I rarely post photographs inside of the farmhouse, and never while people are sleeping, but Maria said it was okay to post this photo, it struck me as especially beautiful and showed the great love in Fate’s heart for Maria, and for me.

Fate never sleeps up on the bed and never leans  against us.  She is affectionate but independent, like my other border collie, Rose. She comes up for pats, and is always around us,  but she  is not a cuddler.

Since Gus came, Fate has opened up in a number of ways. LIke most border collies, she is very serious about her work, which she defines as running around the sheep in wide circles.

Gus has been good for her,  and I wanted to write about what I think happens when a new dog comes into a household where there are already dogs.

People get nervous about this, I am often asked if it is disturbing to a dog when a new dog arrives, or if it is upsetting to older dogs to have new dogs and puppies. Mostly, it is neither, it is just a matter of adjusting and accepting, which most dogs are much better at than their humans.

As is often the case, it is the people who get upset and project their anxiety onto the dogs.

People always tell me with great assurance exactly how their dog would feel about it – she would love it, he would hate it – but most often, they have no idea, just as I have no certain knowledge of what is inside of a dog’s head. Dog love seems to breed a kind of know-it-all surety in people, they tend to tell rather than ask, and many believe they know exactly what their dogs are thinking, even dogs do not think in our terms at all.

If you think about it, dogs do what they need to do, they are the world’s most adept animal survivors.

Dogs are pack animals, by nature, they want to be around other dogs and they adapt to them, forming hierarchies, accepting leaders, submitting to domination, finding their place in the pack. Given a chance, dogs will almost invariably work things out. But they are rarely given a chance.

We humans can’t bear to see dogs fight with one another, or get rejected sometimes, we want them to play all day and live in their own perfect paradise. We do the same thing to our children, I think. We want them to have perfect lives, we solve their problems before they get a chance to learn how.

The way dogs usually setting disagreements is to posture, and send signals with their tails and bodies and ears,  and huff and puff, and sometimes fight. The vast majority of dog fights are quick, more noise than blood and thunder. That is how dogs resolve things and create their own pecking order, necessary for hunting and survival.

Dogs are astoundingly adaptable, that’s why they are such good survivors. Red ignores Gus, and Gus leaves him alone. Red had to discipline him a few times – short loud warning barks. Now they get along beautifully, as most dogs learn to do. Some dogs are just dog aggressive – inbreeding or litter  troubles – and they just should not be around other dogs, although their owners often refuse to accept that.

Fate was more complex. A territorial and dominant dog, she saw Gus as an intrusion onto her people and turf. She snapped and growled at him, drove him off repeatedly when he first arrived. Gus kept his distance, but kept trying. When Gus was just eight or nine weeks old, Fate wanted nothing to do with him. She glowered at him and stole every one of his toys and tried to hide them. She wouldn’t come near us while Gus was close to us.

I had a game plan – mostly, do nothing. Stay out of it.

For thousands of years dogs have settled their differences and learned to live together, unlike people. They will always have their squabbles and competitions, that is their nature, this is especially true of intense dogs like border collies, bred to push animals around and take no nonsense.

For the first few days, Fate and Gus met only from the other side of the crate.  They got used to one another’s smells. I wasn’t sure Fate knew that Gus was a dog, really. He was not like any other dog she knew, and he tended to run fast and move quickly, which would trigger her herding instincts. He was very small.

I’ve noticed an interesting trait in dogs and other animals, including donkeys, barn cats and sheep. They are wary and alert around newcomers, but once they know the animal lives on the farm,  they change and begin the process of acceptance and acclimation.

We fed Gus in his crate, or on a leash five or six feet from Fate, so that he got used to the idea of eating out of his bowl and not rushing to hers or Reds. That could draw blood.

When I parceled out treats, I made sure to give Red and Fate theirs first, and we trained Gus to sit and stay in order to get his. In this way, he learned to accept the pecking order and also some basic obedience. Rule number one: dogs get nothing for free.

I think it’s important for the resident dogs not to feel their lives are diminished in any way. They need to get their usual amounts of attention, walks and  affection. It is easy to coo over a puppy, but that can make the dogs feel challenged, their place diminished.

They shouldn’t feel the puppy is taking anything a way from them. Fate (see above) has been looking for some additional attention since Gus came, and we are careful to make sure she gets it, not always easy with a new puppy.

Gus is an empowered kind of dog, small dogs often are. They are small, but they have no sense of being small. Gus would get right in Fate’s face and challenge her to play by body language and barking. He was sometimes daring even braze. He would rush up to Fate, grab a rawhide right out of her mouth, and then go hide under the sofa with it.

As the days went by, Fate approached Gus to play and was increasingly gentle with him, rolling onto her back in a submissive posture, and letting the puppy gnaw on her ears and head, something she would normally not put up with from any dog.

Gus sensed that Fate is a playful dog, he teased her and offered her some toys to play tug-of-war with, and after a couple of weeks, she took the bait. They started playing a little more each day, and now play for hours. This is good for both of them, although better for Gus than Fate. She has enough prey drive, she doesn’t need more, Gus is learning how to be with other dogs when he plays, and also how to hunt.

And Fate, previously inexhaustible, actually takes naps now during the day. She sleeps long and deeply at night.

More than anything, it is critical to let dogs work out their pack issues. Gus, like all puppies and small dogs, can be dramatic, he often shrieks in alarm, and it works. Fate will back off or slow down. I ignore all of his screams, unless they are prolonged or especially urgent.

I believe that people should get the dogs they want and love, and not presume to make decisions for the dogs they have. If you want another dog, it won’t kill anybody, they will adjust to it. In my mind, dogs ought not to be given that much power, we get to decide what lives in our homes.

For thousands of years, dogs have lived in packs, and did not need humans to tell them what they are feeling and thinking.

So I don’t do it either. Fate has adjusted to Gus, and Gus has adjusted to Fate, and Red, the proverbial older settled dog could hardly give a shit. Let dogs be dogs.