[Justin Allen]

There are two shades of red--the darker red is the only one that didn't make a total mess of it in my eyes.

Is there multiple red dogs? I ask because the shapes-sizes appear different and I see maybe 2 colors of red. If there's 2-3 reds like a O, <> and a ^ those are good, I think ^ and <> has less casts, seems to carry the lines better. Red O has more cast but stays in the corridor. Blue O is a tad looser, Yellow O a tad looser than that (both get loose at the end, handler appears to let them carry). Other 2 color purple/maroon get loose in the beginning. If a blind is about control and staying in the corridor, and there's only 1 red (handler is micromanaging to stay in the corridor, style-perseverance points might be affected. Yes red had more casts (and he doesn't appear to carry them well) but he stayed tight though-out kept. If you have to pick a best bling either Red or Blue; just depend on what style you prefer and how adamant you are about your corridor. I prefer there be 3 red dogs, red ^ with 2 casts, red <> with 3 and red O with 4-5. And that's my ranking red ^ <> O, blue O, maroon O, yellow O , Purple O

 

[Peter Balzer]

Teal/Blue was marginal, appears to be loose at the end
Purple - good, as improved to the line and seemed to "finish the blind"
Yellow - out, too loose at the end and likely winded the blind from a great distance
Red - in
Dark red - in (probably best work out of all represented)

 

[Rick Coats]

From best to worse
1 Orange - Good tight line -many whistles
2 Light Blue - Good carry - loose at end
3 Yellow - Good carry -looser still
4 Red - Never on line
5 Purple - Never on line - way wide
How many of these jobs I would call back would depend on their marks and how the logistics of the trial were going.

 

[Peter Balzer]

Which corridor option would seem most appropriate?

 

[Justin Allen]

Keep in mind this is the open--none of those blinds are going to carry unless the work overall is just horrible. They are all pretty rough blinds

Teal/Blue was marginal, appears to be loose at the end
Purple - good, as improved to the line and seemed to "finish the blind"
Yellow - out, too loose at the end and likely winded the blind from a great distance
Red - in
Dark red - in (probably best work out of all represented)

 

[Peter Balzer]

Keep in mind this is the open--none of those blinds are going to carry unless the work overall is just horrible. They are all pretty rough blinds

I understand. Just have to judge against the field. Also looking at this in a silo as no reference to previous or subsequent series.

 

[Peter Balzer]

From best to worse

3 Yellow - Good carry -looser still

Why would you carry this dog that my perspective likely winded the blind from a considerable distance?

 

[birddogn_tc]

Wow. I didn't even notice the darker red.

 

[Rick Coats]

Peter, I did not say I would carry the yellow dog. I said it would depend, I ranked the performances as drawn. The yellow dog made good progress, crossing the line and staying tight. At the end he appears to drift and takes a single cast to recover the bird. I don't know that he winded the blind but is that a bad thing?

 

[Peter Balzer]

Peter, I did not say I would carry the yellow dog. I said it would depend, I ranked the performances as drawn. The yellow dog made good progress, crossing the line and staying tight. At the end he appears to drift and takes a single cast to recover the bird. I don't know that he winded the blind but is that a bad thing?

I guess I misunderstood your comment of "good carry". I guess you meant the dog carried the cast well. I interpreted it as it was "good blind carry the dog". I think we all understand that the previous and subsequent work matters, but this exercise is a land blind in a vacuum.

And winding a bird is relative. Wind it from 5 yards, good dog. Wind it from 40 yards, good nose, but off line/not challenging the line. Of course the dog takes the final cast straight to the bird, after smelling it.

 

[Tobias]

I would have to see red.. challenged the line but what about momentum?

Maroon, light blue and purple...

Actually purple had only a bit of struggle up front but really tightened up a lot after passing number 6.

 

[Justin Allen]

It’s hard to have momentum when your stopping everyb10 yards.

I would have to see red.. challenged the line but what about momentum?

Maroon, light blue and purple...

Actually purple had only a bit of struggle up front but really tightened up a lot after passing number 6.

 

[Chad Baker]

no one without faults but like blue-yellow-light red drop the rest but without seeing the momentum and style of each its just a crap shoot to me!
CB

 

[Rick Coats]

This is a great subject for debate. I think it becomes obvious why sometimes field trials and placements in particular are so frustrating for people just starting or who have come up in other venues.
In judging blinds I have several things that I want to see.
First of all THE LINE is everything. I do not count whistles.
I want to see a smooth controlled blind but not at the expense of missing the line. I want to see the dog cross the line at least once.
I sometimes see handlers who think they have run a good blind because they had few whistles and stayed in the corridor, but were never on line during the entire blind. Like the Red and Purple dog in the example.
I'm not saying that is a failed blind, but it certainly would not beat a dog who had many more whistles but maintained the line.

 

[Breck]

While PIL, handler did nice work with purple. The rest not so much.

 

[Ted Shih]

Some preliminary thoughts:

To begin with, judging is subjective. My subjective views are as follows:

1. I view a blind as encompassing a corridor. I do not view the blind as a line that must be followed from front to back.
2. I think that the corridor is narrow closest to the line, where visibility and control are highest; and widest at the bird where visibility and control are the lowest.
3. The blind must be pleasing to my eye, which means the dog must have good momentum on the blind.
4. On this blind, I view the point of cover left of point 6 as pretty close to mandatory. To me, it seems like a point on the water blind. Pretty obvious that you need to get on/off.
5. From what I have read, you are pretty hard graders. Consider the factors:

a) WIND blowing left to right.
b) Lots of suction to old marks on the right.
c) Multiple terrain cover changes
d) Multiple places where a dog drops out of sight for a few moments

6. What happened to callbacks should be generous?

That being said, here is my rough approximation of the corridor for the blind:

In my opinion:

a) Lavendar and dark red are in trouble because neither made the point of cover to the left of No. 6.
I don't think anything can save Lavender - except superb land marks relative to the rest of the field. It took a long time to get on line - although once it did, it had a nice blind.
Red was tighter to the line than Lavender, but again failed to make the point of cover. I would probably write "N" (for No) in my EE catalog for both.

b) Orange is marginal. Yes, it is online, but that is a lot of whistles. And when you have that many whistles, it is hard to have much momentum. I would probably write "?" (For Question, we need to discuss) in my EE catalog. My gut feeling is that I would not want to call this dog back.

c) Yellow also marginal, but better than Orange. PIL (Poor initial line), but good in the middle, although a bit wide in the end. "?" in my book, but I would probably want to keep Yellow.

d) I like light blue. Stayed in the middle of the corridor. Yes, it was wide right at the end. But, at the end, I think that the corridor is wider. And since when is winding the bird a sin. "Y" for yes in my EE catalog.

Ted

 

[Tobias]

It is true red had the best line to the blind..... definitely showed control.. but from a hunting/retrieving downed game, I dont wanna wait 10 minutes for a bird to be retrieved.... and the 3 or 4 times when no direction change was really made....is that failure to carry a cast?