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headed up the loch side of a steep hill.
    Josh had carefully worked out this circuitous route so that they’d be hidden from view. It was a small island; if anybody saw him with a dog, Reggae wouldn’t be secret for long.
    It started to drizzle. Great. Rain would keep most people off the commons, especially where they were heading today, the round pen.
    Josh had found the broken-down pen several years earlier, while he was first exploring the commons. He hadn’t understood what it was. But when he’d started puzzling over books about training dogs, he’d discovered that such pens were used to train working dogs – to give them their first experience of working with sheep.
    Most farmers had their own pens now, which was why the fence around the one on the commons was falling down. Josh had made repairing it his project for the winter. Every day, with Reggae by his side, he’d carried pieces of wood from his uncle’s ‘may come in useful’ barn all the way here. He’d fixed every gap in the fence.
    As they approached the pen, the drizzle turned into a steady rain. At least they didn’t have to worryabout passers-by. But Josh had a bigger problem.
    All the books he’d read had said it was crucial that you were calm and in control the first time you introduced a dog to working with sheep.
    But how was he supposed to be calm? He’d never done this before! Okay, he’d watched crofters use dogs to herd sheep. He’d even worked with a few of his uncle’s dogs before. But they were old, experienced dogs. He’d never seen anyone
introduce
a dog to working with sheep, except on YouTube. And all the books said if he didn’t get this right, it would take months to repair the damage. Josh didn’t have months!
    Now Reggae had picked up his anxiety and was bouncing up and down, hardly able to contain herself. Somehow, Josh had to get hold of himself. Otherwise all the work he’d done in mending the pen would go to waste.
    ‘Down.’ In spite of her excitement and the soaking ground, Reggae lay down. Josh took some comfort from this. He’d trained her well, so far. She knew ‘stop’ and ‘that’ll do’, and ‘down’, ‘sit’ and ‘stay’.
    Kneeling down next to her, he ran his hand gently along the side of her face. Gradually, Reggae began to relax. The contact with her helped him calm down too.
    ‘I left the gate to the pen open last night,’ he told her. ‘With any luck, some sheep will have wandered in to eat the fresh grass inside.’
    Reggae looked up at him thoughtfully. Josh knew she didn’t
really
understand what he was saying,but telling her what they were going to do made it clearer in his mind.
    ‘At first, I’ll be in the pen and you’ll be outside. You need to learn how your position affects the sheep. If you do well, tomorrow you can come in with me.’
    Calmer and more centred, Josh stood and led Reggae over the hill. His plan had worked! There were five sheep and two lambs in the pen.
    ‘Down.’ While Reggae lay on her tummy and watched, Josh closed the gate to the pen.
    Then he removed a ‘long lead’ from his rucksack and attached it to her collar. This was a rope five metres long, with knots in it. It would trail after her and if she did something wrong, Josh could jump on it to stop her quickly.
    ‘Up.’ Josh led her closer to the pen. About ten metres away, he stopped. ‘Sit.’ Reggae sat. Her shining eyes were focused on the sheep in the pen. Josh walked slowly to Reggae’s left, paying out the lead as he did so.
    When he was in front of the gate, Josh stopped. He waited until Reggae looked away from him, to her right. Josh made a ‘shushing’ noise and Reggae started to run around the pen. As she did, Josh entered the pen, closing the gate behind him.
    At first, Reggae just circled the pen again and again. But then she got bored. She began to notice that as she moved, the sheep did too. She stopped. The sheep moved away from her. She moved to her right. The sheep