Like all border collies, Fate is tough to photograph head-on because she always moves. When she looks me in the eye that way, I know she is asking me for something: throw the ball, take me to sheep, let’s go for a ride.

Fate always wants to do something, every minute of every day until about 8 p.m., when she finally winds down, goes to sleep, and doesn’t seem to want anything or do anything.

As I was sitting down after breakfast this morning, she came into the living room and fixed her Merle eye right on me. She wanted to go outside and run around the sheep.

She sometimes tries me crazy with all of her energy, but she is the perfect dog for Maria; they are completely alike. Neither one ever tires out the other, and they are inseparable.

Fate has learned the most important lesson anyone can learn about Maria: don’t ever step on the fabrics she puts on the floor. She can turn into something worse than an angry dog.

And oh yes, even though Fate doesn’t actually chase or herd sheep, she loves to run around them while Maria shouts, “get the sheep.” Fate comes from a champion herding line in Wales, but she is the Ferdinand of border collies. She loves to run around sheep but hates to bother them and will not, under any circumstances, herd them.

I love the intensity in her eyes, and I rarely get to capture it. Thank you, sunlight.