Border Collie in Action

 A Border Collie herding a flock of sheep is a thing of beauty. 

As animal-behavior-expert Desmond Morris says, "they work silently, crouching, creeping and then springing into action, single-handedly marshalling its sheep and moving them from spot to spot with the control of a chess master."

Morris explains how the human shepherd communicates with the collie. "When the dog is near at hand, spoken signals can be used, but when it is further away, the shepherd switches to whistled commands." 

"Each shepherd has his own variations of these commands, and adds further ones for special instructions. To watch man and dog cooperate using this unique language is to witness one of the most intimate and subtle of all human-canine interactions."

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In this little portrait sketch, I misplaced one of the eyes and had to move it over. Easy to make such a mistake, but it's easy to fix, too. 

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Dogs: The Ultimate Dictionary of Over 1,000 Breeds by Desmond Morris