At first, I couldn’t believe it. It was feeding time and the sheep and donkeys were way out in the far pasture.

I yelled at Fate to “go get the sheep” but she went the wrong way and after the wrong sheep.  When it comes to sheep herding, Fate has a mind of her own. I told her she should be grateful I wasn’t one of those Irish dog trainers, I’d kick her butt all over the pasture. She wasn’t impressed.

Zinnia, who has watched Fate run around the sheep all of her life, got excited.

She took off like a rocket and charged out into the back pasture, running around the sheep just like Fate does.

The sheep got spooked (they pay no attention to Fate) but Zinnia, a little polar bear, seemed to startle them. They came running.

Suddenly, all of our animals were thundering towards the hay feeders where Maria was distributing the hay. Zinnia was quite proud of herself, she came barrelling upright ahead of the sheep, wagging her tail and looking up at me.

“Good work, girl,” I said, “but didn’t you forget something?” I asked. The sheep were way behind her. Zinnia turned and barked in their direction and then rolled in the snow. I’m sticking to my story. Zinnia went and got the sheep/