My hour in the Studio Barn stacking firewood turned, as these things do, into a portrait session. Rose is  the most difficult of my dogs to photograph. She is always moving, never looks directly into the camera, except by accident and she is sensitive to every movement and sound, so her head is always moving. I am thinking a lot about Rose these days, as my novel, “Rose In A Storm,” inspired by her but not about her, is coming out in October. The book is dedicated to the “Real Rose,” as seems fitting.

My time with her today was somehow powerful, somehow poignant. Rose is a difficult dog to get to know. She watches me all of the time, and is content to be around me. I realize lately that while she loves to herd sheep, I am her work. Wherever I am, she is there. Sometimes, she seems to go within herself, to a place I can’t imagine or conceive of. Here eyes are always revealing something.