has arthritis in his back and legs and sometimes moves stiffly. Fate zooms past him running two or three times faster, and I see his confidence and speed and great authority are waning.

Red is a remarkable working dog, he is my shadow and other self in so many ways, but if love is to be selfless it needs to be about someone other than myself, love is not about what I need but what he needs.

I think I need to retire him from hard and fast herding work very soon, in the next couple of months. I will begin scaling back his work immediately. He is getting laser treatments and massage, I don’t want his condition to deteriorate unnecessarily.

That doesn’t mean he can’t come into the pasture or watch the sheep, or do some light work, but it does mean I need to get another  working border collie, and either train one as a puppy or find or purchase one with experience. This morning I sent him off on an outrun and he could not get in front of the sheep for the first time.

I called him, gave him a great hug and he wagged his tail softly. It’s time, I thought.

Red is entering his 10th year, and I wish for him to live a long time, as a therapy dog and companion dog. If I keep working him as he slows, he will not last as long as he should and can. So it is up to me to retire him in the coming weeks from active running and working.

Red accepts direction and change without complaint – unlike his young companion Fate, who shrieks as if she being murdered if anyone goes out the door and towards the pasture without here.

Since she has not evolved into the working dog I expected her to be, I will need to get another, it is soon time to call Dr. Karen Thompson, the finest border collie breeder I have ever encountered and a trusted friend. I got Red and Fate from her, and one can’t do much better than that.

I accept change but I admit to writing this with a heavy heart, working with Red has been one of the joys of my life and I will now begin to pare down the length and breadth of his work. It’s time.

Red is a natural therapy dog and we will continue to work together in that way, and I will share the experience with you. A new chapter in Red’s life.