I told Red to get the sheep away from the pony, who was getting annoyed by them pressing in on  him. I said, “hey, Red, get the sheep away from Chloe,” hardly the whistles and short commands of the herding dogs on TV.

I didn’t realize until later that Red, who did move the sheep away from Chloe, had no command like “get the sheep away from the pony,” he simply grasps what I mean. This is happening more and more, even with Fate.

Dogs, like other animals, can pick up our meaning and strong some words together.