I know what I have to do

There is always a worry when the gate is open. Right from the start, with each of Jess & Molly, we have trained them to come and sit beside the pampas grass as we move cars in or out.

At first, we always tied them onto a fixed post (see the purple lead in the bottom right of the picture). We always expected that the day would come when we could safely open the gates without having to restrain them.

With Jess, we thought we had reached that point when she was about 1 year old. We got her to sit (without attaching the fixed lead) and gingerly opened the gate. Our bad luck was that an ambulance chose that moment to race past our house with its siren blaring. Jess, of course, ran out to see what was happening, and we were both screaming, frightened at what was happening. Luckily, Jess herself was terrified by the loudness of the siren and raced back - she could easily have run all the way onto the road before turning to run away from the sound.

After that, it was quite some time before we would allow her to be free while the gate was open. She was perfectly obedient - she would come to the fixed lead whenever she was called. But we could not bring ourselves to repeat the experiment.

It was Jess herself who told us that we did not need the restraint any longer. She started to come when called, but she would sit just far enough away from the lead so that it was out of reach. So we eventually reached the point that we were quite happy to have her off the lead while a car was moving, so long as one of us could keep an eye on her.

Molly went through a similar training process. But because she is something of an escape-artist, we were even more worried about letting her sit freely while the gate was open. Nevertheless, she also reached the same point as Jess, where she was telling us it was OK, and not to worry about her.

Now when they are called, Jess usually goes into the house and Molly sits, as here, beside the pampas.

Well done, girls!