I wrote once that there is such a thing as a “lifetime” dog, a dog that enters your life and changes it in a way that no other dog does. I am lucky in dogs, and I have had occasion to eat that observation. I had a “lifetime” dog in Orson, then Rose, then Izzy, then Lenore and now, Red. The truth is if we are open to it, lifetime dogs will come in and mark the passages of our lives. Still, I have never had a dog quite like Red, never loved a dog in quite the way I love him. We are two peas in a pod, partners in the theater of chance, companions through life. I was struck by Red when I was laid up with Lyme Disease, he sat on the bed with me and never moved for days, unless Maria ordered him outside and when he came in, he skipped his food and rushed upstairs to sit beside me until I got well.
Monday I went into Albany to take an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on dog love, is it a good and healthy thing. It is, of course, sometimes healthy, sometimes not, it is not one thing, but it is a powerful and life-altering thing. Red came with me into Albany – the first city he has ever been near so far as I know – and he walked with me from the parking lot to the NPR studio, sat with me in the green room quietly and then followed me into the studio and lay down by my feet and didn’t move an inch during the interview. Red goes just about everywhere with me, we just get one another. He seems able to enter every space I am in and never disturb it.
We herd sheep every day, which is a great joy to him and me and together, Red has learned how to eliminate outside, navigate linoleum, handle thunder, live in a house. He has many dear and loving friends.
He is a cheerful creature, rushing here and there the way border collies do. He knows how to be still, to do nothing. As I write this, he is lying right beside my chair, not moving an inch. They say that dogs and autistic children think alike, and I see that Red and I think alike, this is without question a lifetime dog for me. I have loved all of my dogs (except one or two) a great deal and in very different ways. Dogs do mark the passages of our lives, and Red has come into my life, courtesy of Karen Thompson, when I need him, as usual more than I realized. Red is on the way to becoming a certified therapy dog, and that will open another chapter in our lives together. The world has a lot of therapy dogs, I am not sure where this will lead us, but when I got to know Red, I knew this was something he needed to do. I am thinking again of hospice therapy work, it was a very powerful experience for me.
Beyond that, Red and I set out together through life every single day. When I sit and meditate, he does too. He lies by my bedside at night waiting for me to get up. He is overjoyed when we work sheep together and that will always be a part of his life. I have no need of herding trials, they have always made me uncomfortable, even as I know how much people enjoy them. Red doesn’t need any ribbons. It is a wonderful gift to love a dog like that, as many of you know, and an even greater gift to share that love.