On the edge of Fate’s meadow is a corn field, cut and manured and ready for planting. Just a few more weeks. Fate loves the open field, she watches out for moles, mice, chipmunks and tears off after them. She is interested in the chase, not the kill, she doesn’t really even try to catch them.

Out in the field I see the beauty of the working dog, the freedom she has out there to run, smell, explore and make decisions about what she will investigate, who she will chase, how fast she will run, what she will explore. Every few minutes, she stops and looks for me or for Maria, she is checking on us, making sure we are there. That is her job also, to not lose us or let us be lost.

If she doesn’t see us right away, she comes rushing back to the road, looks until she sees us, and then tears back out into the field. I worried at first that she might run off, I now know she never will. I am very partial to working dogs, they are among the most remarkable of all animals, and the great partners of human beings throughout time.