Red is a therapy dog, and I am often moved and genuinely astonished at his ability to read and understand emotions. His intuitiveness is always in play, and this is why I bring him to my writing classes, people are often anxious and uncertain about sharing their work, Red always moves whoever he feels is in need of him, he senses and smells emotion through voice and smell. Here, on Saturday, he went to the seat of Ed Gulley, a dairy farmer coming to the format of a writing class for the first time, and Red was right there, reading him, settling him, as Ed talked about his work, his hands moved back and forth on Red’s head.

If people are not aware of it, they might not see that Red almost always manages to position himself so that he can see me, and he exchanges emotions and information with me, as he is here. Here, Ed is talking about his difficult, sometimes unintentionally cruel father, and I’m sure it was difficult for him to relate this, it is part of his writing, and here Red is telling me that he has chosen Ed and is working with him, he is looking to me for approval, he is trained not to approach people without their voiced permission or mine, and I met Red’s eyes and nodded and he stayed there.

This photograph captured the emotion of the therapy dog for me, it is beautiful work for a human to do with a dog, and for anyone to do with Red.