Need a little help

[Dexter Grayson]

I have a 4 year old black female and we have a small problem on running cold blinds. When I put my hand down in front of her she will lock in on that direction but she doesn't always run in that direction. And when she does run in that direction she's kind of unsure. Like she doesn't trust me that there's a duck out there. And she usually runs out 30-50 yards and starts to pop. She typically handles nicely and whistle sits like a champ. We have ran pattern blinds til were blue in the face, but when we set up for a cold blind it's always the same thing. This past weekend we got our HR title and I feel like we need to work on this before we step up to finished test.

Are there any drills that we can run that would help her gain more confidence in running blinds and also running in the direction of my hand?

[quantumk9wi]

Let me first say, I am by no means any kind of authority on dog training. I only know what has worked for me.

I had to deal with the same thing last year. First, I switched to only planting birds for blinds (bumpers were not enough of an award for him). Then we ran what I think some call "bird boy blinds". Where a bird boy goes out in the field and shows the dog the plant and walks a short distance away and you run your dog.

After that, I shortened up the cold blind to a distance that I thought he should run and progressively lengthened it out. If he still popped, I called him back and sent him again. Eventually he learned that popping didn't get him the help he wanted.

Hopefully that helps,
David

[Evan]

When is the last time you ran Bird Boy blinds or Gradient blinds?

Evan

[Dexter Grayson]

She would much rather have a bumper than a real duck. It has been a while since we have ran bumper boy blinds and I have no clue what a gradient blind is.

[Griddoc]

Hey Dexter, NOT A PRO here by all means but just read an article on Cold Blinds and how difficult and trusting an operation this really is. The progression according to the author says that Double T first. Next Wagon Wheel drill with lining firsts with 5 bumpers and moving to casting next with just 3 bumpers and then progressing to casting with 5 bumpers. For me, I am going to go back to basics and re-emphasize these drills. I have been running some cold blinds getting ready for Senior AKC and she has been decent not clean. In a hunt test environment this means DISASTER for this dog. Another trick to the trade is to start setting out some sort of visual reference for her to see. A small wired sprinkler flag, coffee can painted white or a bucket. She will begin to fixate on this references and will drive to it. Then the hope would be that when you don't use a small visual reference, she will look in the direction lined to and create her own based off of trust from your hand lining and drills. This really has helped me. I used pigeons too and it was the ace in the hole. Not an expert here by any means.

[russell.jason2]

I have a 4 year old black female and we have a small problem on running cold blinds. When I put my hand down in front of her she will lock in on that direction but she doesn't always run in that direction. And when she does run in that direction she's kind of unsure. Like she doesn't trust me that there's a duck out there. And she usually runs out 30-50 yards and starts to pop. She typically handles nicely and whistle sits like a champ. We have ran pattern blinds til were blue in the face, but when we set up for a cold blind it's always the same thing. This past weekend we got our HR title and I feel like we need to work on this before we step up to finished test.

Are there any drills that we can run that would help her gain more confidence in running blinds and also running in the direction of my hand?

Walk out blinds

[Raymond Little]

BB blinds worked real well last night with a young dog I had running his first water blind. Have your help stay fairly close to the bumper for the first one and move away while the dog watches. As DF said in P/S with land blinds, I believe to be true with all blinds, run more than one from the same location to get them into a groove. Another method I use is planting my electronics at various blinds around the water. If they lack the confidence to look out, I will beep the box and they will perk up. With factors such as wind, grade, I stop, beep, and cast. Almost everytime they will take the cast to where they heard the box go off. Slow to confidence/pressure dogs get more out of this than those who are fire breathers, IMO.