When Frieda came into my life, I felt trapped between some wonderful and some powerful women. Maria loved Frieda dearly, and I had to figure out a way to get her to accept me, the dogs and the farm. Frieda is a powerful dog, a fighter a guard dog. As I wrote “The Second Chance Dog,” I began to piece together the details of her life, thanks to my blog. There were lots of great stories in her life. Her time as a junkyard dog guarding an auto body shop. The family she saved from a fire. Her abandonment in the Adirondacks. My biggest challenge at the beginning was Rose. Rose was like Frieda. She was strong, protective and fearless. She was not as big, and border collies are not really built to fight.

Frieda was large and powerful, with big jaws and huge claws and feet. I couldn’t imagine Rose besting her, but neither would Rose back off. She and Frieda just bristled at the sight of one another, and for one year, we had to always keep them separated. Frieda wanted to keep me away from Maria. Rose wanted to keep Frieda away from me. Rose had always watched my back around animals. She would take on rams or donkeys if they came too close to me (Red doesn’t care who comes close to me.) The biggest training challenge I ever faced with dogs was keeping those two from trying to kill one another.