This is Bravo the maremma, our livestock guardian dog, engaged in appropriate behavior, guarding his sheep and carefully watching the world for threats.

But it’s been a little bit of a struggle convincing him that his sheep are more interesting company than I am.  I’ve had a hard time photographing him doing his job, since as soon as he sees me, he runs over to say hello.

And then flops over to request belly rubs.

When he first came to the farm, he was regularly jumping a 5-foot-tall electrified fence and showing up at the back door of the house looking for love. He hadn’t gotten the memo about his breed’s reputation for aloofness and devotion to their flock. It’s now been a couple of months since he arrived, the sheep are starting to accept him as a non-threatening presence, and I regularly catch him behaving like a flock guardian if he doesn’t see me right away.  But then it’s right back to begging for belly rubs.