I write a lot about me and Red, but not as much as I should about Maria and Fate. When I met Maria, her sidekick was Frieda, the wolf dog who wanted to eat me. Today, her sidekick is Fate, the two of them are inseparable, always together, always sharing their joy and love of life.

Fate goes everywhere Maria goes, they are two peas in a pod.

They both love to work, they are both restless and always moving, there are never enough hours in the day for either of them to do the work they wish to do, and they enjoy almost everything they do, from shoveling out the manure to sitting in the School House Studio.

Fate is one of those dogs that is not for everybody, but she sure is for us. She is the kind of dog that lifts you up, her purpose is to remind us of the joy of life, and to be grateful for being alive, for all of its trials and tribulations.

Fate always wants to be near Maria (when she isn’t running circles around the sheep), always wants to see what she is doing, even if what she is doing is shoveling manure.

It is a wonderful thing always to see a dog pair up so perfectly with a human, they almost function as one thing, they support and compliment one another. These two belong together. In a sense, they compliment one another. I can’t  help but smile and feel good when I see Maria head for her studio, Fate right at her heels. Whenever Maria goes out to go to the Post Office or visit a friend, Fate heads for the car, riding shotgun happily on the front seat.

Wherever I am, Red is right next to me. Wherever Maria goes, Fate is right alongside. This is the beauty of dogs.

Next to chasing sheep, there is nowhere Fate would rather be.