I believe all of my dogs are working dogs, and an intrinsic element in their lives is what I might call media whoring. Rose’s work is obvious, – sheep and fiction – Lenore has already sparked three children’s books, Izzy has his own book and Frieda has one children’s book under her belt, and I have absolutely no doubt she will be generating more, if not a full-length horror film. The deal is clear. They get good lives on a farm, I get to write about them. Photos, readings, signings, notecards. That’s the deal. I told Frieda today that she will get to go to a reading this year. That will be a landmark.

This afternoon I saw Maria’s fun dog fabric – soon to be handbags, maybe potholders also – and I put the border collies to the side, and said “let’s go to work girls,” to Lenore and Frieda. Usually when I take a photo like this I put four or five small biscuits on top of my head (you really need the right hat). Lenore who is viscerally bribable, stares lovingly at the biscuit. Frieda has a bit more integrity and you have to explain what you are doing. “This is for Maria, sweetie. Let’s see those big brown eyes.” A year ago if I had tried this with Frieda, I would be typing with one arm. But Frieda and I are tight now, and she gets the photoshoot thing along with the rest of my dogs And she is happy to market for Maria. Maria will be annoyed that I got this fabric up on my site before she got it on hers, but hey, I was home most of the day in a snowstorm. The dog fabric will be up on her site tomorrow.