AXL

I would like to talk about Axl, a border collie. He was my friend. More than that, he was caretaker. He used to recognize my sleep apnea was getting too bad. He would bark until I woke. As a couple of bachelors, for many years we grew to rely on one another’s presence. I would calm him through the thunderstorms and distant gun shots. He would be the happiest thing to greet me after a trying day at work.

We worked out a system over time that gave us both freedoms to be ourselves, albeit at the appropriate time. While at home, he would maintain a perfect discipline, always confine himself to the boundaries of our yard, never leaving unless invited to. Once outside our yard and clear of the neighbors, I would give him free lead to prowl, and this is his game! True to form, he would never leave the yard without permission, he never left the woods without me. Sometimes waiting at the woods edge for the old slow guy to catch up.

He was a true border collie in every sense. A protector of his flock guiding them and ensuring their safety. I watch as time and time again he turned my grandchildren away from the corn fields or the road. Not with any ferocity, but only the persistence that a border collie can muster and more patience than I.

If you think you saved a stray, you did not. You have prevented a good boy from returning home. If you invited him for a ride because he was magnificent specimen and he obliged you, it’s because he has no guile, no mistrust of you. Why should he? For six years he has been treated with an reciprocated love and respect. If you think any border collie pups will go unnoticed, you are sorely mistaken.

Please, anonymously, return him to a Bandera County official or bury him deep, because I will never stop looking for him

- Rob Landsrud