14 September

Morning Meeting

by Jon Katz
Morning Meeting
Morning Meeting

Every morning, when I get to the pasture, I find two animals there, Chloe, our pony and Fate, our new and young border collie-in-training. And every morning, the two, who have gotten to know one another, touch noses and seem to me to have a meeting of some sort.

Perhaps they plan their trajectories. Fate says she’ll veer to the left, Chloe will go graze on the right. Perhaps they plot strategies for getting the sheep away from the horse, where they will cluster for protection from the dog.

Perhaps they trade techniques for moving quickly on flat ground, or warn one another about woodchuck holes in the pasture. Maybe they are talking shop about the farm – how bad the flies are, how dry the ground is, how they have to put up with feckless humans, who behave illogically, emotionally and irrationally. In any case, I like the meeting and happened to have my camera out. Never leave you camera behind on a farm, this is my sacred mottoe.

14 September

Video: Nobody Move: Fate And Liam Square Off

by Jon Katz
Fate And Liam Square Off
Fate And Liam Square Off

Fate got around the flock and stopped them on command this morning, the first time she has been able to do that. We went out  herding, and she got into a stand off first with Zelda, then with Liam, it was a good insight into the ways in which a strong and young working dog begins to test her strength and her eye.

If you do this too early, it can spook the dog permanently. Fate is a very grounded and assertive creature, she shows no signs of being the least bit intimidated, and the sheep are beginning to react to that, you can see it when they back up, stop their charge, lower their heads. Come and see. The camera tilt got screwy, sorry and I don’t have time to fix it.

I think I  had it upside down, but you can still see the standoff clearly.

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