To all my friends: I’M BACK!! It’s still me, Oliver, the Bearded Collie, sharing with you, my fanbase. I’m older and wiser, six human years old last July. If you want my earlier advice, please check our website: www.onelightsource.net and my new blog address: onelightsource.home.blog When you subscribe, you can be a regular reader!! Thank you.

Oh, dog! I dictate my pictures by thought to Carolyn. She puts them into words. I speak to her on matters of the heart and mind and she writes it down and sends it to you.

I’m sorry I’ve been remiss. I have a big vocabulary. Remiss means I neglected you. Please forgive me for not writing to share my great wisdom for the past year and a half. Now I’m back. You have been patient. I know you didn’t forget me.

A lot has happened in my life. I see a lot. I hear a lot. I think in pictures and I understand your feelings. They show in your face and in your body. I speak in barks and leaps and an occasional growl if I notice something unusual, like a person lurking about on a street corner or someone wearing a suspicious looking backpack. My growl comes from deep inside me, harkening back to primeval days when my forebears (foredogs) had to protect large packs of humans. I warn you about possible trouble. I can’t control my growls or my joyful leaps in the air. They o’erleap themselves. “O’erleap” is a word from a man named Shakespeare.

We just got back from California with the new baby who is already two years old. She loves me, takes me for walks, and calls me her best friend, “Olive.” She can call me anything she wants as long as she doesn’t hit me with her hard plastic musical toy when she gets excited. I do understand about getting excited.

Sometimes, other dogs attack me for no clear reason. Maybe it’s all my hair. Could it be the same reason I run after a certain cat I love named Patches? I just don’t know how to play with a cat. Maybe some dogs don’t know how to play with me, a sheepdog. Or maybe it’s something else I’ll never know, having to do with o’erleaping.

When other animals get too excited about you, it’s important to hold your tail steady, go somewhere else, out of reach, and wait until the coast is clear.

Oliver’s Advice: Try not to fight. You could lose some hair or fur or even get a broken paw. “Not a good idea,” says Bowie, my baby.