Red and I have been working together for a long time, for years we have started every morning out with the sheep on the farm. I realized I don’t have a picture of us working, Maria took this photo this morning, and I was grateful to have it.

Red  can’t run much, but he loves to sit up on the hill now and watch the sheep as they gather by the gate and wait for me or Maria to let them into the pasture.

I sometimes stand with Red, the two of us, man and dog, doing what men and women and dogs have done for thousands of years.

Red is an  iconic dog, he stands for the service dogs have done to human beings throughout almost all of recorded history. They come to guide us through life, to offer love and solace in an unpredictable and sometime hostile world.

Our love for one another is unspoken, a language without words, words are not necessary. We talk to each other all the time.

It is a gift and an honor for me to stand alongside of him, in this work and in the other work we do together. He has made me a better human being in every way.