One of the hardest things to teach a young border collie – especially a 15 week old border collie – is to get sheep out of a corner. Fate worked this morning without any leash attached to her, I thought she might be tired this afternoon, so I let her loose and had her drag a six foot lede, so I can step on it if things get crazy. They did not crazy, Fate continues her stellar work during herding lessons.

The circled the sheep today and pushed them into a corner of the pasture. Sheep dig into corners, it is hard for the dogs to get them out. Rose was great at that, at the command “get ’em up,” she would burrow in on the right or left side and start barking and nipping. The sheep would come flying out of the corner.

Fate is almost always fixated on the sheep, as she should be – don’t want them looking at the herder – but her, for the first time, she was stumped. Fate has tremendous drive and poise, she is not intimidated by the sheep, nor is she aggressive towards them. But she is intense, even powerful, a bit like Red. And she has a strong eye, and is bristling with instinct.

Herding lessons have already changed her, she has a focus now, she is calming down, is very responsive to commands except when she gets into the border collie trance – shivering and staring at the sheep. Then she doesn’t hear much of anything (thus the lede).

She walked the sheep into the corner, they gathered and stared back, they wouldn’t move, trying to figure out this small but formidable little beast. She turned to me: can  you help? Trainers teach the handlers that there are times when they need to support young sheep, back them up, give them confidence strategize with them. This was one of those times, I picked up the lede, walked Fate to the right side of the flock, got a bit excited, saying “get ’em up,” and she lunged towards Liam – “did I do that?” –  and then after a few lunges, Liam got nervous, he stomped his feet,  the sheep moved out and to the left.

Fate was beside  herself, puffing up with pride and confidence.

A very good lesson, and on that note, I ended the lesson. Even Fate will sleep tonight, and I am having a blast teaching her. She is finding her focus. She loves herding and then rushes eagerly into Maria’s studio where she has a  great and a dog bed.They are making art together, going for walks in the woods, a good life for a border collie I think. They can do more than one thing.