We love Fate, but she is a mystery to me. She loves to run around the sheep but refuses to herd them. She comes from Championship herding stock in Wales, and I was training her as I have four or five border collies.

She has tons of instinct and prey drive; she won’t push the sheep around, herd, or challenge them in any way.

She and Maria are an excellent match, each devoted to one another. Maria opens the gate. “Get the sheep!” she commands, and Fate takes off like a rocket at warp speed, circling the sheep but staying away from them. Fate has never stepped on a quilt or fabric in Maria’s studio.

They pay her no mind a all. Even Zinnia cam move them once in awhile, and Bud showed great promise as a herding dog – he just kept running off in the woods in search of rabbits.

Let Fate be Fate. I stopped training her; I didn’t want to break her; she loves her life, and we love her. Life is curious in the way it works through things.