Today I got a little bit of video and a few photos of both Coal and Rime as we were working. They are not very good quality since I was operating the camera and working the dogs at the same time. But they are better than nothing and as Rime makes progress I will be able to look back and see how far we've come. At times it seems like we don't make much progress, although I know we are. The first video is just a little bit of Coal and some lighter cheviot ewes plus a couple of other sheep who got into the mix. The second video is Rime.
On Rime's video I made a few mistakes but I've left everything in, "warts" and all. I told him the wrong command at the outset ("come bye" when it should have been "away") and to my amazement he stayed put in his lie-down until I gave him the correct direction. The sheep had stayed nicely, set on hay, for a couple of other outruns the other direction (hence my brain being stuck on come-bye) but by this time they decided to run for the barn rather than stay since the hay was all but gone. I left the video in though because it shows Rime covering them decently, then taking a short look-back to get two who had split to the other side of the mid-field obstacle. All in all, Rime is coming along well. We have much to improve on as far as stops and pace on the fetch. Driving is taking a long time, as it often does. But I love his flanks close at hand and when the outruns are set up correctly his scope and distance from the sheep is getting really nice. Unfortunately we didn't get any fun photos of Chiefie today -- next time, I hope.
Link to all the photos in a Picasa album
