Dogs bred for herding sheep shouldn’t be stuck in the city. I would know – years ago, I tearfully gave one up

‘If you are going to get a working dog, you have to put in a lot of work to make sure they remain happy and healthy.’ Photograph: Jason Whitman/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

A few days ago, I found myself getting annoyed while watching a bank ad. Usually I don’t see them because I don’t watch much free-to-air, and because my algorithm knows I don’t live in a reality where things like “home loans” and “mortgage rates” apply to my life.

Usually if a bank ad plays in my vicinity, I go into a Charlie Brown-esque fugue state. This ad, however, cleverly caught my eye. It was clever because it featured a dog. Part of my brain is always scanning for animals to look at. It’s like I’m The Terminator, except I’m scanning for metrics of cuteness and probability of pats. In this case, the probability of pats was 0%, because it was on TV, but still I was drawn in.