We spent much of the morning at the Mansion Assisted Care facility in Cambridge, N.Y., Red showed again how comfortable and effective and loving he is as a therapy dog, this is as much his calling, his work, as herding sheep. He made a lot of friends. Six of the residents are coming to the farm in late September to see Red work and meet the donkeys.

Red was wonderful, he approached the residents carefully, allowed himself to be petted, pulled, hugged and sung to.

Almost all of the residents once had dogs, many cried while remembering them. They never seemed to tire of holding, patting him, looking into his eyes, he never seemed to tire of it either.  It was touching to see how much our visit meant, how much they wanted to touch them, how easily he made them smile.

Everyone happily gave permission to be photographed, I will try to print these photos out or put them on discs so they can remember them. We sat on the porch, visited private rooms, walked the hallways. “Don’t ever go,” one woman said, sitting with Red in the quiet of her room.

Red made some sad, then happy he seemed to bring back a flood of memories and feelings everywhere he went. I met some sweet and loving people, living on the edge of the world, out of sight. The rooms were clean and comfortable, the staff empathetic and present.

This is wonderful work for Red – and for me – to be doing,  I took names, asked questions, got comfortable. I love hearing their stories, what they did, where they lived, when they came into assisted care.

It took  Red just a few minutes to figure things out,  to approach a resident patiently and affectionately.  And tune into them. Red has a long attention span if people want it, he will move away quickly if they don’t.

Some grabbed at him, tried to force him to shake,tugged  his ears, but I don’t have to worry about Red. He can handle it. They talked to him, told him their stories. We are going to visit regularly, once on the weekend, once during the week. We’ll see how it goes. I  feel very good about it, the elderly lead curious and complex lives, but even though their bodies are old, their spirits are vibrant, they are sensitive and full of feeling.

It will be fun having them come to the farm.