I did a big rain dance in the pasture this morning, Fate is getting the “come bye” command she got “away to me” once as well. A time to be patient, supportive and positive. But the biggest breakthrough – really amazing for me to see in a dog this young (she is almost four months old) – was her slow and steady – but very purposefully – challenging of the sheep.

Liam and Suzie have been challenging Fate aggressively, charging and butting  her.

She has kept her distance, gotten run over and stood her ground. But today, I put Red in a lie-down about 10 yards behind her to give her confidence and support, and warn the sheep. She got in a classic border collie (and Red) crouch while I shouted encouragement and praise to her, then stayed quiet to let her figure it out. She did. She walked up slowly, one step at a time. First the sheep stood their ground and stomped at her, but they did not charge.

Then, to my surprise and excitement – this is a very big deal for a young border collie – she backed them up, one step at a time, calmly, steadily and with great poise and authority. Here, she reminds me very much of Red, Karen Thompson breeds the most professional and spirited, yet loving dogs, they do what they need to do, no more. Karen is a hero to me, full of goodness and skill and faith and honesty.

I am so lucky our paths crossed, I do not know what I could possibly have done to deserve her friendship and her amazing dogs.

I see once more that you have to direct a border collie, but you really have to let them do their thing. She has instincts and the moves, I just put words to them and dance up and down from time to time. Fate has revived my passion for training and surely my love of working dogs and dogs in general.

Training them is a spiritual experience, not a matter of obedience. Fate is a great dog, all I have to do is lead her a bit and not mess her up.

The sheep are less frantic around Fate than they were last week, they are beginning to trust her and accept her authority. And her confidence and authority are growing, she has a great eye and when she applies it to the sheep, they are responding. I am keeping Red in the pasture at times to boost her confidence and she is definitely learning some herding skills from him. I don’t want her to focus on him rather than the sheep, so I take him out most of the time and let her figure things out. With Red there, the sheep won’t hole up in corners and she can move.

I am fortunate in Red to have a dog that is very responsive, and I can work two of them at once. Fate’s physical stamina is also improving as she works daily and gets bigger and stronger. She can run hard and not really be tired, although she needs calming exercises before and after the sessions. I won’t let a border collie into the pasture unless they are calm and are listening to me, that has been the hardest part of the training. We are really getting there though, I make her lie down for two minutes and stay before I let her into the sheep.

Every dog has something they love, and when dogs love anything as much as Fate loves sheep, you have a great foundation for training. She has to sit, lie down stay before she gets to the sheep. One of my basic training rules is this: a dog in training gets nothing for free, no treat, no food, no walk, no step outside of the door.

The other great news is that she is getting faster and stronger, she gets ahead of the sheep and turns them while I mark her outruns and directionals. We are having a great time with each other and when the lessons are over, she runs over to Maria wiggling and quite proud of herself. She should be.