Sometimes to try to communicate with animals, sometimes we see animals communicating with one another. We have human words and language, they don’t, but it you listen and watch, you can often see the ways in which they talk to each other. Here, Minnie, who recently had her leg amputated after an animal attack, is only comfortable sitting out in the open if Red, the border collie, is close and present. In his stance and focus on other things, Red is telling me he has no problem with her being close, he is not uncomfortable around her, and is steadfastly looking away from her.

Minnie reads dogs like a psychic reads minds, she will not sit close to Frieda, our Rottweiler-Shepherd mix, outside, nor will she get too close to Lenore, who is large and moves around a lot. Red knows how to be still, she can orient herself around that. I don’t know if she feels protection from Red, or safety in his presence. I doubt he would fight to protect her, border collies seem to know they are not fighters, they can only push sheep and geese around.

The wondrous and challenging thing about observing animals talking to one another is that it is so often indirect, without the visual or verbal cues that humans use. Animals talk via their bodies, their body language, their proximity to one another, the sounds they make and signals they send, most of which are invisible to humans.