Drift is a relaxed and confident pup though, and will feel secure along side me and my older border collies, Ben and Maggie. He has already figured out that me and them are pretty cool to be around. We have taken him down to where there are wild scents of fox and coyote and deer and racoon. He has followed us to rivers and lakes that he learned are wet and refreshing on hot summer days.
The first time we took Drift to a stream last spring he stepped in the water and stared at it flowing past his legs. When Ben leaped into the center of the stream to retrieve a stick I threw, Drift was game for that. He ran in after Ben, but had to work himself back to the rocks so his light puppy body wouldnt wash downstream. I was ready to get him if need be, but first let him try to figure it out himself. You should have seen look on his wet little face as he scrambled out of the water - A lesson about fast moving water that would become second nature to him in the future.
Now six months later Drift is almost adult border collie size, and still loves water. When I throw a stick into a lake for Ben to retrieve, Drift swims along beside him providing moral support, then turns with Ben and accompanies him back to shore.
I can't wait to see how he acts in a wilderness. I envision him staring into the shadows of a spruce fir forest with wonder, listening attentively to a squirrel scolding us for coming into its territory, maybe looking up to the sound of thunder as I have seen Ben do. It would be great if it snowed, and us four would have a fresh landscape of white to explore.
Every time I am lucky enough to be around a puppy in the mountains, I see the world new again through their eyes. Things I had long ago taken for granted I now notice, because the pup does. Last July Drift and me and Ben and Maggie were waiting for Amy to finish shopping in Steamboat Springs, in the bed of my pickup. It got hot, so we moved over to the shade of a building. Ben and Maggie were asleep. I noticed Drift looking up and watching cottonwood fluff float down from the narrowleaf cottonwood trees. He followed one all the way to the ground and got up to investigate it. I can't tell you the last time I paid attention to cottonwood seeds floating in the summer air.
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