Fate’s progress has been astonishing to me. This morning, the next lesson, and the best.

I left a long lede on Fate so she would feel connected to me and slow down a bit, and she did. I can also step on the lede if she takes off and moves too quickly.

I left Red out of the pasture so she would focus on the sheep, and not him. And she did.

She understands the command “walk up,” now, which means move slowly to the sheep.

She lies down quickly 90 per cent of the time. When she fails to hear me or doesn’t respond, I wait a few minutes and give the command again. She invariably responds.

I made sure that there is no mad chasing in the pasture, she must respect the sheep. She was calm today, and the sheep was calm today.

One of the toughest things to do in herding is to dig sheep out of a corner. This morning, the sheep huddled by the side of the skip barn, a tough spot for a 14 week old puppy. Fate moved steadily to the far side of the barn, and the sheep came about.

At this point I am making sure she stays calm out there and around the sheep and also recognizes that this is something I am involved in, it isn’t a free run-to-the-sheep show. She is getting that, this part is a test of my patience and will as well as hers. We all love to see the dogs running freely, it is not generally good training around sheep for a dog this age, as any trainer knows.

I want her to respect the sheep, as Red does, things should get rough only if necessary, and then in the most restrained way. Our sheep happily go out to find grass with Red, they do not panic around him. Yesterday the sheep freaked around Fate, today they did not. That is a sign she is calming.

All border collies are different, some have high instinct, some little, some are indifferent to sheep. Many puppies have trouble focusing on the sheep, trainers reinforce them whenever they look at a sheep. No problem with Fate, especially if Red is outside of the pasture. When she gets older, they can do some herding together, not now, and the sheep do not need two dogs bracketing them right now.

And I want her to respect me. She needs to listen to me, we need to move together, not independently. Moving will be a challenge for me in the pasture, she is a lot faster than me.

All in all, one of the best lessons I’ve ever had with a border collie, supportive, successful, very promising. I am proud of her. Proud of me. One of the many mistakes I made in training is to let the session go on too long.

For me, training is about spirituality and connection, not obedience. Humans and dogs have been herding sheep for thousands of years, this is the mysticism of it. Once again, we restore the bond, even as it is fraying everywhere and has been forgotten.