You get the dog you need, I believe, and Rose was the dog I needed when she came. There was  no Maria then, and now, there is a Maria, and Fate is the dog we need. That is the miracle of the great dogs, they sense what you need them to be and they become what you need them to be.

The winter took a toll on us, as it did on so many. So much cold, so much loss. Ever since Fate arrived, we have been smiling and laughing. She is all about joy. I am open to it now.

Rose was an extraordinary dog, I wrote three books about her – my favorite is the e-book, The Story Of Rose – and she saved my life more than once. Over the past few days I’ve substituted her name for Fate twice in different pieces about training Fate to herd sheep. Many people caught it, social media reveals all, sooner or later, no place to hide.

It isn’t surprising, I suppose, Rose is often on my mind when I think of training and herding. She is first border collie I trained to herd sheep. She was tough to train.

I saw Rose the way Jack London saw Buck  in Call Of The Wild, she was very important to me, there was a lot of wolf in her. She is embedded in my consciousness. This is how the mystical tunnels of imagination work, the fingers do not lie, the truth comes out on my keyboard, even when the mind hides, runs or lies.

I ought to say that Rose and Fate are very different. Both show great spirit, are strong, dominant animals. Rose had great courage, it is too soon to know about Fate. Today one of the sheep ran right over her, flipped her to the ground and trampled her, she got up, shook herself off and went right after her. That is very much like Rose.

Rose never backed down, was afraid of nothing. I still dream of the night she stood in a storm between the sheep and a pack of coyotes coming down the hill. I was at the bottom of the hill and shouted at her to leave it, back off, come down, she could never have survived such a fight. She would not move, she stared the coyotes down until they turned and ran. Then she ran up the hill after them.

Rose was not a sweet dog, she did not care to be cuddled, did not warm to many people, disliked cute talk and oohing and aaahing, the way so many people talk to dogs. I loved her for that, I was her work, keeping an eye on me, on the farm. Fate has many passions – sheep, Red, Maria, most of the people she meets. She is very open to life. There is a wonderful mix of love and strength in her. Rose had one passion, I think it was me and the farm.

She watched over the farm, day or night, she noticed every thing that was different – a lamb in the pasture, an animal in the woods, a sheep in distress, a hawk overhead, a cell phone dropped on the ground. She had a map of the farm in her head, she updated it constantly. I never had to wonder if something was wrong on the farm, she noticed it right away and alerted me.

She had my back, it was as simple as that. No stray dog, belligerent ram, panicking ewe could ever get near me. When I fell on the ice and was knocked unconscious, Rose nipped at my ear until I got up.

Rose never stopped working, did not care for praise, disdained treats. She loved work, that was her reward. Our connection to one another was great, but also indirect and unspoken. I did not speak to her much, she was always around me without intruding on my space. At the time, that was how I lived, she grasped that and reflected it. I was closed to love and connection, I felt it but could never show it.  I never really knew where Rose slept, it was not by my side, but when I stirred or cried out in the night, she was always there.

When Maria came, I think Rose let go of her intense work ethic, it was as if I was okay now, she could leave. And she did. That’s the way it is with spirit dogs, they come when needed, they leave when they are done.

Fate is a different kind of dog, I can see it already. She has great spirit. She has a sense of humor, which Rose did not have. She loves to play, which Rose did not do. She has fun all of the time, which Rose rarely, if ever, did.  She loves dog talk and cuddling, which Rose hated. She rushes to people when they appear, Rose vanished when people appeared.

There was a lonely quality to Rose, a vulnerability and loneliness, I think, that Fate does not possess. Fate is a riotous personality, a good-time girl. She loves to dance and sing and run in the circle of life. She has as big a heart as Rose, but it shows up in a different kind of way.

No two dogs or people are alike, of course, there will never be another Rose, nor would I want one.  I do not look back often in my life, I look ahead.

I love Fate quite a bit, she and Maria make a natural pair, they are both sweet, love nature and celebrate the adventure of life. It works, I can see it, it is natural and beautiful. Red is my dog, and he is perfectly suited to me. Fate is her own creature, and I love her, I can’t wait to see her evolve, she is her own dog, she will be a great dog in her own right, no matter what pops out of the tunnels of my imagination.