Red has been living with me for about 18 months, and I  really know very little about  him other than that he was raised on a farm in Northern Ireland, trained as a farm and trial dog, cared for by a border collie breeder in Northern Virginia, and re-homed to me. As far as I know, he had not lived in a house before coming to the farm, was not housebroken when he arrived or neutered, and had been severely beaten at some point or points in his life.

Dr. Karen Thompson, who gave Red to me, does not speak ill of anyone, I don’t know if I’ll every know more than that. I know that all dogs, even sweet dogs like Red, are animals, they are not people, any dog is capable of harming people or dogs under the right circumstances, and no one can say with absolutely certainty that it is 100 per cent safe for a small child to hug and grab a dog, step on his tail by accident or pull him from behind.

Of all the dogs I have known, Lenore has the most trustworthy temperament, I do not believe she would harm someone who was biting on her tail. She has had up to a score of small children climbing on her at once, and her tail never stopped wagging.

Red is another matter, he is a border collie, a breed known to be intense and high-strung, he is bred to grip and nip at sheep who are running from him or challenging him, he reacts sharply to many noises and outside stimulus – he barks and grows at videos, is rattled by TV noises, thunder and engine sounds. I have taken him almost everywhere I go, and he is unfailingly affectionate, patient and trustworthy. He loves the Battenkill Books store and has taken it upon himself to greet every browser or shopper there, today a woman came into the store with her daughter Madeleine, she is just learning to walk.

Madeleine loved Red, she followed him all over the store, her mother things she is bound to be a vet. She stepped on Red, pulled his tail, walked on his tail, grabbed him from the rear, pulled on him. Her mother was  very pleased at Madeleine’s affection for Red and encouraged it, yet I became uneasy watching. I called him back to me. He seemed uneasy to me, enduring the attention rather than enjoying it.

How much can I trust Red? I don’t know his genetics or his litter experience, his early behavioral influences,  border collies react sharply to movement and surprises, often by nipping, that’s how they control sheep. Red has never snarled at, growled at or bitten anyone, he has been in countless stores, offices – the hardware store, the bookstore, the vegetable stand – and has never spooked or shown even the smallest signs of aggression. In or therapy work (our latest work is simply too difficult for me to write about right now, I will get to it) he has been screamed at, pulled, prodded, hit by wheelchairs, he has been 100 per cent solid and grounded.

But many parents are eager for their children to love animals and I notice many are not instinctively cautious around them with their kids. I have questions here, but no answers, it is complex, perhaps unknowable.

Still, it is my job to make sure there is not a first time, you can’t expect a small child to understand the boundaries of a dog’s tolerance. It was lovely to see the two of them, I love the photo, but while I trust Red as much or more than any dog I have known, I think I ought  not ever totally trust a dog I did not raise around small and active children. I am not sure how much to trust a dog. I remember Red at our Open Houses meeting hundreds of people, including children, many of whom grabbed him, banged into him, pulled on him, he accepted all of it.

But I don’t ever want to see someone like Madeleine nipped or frightened, it happened with Orson, who bit a child on the neck, it will not happen again to a dog of mine. I don’t wish to be a prisoner of my past experiences, yet it is important for me to remember that however much people love him, Red is an animal, and animals are never completely predictable to human beings. The complex part is that I do trust Red, very nearly absolutely, a conflict between the heart and the mind – what I know and what I feel.

Be safe,  I tell myself, be safe.