We moved to the country to give our rescued working dogs a better life

‘In some ways, by taking on rescued working breeds, we were always headed back to the country.’ Photograph: Stuart Walmsley

The week we moved from Brisbane to the New South Wales New England region seven years ago, my husband, Richard, asked the bloke at a local hardware shop if he stocked dog doors. The response was, “No, why would you need one?”

I groaned internally. Being regional returners with two rescued border collies, we were acutely aware of grazier concerns about rogue pets and didn’t want to create more worries.