Day: May 20, 2015

Fate is cute, but make no mistake about it, she is a she-devil, a rascal, a hellion. This morning I got up early to let Maria sleep and I let her out in the back with Red. When I fed the cats I heard a tearing sound in the back and went to the door. Fate had taken off the bottom board and pushed open the back door, which was now open. There was no sign of her in the yard, Red was sitting quietly at the back door staring up at me.

I ran outside, thinking she had gotten through the fence, but it is a powerful sheep fence, it was intact. Then I heard a lamp falling over in the house and rushed back inside. So she had taken off the bottom board of the outer door, nosed open the back door, slipped into the house, perhaps right behind me and was making for the back of the house chewing on a bone. Lord, I thought, border collie chess, I know it well.

Fate is shockingly bright, she strategizes like a raptor. Staying over in Pennsylvania, our friend Deborah brought out the portable pen she had used to contain two big Lab puppies. Neither had ever gotten out of it. Fate tried three things. Rushing the fence and trying to push it over. Then leaping to the top. Then, stepping back and throwing herself towards the fence and using a wire to push off against with her front paws. She sailed over the top of the fence, astonishing us and the labs. It took about two minutes.

She is going to be a handful.  Border collie people know about this. You make a move, they make a move. But what happens when the dog is smarter than you are? I’ll let you know.

Fate is a fearless creature, and iron-willed. She came out into the pasture with Red, she woofed a bit at the sheep and the donkeys, then inched forward and sat down right next to Red. “I’m with him,” she seemed to be saying. The sheep were attentive and impressed. It was great to see her out there with Red, he seemed to like it, he ignored Fate, as he most often does, but she adores him. How great to have her on the farm, to see her out there this morning, one day after she arrived.

We don’t waste a lot of time pondering things around here, life goes forward, every single day.

A new chapter at Bedlam Farm, we went out to open the pasture gate this morning and, on impulse, brought Fate along. If she is going to live here, she needs to know who and what else is on the farm. Fate is a hellion, fearless and strong-willed. She nearly took the back door off trying to get into the house, yowling and screaming. (If she yowls and screams, she gets absolutely nowhere, she is learning this.) She had a great night, slept all the way through, not a peep. She seems totally housebroken.

The sheep were curious about her, and Red didn’t seem to notice her out there, she sat alongside of him and then crept up to take a look at them. The sheep could not be happy about another dog to deal with. We do not plan to train Fate in sheep  herding, we plan on her being a farm dog who can be out in the pasture and help out once in awhile. But this is Red’s turf and Maria is not especially interested in herding, she has a lot of other good plans for Fate.

The big news is that Fate and Maria have bonded in a very beautiful way. This is going to be a great love affair, at this moment Fate is lying next to Maria in her studio chewing on a rawhide strip (please do not warm me about rawhide and dogs or it will not go well for you, thanks). They just click, in just the way I had hoped and she had hoped.

Karen Thompson can pick them. Fate is a high-energy explosive device, I always saying getting a border collie puppy is like getting a portable nuclear reactor. Fate is easily distractable and has a mind of her own for sure, she will be a happy handful to train and learn from. Given that she has been here one day, she is extraordinarily settled in, already part of the farm life and pattern. I like that she can come out and sit with Red, maybe join in some outruns.