There is no better way to bond with a border collie than to go and herd some sheep with him. An hour after Red arrived, we walked over to the meadow. He balked the first few times – just wasn’t sure of me, and I could see he was anxious. I started moving around, got to the other side of the sheep, and he clicked – after a few calls to Karen Thompson.

He is an amazing worker, wide sweeping outruns, confident with the sheep close-up yet moving with a lot of clarity and authority. The sheep had never worked with a dog before, but it didn’t take Red long to get them moving. He was butted two or three times, and responded with an appropriate nip on the nose.

He is a very different dog than Rose. I’ll write more about that later, once I think about it more.

Tomorrow Darryl Kuehne is coming to pick up some sheep and we will need Red. I think he will do well. More photos on Facebook.