Adventures Outdoors'

In Wisconsin

For over twenty five years I’ve watched dogs do blind retrieves. Some have been trained specifically for a blind; some have had very basic training on blinds, some no training at all and everything in between. Sometimes the dogs accomplish the retrieve successfully and more often times then Id like to say they don’t. I’ve witnessed countless birds lost while hunting. Mainly I watched helplessly as careless hunters that don’t take the time to teach their dog’s simple casting to locate a lost bird, fail at picking up ducks.

I belong to a dog training club whose club motto is "Conserve Game Hunt with a Trained Dog". I would like to refine that in saying "Conserve Game Hunt with a Dog That Can Do a Blind". I think if a duck hunter had a dog that could do a simple single mark and could handle, he would have a fine hunting companion.

The thing that really sold me on blinds is when I was a young boy hunting with my father and uncle at our favorite duck hunting spot. We saw a man shoot a goose across the marsh. It was a fine shot, a high flyer that glided very far from the hunter. Later that morning we walked over to the dike where the man and his dog where sitting goose less. I won’t mention what type of dog the hunter had because it’s simply not important, but I will say the dog wasn’t trained to do a blind retrieve. My father asked him "what happened to the goose"; the man replied "it landed over the river and across that field some 150 yards out". The man then said "my dog will go to the river but I can’t get him across it". Then my dad said, "Let me try with my dog". Simba our yellow lab was cast by my dad on a blind retrieve. After several casts I saw the big wing come crashing through the brush covering Simba’s face.

My dad handed the big gander to the man and looking stunned, he immediately asked my dad if the dog was for sale. My dad said no. The man even offered his new gun in the deal but you see it wasn’t the dog, but the fact he had been trained to do a blind retrieve. We were all proud of our dog when we left, and I knew that the first dog I get would definitely know how to do a blind.

A blind retrieve is simply a bird the dog goes out to retrieve without knowing where it is. With that said, this could be a bird the dog couldn’t possibly see because he was in a duck blind himself, or his view was obstructed because of a hiding place he is hunting in. A blind retrieve can also be a bird that the dog saw just part of or a bird he did see fall, but now has to be handled to it because of a variety of factors. So either way, even if the dog had seen the fall but has to be handled to it, we still treat it as a blind retrieve.

Handlers have been casting their dogs (giving direction using hand signals) for many, many years. We have been yelling and waving our arms in different directions for moons. It amazes us how quickly dogs pick this up. Although hunters using dogs have probably been doing this ever since we have hunted with dogs, the border collies and their trainers receive all the credit for formally starting this training. As far as retrievers go, a dog handler from England named Dave Elliot began casting his dogs in field trials long ago. At first everyone didn’t like it. After awhile handlers began to see its importance.

In virtually all retriever field events you will see blind retrieves. Some very easy, others very difficult.

The training of blinds is not difficult, but at times can become monotonous. During your blind training, keep doing marks and obedience drills. After your dog has accomplished the handling drills in the yard as well as the water, you are ready to begin blind drills.

I like to start a young dog on blinds in the winter. There is little cover to contend with, and you will have the necessary time to gradually incorporate cover, water and factors into your blinds. The one thing you have to watch out for in the winter is trail running. After a dog makes a trail in the snow, he may develop a tendency to run trails later on. Just don’t over do it on the trails in the snow. Continue changing positions of the line (place you start from), but don’t change the location of the blinds. Running in the snow also keeps dogs in great shape, while also providing cool conditions to train in. Running dogs continuously on blinds in hot weather can really slow you down. Also in the winter at times it can be difficult to find enough helpers for marks, so working on blinds can keep your training process going.

There are four basic blinds we train on. Sight blinds (blinds the dog can see you put out), confidence blinds (blinds a dog does over and over to build confidence), permanent blinds (blinds that never move, but you move away from making them more difficult) and cold blinds (blinds that the dog has never done). The first three of these all come together. Later as the dogs do these blinds many times, we incorporate marks with them as well as diversion birds, poison birds and several other factors.

The dog has proven he can handle, now were going to show him why. We are going to start by selecting three or four locations to put out a dummy. Make sure these locations can by used often. Also you want to have enough area to later incorporate thrown marks in these areas. We also want to be able to move back out to at least one hundred yards while at first starting out as close as we need to for the dog to be able to "line the blind" (go on a straight line and find the dummy without being handled). We may start out only ten yards or so away from the dummy to be successful.

We sit the dog down and walk out to the spot we want the blind and toss two or three dummies down. Let the dog see this. Now walk back to your dog commanding "dead bird, right there". When he is looking directly at the blind send him, "back". As far as cover goes, you don’t want heavy cover, but you don’t want the dog to see it on the ground either. Anywhere from four inches to a foot of cover is sufficient. As far as wind is concerned, it’s not a big factor. You’re going to turn these sight blinds into confidence blinds by doing them over and over again demanding the dog keep a straight line. By doing these blinds so repetitiously you will find all different wind directions to deal with.

While the dog is returning with the first dummy start backing up about ten yards after every dummy. After three or four of these you will be back to forty or fifty yards. Now select another location for another blind but in the same field. Do the same thing with this blind. Perhaps selecting up to four blinds in a given field. You’ll see that after just a few times out, the dog will remember these exact spots. After you have moved back on these blinds to a hundred yards or so you’re ready to do these blinds as double and triple blinds. I have found that my dogs could learn a new blind almost every time out training. If your dog has any deviation on his line, stop him with the whistle and handle him accordingly. I like to have at least ten permanent land blinds. This way I have plenty of options to work with.

After the dog is lining pretty much all ten blinds, we can start incorporating marks with them. Also you will find out that after the dog learns just a few of these, you no longer have to have him so close to the blind before sending him. You will be able to sit him down and walk out a hundred yards and toss three or four dummies. When you come back to send him he will know the game and respond well.

You can see this systematic approach that will build huge amounts of confidence in your dog. You have turned a sight blind into a confidence blind and finally into a permanent blind.

When you begin to throw marks with the blinds you want to first run the blind, then have the helpers stand up and throw the mark. Run the mark, and then run the blind again. This approach provides more success with fewer problems. Later after many times running the blind first, you can start with a mark and then run the permanent blind. You will be able to input doubles and triples with these blinds with time and practice.

Do the same thing with your water blinds. First start them as sight blinds, then confidence blinds and finally permanent blinds. Remember to demand straight lines. Any deviation in a straight line and you must handle.

Every so often you want to change locations you run from. This way you can create factors the dog has to fight to keep a straight line. By moving around the field running from the side of a hill diagonally, incorporating different cover the dog may have to go threw, running cross wind or maybe even having him jump objects near and far are all going to teach him the straight line is the way to go.

While setting up your permanent blinds in water, set them up with a couple re-entries (where a dog goes in the water, comes back out on land, and then goes back in the water) in mind. Re-entries are a great blind enhancer. They provide the dog with knowledge to keep going no matter what. You can get as colorful as you want with blinds running them at steep angles into and out of the water, depending on your specific needs for your dog, you can run land, water, land, water, land as many times as your training areas provides.

The step up to cold blinds should be smooth. At times we will see problems. All blind problems should be dealt with by taking a step back. At times you may have to take several steps back. If the dog is "no going" not moving from a sit position after a cast is given) you may have to go back to the yard and repeat forcing back, and force him to all the piles you have previously taught him. Most problems are handler created. You maybe moving him along to quickly or may have skipped some portion of training needed. He may just need more time on the pile work. If he is starting to pop (stopping without being told) you are probably stopping him to much. Let him line the blinds many, many times. Move up to the blind so close he doesn’t have time to pop. Sometimes you can deal with a little banana line (a not perfectly straight line) to let him get out there. Whatever the problem, now is the time to work it out.

While doing these permanent blinds occasionally stick in a cold blind. When I begin these I like to keep them short, maybe fifty yards or so. I usually handle quite quickly to establish control. I also handle on these for perfection. If the dog slips a cast (goes in a different direction then told) I immediately stop him and cast him again. If he continues to take the wrong direction I will stop him, nick him with the collar yelling "no". Then repeat the cast. If I still get a slipped cast, I will move up close to the dog and cast again. This usually does the trick. You have to decide if the dog is being disobedient or if he is simply confused. Don’t be so quick on the use of the collar on slipped casts. I would much rather like to save it for a refusal on back. I like the dog to think if he feels that nick of the collar to continue back. One of the hardest things to teach dogs is to continue back in a straight line threw all different factors and keep going until told to stop. Once your dog figures this out, you really have something.

You will slowly be running more cold blinds than permanent blinds but still coming back to these to learn new concepts.

A more advanced blind to run is one with a poison bird (a bird the dog cannot get until the blind is picked up). This isn’t really a big deal and although the dogs don’t particularly like it, we should think about training on this every so often. I don’t personally do this much, but I do want the dog to see them once in awhile. This is to simulate a wounded bird that was shot and not seen by the dog, must be retrieved before the bird he did see shot. A good place to introduce a poison bird is near a permanent blind. Set the blind out. Make sure he has recently accomplished this blind. Put a helper out in the field. Have him throw a dummy. Point the dog at the poison bird telling him "no bird". Now turn him towards the permanent blind saying "dead bird". When he is looking at the blind send him "back". If he turns towards the poison bird, stop him tell him "no", and cast him towards the blind. Every so often try this. After several, you can try a cold blind with a poison bird. I personally don’t mess with these until my dog is through all his yard work, including the "wagon wheel" drill (a lining or line manners drill).

The wagon wheel drill was established to provide the necessary training to communicate to your dog where he is to go. It is used by some trainers as a lining drill, but I use it more like a line manners drill. That is I use the words "heel & here" to communicate to the dog to turn right or left. He then is sent to retrieve the desired dummy.

What you do is start out by throwing four dummies out about ten yards or so. It’s called the wagon wheel because the dog is sent from the middle of a wheel; the dummies are placed out around the wheel acting as spokes. You can accomplish this drill in the same field you did your handling work.

I prefer to look at it as a clock. If you picture a clock, you and your dog are standing in the middle of the clock. Throw a dummy out at twelve o’clock, three o’clock, six o’clock and nine o’clock. You have a short lead on the dog about twelve inches in length, used to physically move the dog in the desired position. Point the dog at twelve o’clock. Now say "here" and pull the dog to your right to the dummy at three o’clock. Now say "right there", when he looks at the proper dummy send him "back". When he returns, leave him facing the direction of three o’clock and say "heel", pull him to the left, towards the twelve o’clock position. When he is looking at the dummy at twelve o’clock say "right there", "back". Do this on all four dummies alternating from here (right) and heel (left).

Many people have asked me "why don’t you just teach him the word right means turn right and left means to turn left". Well the deal is they already know the commands "heel and here" and now were just refining the definition. The words "right and left" are new to them and will confuse them more. But, any words you use could be taught if you put enough effort into it. I just think it’s easier this way. Later you can create a much more difficult drill by adding more dummies, going from four dummies to eight or even sixteen. You can also over time extend the distance.

I like to also teach the dogs to walk backwards during this drill. I simply snap my fingers and while moving backwards I pull the dog backwards.

I know a trainer that does a wagon wheel drill out to a hundred yards. His dogs are incredible lining machines. Again, you have to decide how much of this you need.

Like I said I use this drill more for turning my dogs left and right. If you plan on running field trials, you can take this drill as far as needed. With the dog knowing how to move right, left and backwards, your job of lining the dog up on a blind becomes much easier.

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