Red was raised as a working dog, I imagine, dogs like him are bred and trained for focus, they live and work with the sheep, when they are not working, they are very often in crates or lying in barns. Red’s life is pretty varied now, he is a therapy dog, he has more girlfriends than I can count and I imagine he will lose some of his focus in his new life. So far, this has not happened.

This morning, I asked Red to hold the sheep in the side pasture while we moved the donkeys and cleaned out the pole barn, we were distracted by phones, visits, chores and cell phone calls. Red did  not move from this position for one hour. He has the most intense gaze I have ever seen on a border collie.