I brought Red to Bedlam Farm today, he came with us to pick some things up. As we were done, he ran down to the pasture gate, and I remembered that this was where we bonded, there were sheep there and the first morning he was with us, I took him out to the pasture and he ran to the gate, and in exactly this pose, he stood looking at me, forgetting his anxiety and confusion, his separation from Karen Thompson, he looked at me in this particular way, as if to say I am your dog, I am ready to work. The sheep were on the other side of the gate, looking nervously, and we entered and he was, in fact, my dog, from that point on.

So today, he gave me that same look, clearly expecting to see sheep in the meadow, ready to go to work again. I told him “that’ll do,” his recall command and he looked at me with some confusion and hopped back into the car. I will always remember that moment, it was a powerful one for me.