Red and I were leaving the Battenkill Bookstore yesterday when I saw Red’s ears go up, and his tail start to swirl. He looked at me, and I released him. He had spotted Deb Foster, our farm and petsitter and he went tearing across the Hubbard Hall lawn and into Deb’s arms, it was as demonstrative as I have ever seen this affectionate but usually quite reserved border collie. Deb was pretty excited too. He was whining and squirming around, it is actually quite nice to see a petsitter so loved, makes us even easier about going away. These two definitely have a powerful connection, Deb says she and Red stayed up all night to watch the dog shows on cable TV.

Deb does a lot of things – marketing, waitressing, pet and housesitting – but her passion is clearly animals, she loves ours as much as we do, sometimes more. I’d love to write a book about petsitters one day, it is a particularly interesting sub-culture that I think attracts individuals who love nurturing and take responsibility.

She said Red loved ever second of it. His other life.