Fate and Zinnia get all kinds of exercise, walking in the woods and running in the pasture, but when I couldn’t walk much, I got into the habit of taking Zinnia and also Fate out to the North pasture and chasing after one of those balls you throw, great for people with bad knees. I want her to have some intense exercise every day, even when I can’t.

Maria started coming with us with Fate (who gets to run around sheep several times a day), and we stand side by side and threw the balls together; each dog stayed in their lane.

I learned a lot about these dogs throwing the ball every day.

Fate is almost breathtakingly fast, much faster than Zinnia, but she often loses track of the ball, which sometimes lands and hides in the brush and tall grass.

Border collies have astonishing speed and are built to run – long legs, narrow heads, and thin bodies. But the border collie is built to get ahead of sheep, not to hunt. Fate loses the ball two or three times daily; we have to walk out and find it for her. (The photo even picked up the ball in the air).

Zinnia is heavier and thus slower, with thick legs and coat,  although she runs faster than I might have thought.

And she never loses track of the ball; that long and wide nose is perfect for smelling just about anything and everything. When the ball falls out of sight, she circles until she finds it. She’s never noted found the ball. That’s a trait of hunting dogs; a well-bred Lab will never return without the game.

Watching the two dogs side by side is always fascinating. They represent two different ends of the spectrum, both powerful.