I am touched by the deep and lovely friendship between Bud, our new Boston Terrier, and Red, an ll-year-old border collie and therapy dog with failing eyes.

Red is slowing down, and I am more careful with him now, he only works with the sheep for a short time in a limited way.

The two dogs could hardly be different, except for their markings and coloring. Red is  very quiet, so still and calm when he is not working and even when he is.

Bud is a holy terror, racing from one room to the next, hiding our shoes, hyper vigilant, on and off couches like a rabbit, bothering the cats, occasionally marking a chair or dog bowl.

Yet Bud adores Red, he showers him with kisses, and when he can, he curls up next to him. Red loves Bud back in the way of older dogs, he tolerates him completely, he has never snarled or  barked at him the way he did Fate and Gus when they came.

Bud loves to rest with Red, to sleep alongside of him, to curl up with him when he is puzzled, or even frightened. Once or twice, when he scraped a pad, he ran to Red for comfort, and nuzzled with him.

I’ve never seen this sweet and deep a friendship among dogs, one on the outer edge of life, one young and full of himself. They come together. Red accepts Bud completely and silently, and without any overt affection.

But you can see how much they each love the other. Almost had me teary tonight.