Of all the dogs I’ve lived with in the country there were only two that I am certain could survive in the wild by themselves, as most dogs once did: Frieda and Fate. Both understood nature, knew where to find food and water, knew how to take shelter, had the speed to escape predators and also catch some prey.

Both were foragers like bears, always on the looking for nuts and berries. Fate can hear a mouse from 50 years away, and so could Frieda. Fate has extraordinary instincts.  Frieda and Fate both knew how to dig holes, hide food, burrow in for warmth or shade.

Fate knows how to stay cool and when to pause and breathe. This morning, running like a fiend around the sheep in their open pasture, we lost sight of Fate.

I looked around, and I saw she was four out in the wet and marshy swamp, just lying in the mud and water getting cool. Fate knows how to take care of herself, and she knows how to use nature to survive. In a minute, the was running again.