Fate’s journey into her new life began in earnest tonight, she came inside a house – Karen Thompson’s  house in Virginia – for the first time. She began to adjust to life indoors, to life alone, to her crate, to new experiences and the first steps towards training. You can follow it for yourself here, it is fascinating to watch a skilled trainer like Karen Thompson take the first subtle and gentle steps towards understanding and commands.

I have trained five or six border collies, all but one successfully, but I always learn something from Dr. Karen Thompson, who has been doing it for nearly 40 years and knows how to communicate with her dogs. Karen moved Fate inside today so she can begin acclimating her to  her new life, and to life in our farmhouse. In the video, Karen gently exposes Fate to a crate – she puts some chew sticks inside so Fate can come in the crate and look around, find good things there, but not yet be confined.

She is marking the dog’s behaviors – she says “that’ll do” when Fate runs towards her, this is how border collies are trained to follow movement commands – the patient trainer waits for them to make the right move, then gives it a name, calmly and clearly. She uses a sharper scolding voice in the video when Fate whines a bit, perhaps realizing that she is without any other dog for the first time in her life in her nine weeks of life.

Karen is always positive with her dogs, but is also a leader, and asks, as I do, that the dogs respect her dignity, work and property.

Karen is careful not to give many commands, but to enthusiastically respond when Fate moves towards her, and she is introducing Fate to her new name for the first time. I continue to be impressed by the poise and calm of this puppy, as I was with the videos I saw of Red. She is curious, responsive, but there is a steadiness about her that I like. Given that this was the first time she has ever been in a house, she was strikingly confident and at ease, checking out the other dog smells, handling the floors easily.

Karen  says her border collies are not afraid of noise, she has worked on breeding dogs that are steady.

It’s good we are  not coming until Sunday, this will give Karen five or six days to show Fate some basic commands, help her learn her name, acclimate her to the crate, all gifts for us when we take her home. I perceive in the videos that this is a highly biddable dog, and a grounded one. She shows no wariness, neither is she crazed, running all over the place in a frenzy. This is what I like to see in a puppy – not too wary, not too crazy. Somewhere in the middle.

I look for sluggishness or undue wariness as something to be careful about. People often assume these traits are signs of abuse, but they could just as easily be symptoms of genetics,  litter politics and standing. Fate is neither sluggish or unduly cautious, she has a confidence about her that is impressive to me.

So that’s about all I can gleam from a video, other than that she looks like a rascal, as many border collie puppies are. We will get a workout with her. I am braced for the waves of advice I know are coming, they began yesterday with several people questioning why I am doing a lot of the training of Fate if she is to be Maria’s dog.

I will not be responding to too many of these inquiries, but the answer is pretty simple. I will work with Fate as much or as little as Maria wants me to, but we both are much looking forward to training a puppy together.

We will never have a child together, and Fate is not a child, but it will feel like that, and how lucky that is.Maria has not done much dog training, none of border collies, she has asked for my help. We will train Fate together and we will make certain that Maria and Fate bond primarily to one another, as Red and I have, and as Frieda and Maria did before. Maria will spend time alone most of the day with Fate, in her studio and on walks. She will feed her, and take her out to play (maybe to visit the sheep) and train her in basic obedience several times a day.

Those are all bonding behaviors, especially with border collies, who attach powerfully to people who bring them to work and activity. I hope to spend time with Fate as well, but our lives lend themselves to bonding with a working dog. Maria and I each have dogs with us when we work, and we work in different places.  Maria has 17 acres of woods right outside of her studio, these two will explore the world together, and make some beautiful art together. Red and I work in my office and range around the town doing chores.

I would wager Fate will be coming along when Maria rides her new pony Chloe on the trails behind the farmhouse.

I thank Karen for sharing this video with me, and bringing all of into the fascinating first steps of Fate, as her journey begins. How great to watch. More videos are on the way, I will share them with you as well as this amazing opportunity to write about our life together with this exciting new dog, right from the beginning.