Whilst in Kincraig the Mice, Morna and Malcolm all headed over to a local farm for a sheepdog demonstration. These dogs were fabulous. All listening or watching the shepherd intently, they rounded up the sheep, split the herd and behaved more or less obediently. Every dog was incredibly friendly, but always watching for his master’s command, eager to get the go-ahead to terrorise the ewes. We were particularly taken with the way the shepherd interrupted his own tourist-friendly commentary to hurl warnings at the dogs; “I see you! I’ll have none of that!”, “You’re testing me!” and “Don’t even try it!” whilst casually threatening the offender with his sheep shears.

After the caa-ing and shearing, we were treated to a mass lamb-feeding and puppy-cuddling session, whilst the shepherd lectured us on the poor state of government support for farmers. I even managed to pick up a few tips on how to train Island Dog. We’ll see how that goes!