RE: Building Confidence...
Really think about this one:
Dogs don't learn confidence from doing KNOWN things over and over. This just reinforces their dependence on having to know where they're going before they're sent.
Confidence comes from moving out of known situations as quickly as they master them (pattern blinds and the associated drills that Steve mentioned) and helping them master cold situations.
If you never left your house your whole life or never met another person, would you possess the confidence, skills ane experience to go out and do new things and meet new people? Same type of thing applies to this situation.
You don't build confidence in known drills, although it may APPEAR that you do... The dog is going because he KNOWS, *not* because he has the ability to confront a cold situation.
You build confidence in cold situations by helping them through them, even if they are extremely hacky and slow at first. Some dogs come out of the drills prior to cold blinds, and line just about every one of their first simple, factorless cold blinds. Others seem nervous and worried. Regardless of their reaction, you don't go back to known destinations.
You help them learn that it's OK by working them through. Sure, they may pop once or twice. Their momentum may be slow. Their casting may be off. In these cases, you help and simplify. You only possibly correct for (as you ALWAYS have) go, stop and come as necessary. You shouldn't shorten blinds to create *artificial* success. Keep them long and you can always walk 50 yards out to the field to help them work through it.
You cannot have an expectation, coming off pattern work and the other drills, that the dog will run full bore straight out to every blind he runs. There is a LOT more work to be done, on your part as a handler. And if you plan to go right from pattern blinds to cold blinds, you're setting your dog up for failure. There are many drills in between (that actually don't take much time to teach) that give your dog the skills he needs to handle in the field. If your dog is lining all of his pattern blinds, how on earth is he supposed to know how to handle when you run a cold blind? He's never had to handle in the field...
You need to teach him that you will help him when he gets confused, even though he is still responsible for the basics of go, stop, come. You need to teach him that there is something out there, by being fair in getting him to his destination. You need to let him know that you understand that he doesn't *fully* understand the concept of a cold blind, in many cases.
And this philosophy, in training, will give you the attitude you're looking for over the course of days, weeks and/or months.
You're getting into a phase of training where the dog doesn't learn something specific every day, but that he learns things over time by your good efforts at training.
-Kristie