Well folks, you have been at it for sometime
now and finally your spaniel has started to put together the
pieces of the blind retrieve puzzle. The spaniel is now taking
a solid initial line, stopping to the whistle, and is approaching
his casts with enthusiasm.
As a result of having taught the 8-legged wagon wheel drill,
you should have a fairly good understanding how your spaniel
will take a line and cast in different wind directions. Further,
your spaniel should be handling all of his casting without any
refusals for a minimum of a few weeks. Only when this is perfected
it is time to move on to the next stage of training.
We are next going to transition our spaniels to take a line and
cast in actual hunting cover. Our training will now address the
environmental setting, including natural hazards and different
cover changes, that the hunting dog will encounter when running
a real blind retrieve.
You will need to locate an area that will provide many different
types of natural cover change. An area that has a streambed,
some ditches and hedgerows would be ideal for the next step of
drills.
With the use of the area that we have access to we are going
to set up as many permanent blind drills that we can to school
our spaniel on. What is a permeate blind you say? |
A permanent blind is known and established
blind that we will return to, to condition our spaniel on maintaining
good lining and casting in actual cover, terrain and wind direction.
The spaniel will recognize the beginning of the line and the
area that he should find the bird in. This will build his album
or memory bank on blind retrieves.
Keep in mind that you must study the area closely and really
think through where you are going to set up these permanent blinds.
Once you establish them you do not want change the line or find
area of that particular blind.
Additionally, keep a good distance between one blind verses another.
Having the blinds too close to each other can confuse your spaniel
on his initial line and the find area. We want to keep it as
simple as possible. When you lay out the drills, start out simple
and short using the wind to your advantage. You can extend their
initial line and make it more challenging as the canine gains
confidence when running the blind. Try to give the dog a different
environmental hazard to face on every different permanent  |
 blind you set up.
Making it more challenging to the spaniel. Finally when you do
decide on the find area use something in the landscape for the
spaniel to lock onto for the running of the initial line. Always
attempt to place the bird in line with a large bush or with a
tree: anything that will stand out in the landscape, giving the
spaniel something to lock onto when you give the "good"
command.
First, I suggest beginning with a few "hot blind" drills
to facilitate the transition. The term hot blind is a blind transition
drill that is known to the spaniel. Thus the spaniel is running
the blind "hot". This is, in effect, a conditioning
drill. Once we have conditioned our lining and casting techniques
in natural setting, then we will begin the actual blind retrieve
by the use of a "cold blind" drill.
The most challenging thing that we will be dealing with here
is maintaining good attitude and confidence when taking the initial
line. It is crucial that your spaniel is successful ever time
s/he are sent to find a blind retrieve. I suggest that you use
fresh, dead birds for the spaniel to find during all of the drills
that I am going to |
