Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. Red is at the vet, limping badly on his right rear leg, getting X-Rays. We had to move the sheep out of the side pasture after two hours of grazing, so I took Fate out to see what we could do. She did her usual joyous racing around the flock, then I got her to stand and face the sheep and approach them, and they turned and walked (slowly) out of the pasture.

After some shouting, I got Fate to lie down and stay still, and she pressured them out of the gate. I thought she did great, all things considered. Fate is the Queen of Distraction, but perhaps she is settling down a bit. Come and see. (In the interests of full disclosure, I was pressuring the sheep a bit myself, but she definitely turned them around.

I’m pretty much accepting that Fate is not going to be a working dog like Red, but she might end up somewhere in the middle. I was impressed this morning.