[2tall]

After a rather humbling weekend at PRC Hunt Test, I came home trying to figure out how to "MAKE THAT DOG MIND" I found that when working on blinds, I engaged my dogs entire attention. Previously I had asked about how to get in a correction for "over" or any type of change of direction in order to teach the concept. The main suggestion I got was to cast in a direction somewhat off of the actual line, blow sit whistle, and ask for over or angle back. This makes sense to me, but am I eroding the dogs confidence in me when I do this? I realize these are two different things really, one is pure obedience which I do not have in test situations, and the other is how to bring in the new concepts. But, the work does get his attention for now so maybe I should stop marks altogether until I get some control back.
Dog did pass, but I was mortified by the Mr. Hyde he became in the holding blinds.

 

[John Lash]

I don't know about the handling part of your question but the "Dave Rorem Art and Science of Handling Retrievers" has some good information about holding blinds.

Do you use holding blinds in training?

John

 

[Latisha]

Previously I had asked about how to get in a correction for "over" or any type of change of direction in order to teach the concept.

2tall, maybe I am just misunderstanding, but are you really trying to set the dog up for a correction as a teaching mechanism?

As for your holding blind problem. The answer there is obedience obedience obedience. Keep your standard high starting from the minute you open the crate door. If he is allowed to bolt off the truck, pull on the lead, sniff everywhere, then he is already out of control by the time you hit the holding blind. Practice walking up to a line just as you would practice anything else. Work on obedience in different distracting situations so he knows he has to listen where ever he is. It is really hard to duplicate the excitement level of the real thing, but all of those things will help keep him under control when you finally get there.

Also, I would not want to stop marks while teaching handling. You are going to see some erosion in his marking while introducing handling, that is normal. But it is also important to keep his training in balance.

Latisha