Every morning, Maria and I take Fate and Zinnia out to the yard to chase after those “fetch” balls that give working dogs yet another chance to use up their energy.

Zinnia and Fate need at least 45 minutes of exercise a day, and they get it every day through walks, ball throwing, or running around the pasture.

As a steward of my dogs, I take this seriously. Dogs that get regular exercise are calmer, have better behaviors, and are grounded.

Fate is the after of the two; it is a pleasure to see how fast she moves, how high she jumps, how long she can keep it up. We’ve never tuckered her out yet.

Zinnia loves to chase the ball, but in the summer sun is not as resilient as Zinnia. In warm weather, I limit her runs to 15 to 20 minutes at a time, two or three times a day.

It is always a joy to see these two running hard and leaping through the air. This is what they are bred to do.