It was raining and I didn’t bring my camera. Red and I went out to lock the chickens in the barn and check on the water for the old sheep. Almost all of them had gone way up to the top of the far meadow, out of sight in the tall grass. Red had a look about him that reminded me of Rose trying to tell me something. He was in a  crouch, but looking away from where the sheep seemed to be grazing. I kept sending him to the sheep, but he kept turning the other way.

He and I climbed up the pasture – steep there – and almost at the top I saw him freeze and put his head down in the grass. As I got closer, I saw it was one of the old sheep, looking in shock, lying on her side. Red came up and nosed her and looked back and me. He got at one end and I got at the other and I pulled her up onto her feet. Red behind her, we walked her back down the pasture and under the shed – she was walking slowly but well –  where she is resting with the others. I think she just went too far and collapsed.

It was a fluke that I was out and there and I am glad I learned the lesson Rose was always teaching me. When a border collie tells you something, listen. Good work, Red. His first save.