Our old dog dies this week

Frank came to us in an interesting way. His owner bought him to use for breeding purposes. He then had to go away for a time, and asked his parents to take care of his pup whiles he was away ~I think he was in Desert Storm~ When he returned home, his parents had done the nice thing and gotten his dog neutered for him! He had been with them for over a year, and they spoiled him rotten. They let him sleep on their living room couch, and fed him T - bone steaks. He was super fat, and neutered, and very spoiled. His owner decided to give him away, so our son Micah wanted him and got him. He was a registered Australian Shepherd, our kind of dog! We had raised them since I was a child. His name was Frank. He was a red almost solid, but he did have some gold markings. He was very beautiful.and very big and very sweet. He was an excellent cow dog. He just loved little things of all sorts.Once he saved a little orphan kitten he found in a haystack down in the meadow. He brought her to the house and kept her between his paws all night until My dh got up to go to work. He then offered the kitten to him, basically asking him to take care of the kitten. He used to feed all the little pups we raised. He would drag his own bowl of food over to their pen and try to get it in their pen so they could eat it. He protected all things little and all things he thought were vulnerable. Like my mother. He used to try to protect her, and help her up the stairs etc. Frank came to us in 1992 when he was 2 years old, and he died last week at the ripe old age of 17. We will miss Frank! He was a good dog.