Blinds, Training with Field Trial Group

Cheltenham

SERIES A. Double blind (Laddie, then Lumi)

We arrived early at the Cheltenham property so that we could practice a little before the FT group arrived.

We started with a double land blind. The first blind was on the left at 110 yards. The second blind was on the right at 190 yards, on an uphill slope thru a keyhole formed by a tree on the left and a mound on the right. Both blinds were unmarked ODs.

Neither dog slipped any whistles.

SERIES B. Single blind (Lumi, then Laddie)

Continuing to train alone, we moved to another location and ran one more blind. The blind was at 240 years. The SL was on a mound, and the dogs passed a large patch of high cover on the right at 1000 yards. The blind was to the right of another clump of high cover, in front of a section of woods. This blind, too, was an unmarked OD.

Again, neither dog slipped any whistles.

SERIES C. Three singles (Lumi, then Laddie)

First, I'll describe the series as it was run by most of the FT dogs:

Delayed triple with retired gun, followed by blind

At "guns up", all three guns stood up. The center bird was thrown left to right at 210 yards. Then the right bird was thrown right to left at 230 yards. As the dog was sent to the right bird, the center gun retired. When the dog returned with the first bird, the left bird was thrown left to right at 70 yards. The dog picked up that bird, and was then sent to the center bird. After the dog had picked up all three birds, the dog was sent to the blind at 270 yards, which was on a line to the right of the rightmost mark.

All three marks were ducks. The blind was an OD marked with an LP.

The three marks were run from on top of a mound. The line to the go-bird on the right was across one-foot deep and icy-cold standing water, past a large tree on the right, and on an uphill slope. The 70-yard bird on the left was thrown from a stand of trees into standing water, with the fall on the same line as the line to the center bird. The last memory bird, in the center, was thrown from another stand of trees with a holding blind for the retired gun. The line to the center bird was past several trees and tree groups on both sides. Although on inspection the center bird was a little shorter than the right bird, the center bird seemed to be the "long mark" because the narrow corridor made it appear longer than the right mark, which had open space in front of it.

The combination of a delayed mark in line with the center bird, and the center bird's retired gun, seemed to make that a difficult bird for some of the dogs to remember.

The SL for the blind was off the mound, and for at least one dog, was actually behind the mound, so that after sending the dog, the handler had to climb up the mound to handle the dog. The line to the blind was along a section of woods for 150 yards, then blind was through the same area of standing water as the right mark, and on the right side of the same large tree. The blind was at the top of the same slope as the right mark was on.

Charlie, the group leader, was kind enough to advise me on how I should run my dog on the series. At his advice, I ran both dogs the same way: three singles, left/right/center, that is, 230-70-210 yards, with no retired gun.

After the group training was over, I also ran both dogs on the blind, but walked up so that we were running it at 170 yards and didn't have such a long section of woods tight on the right side.

Lumi's marks. Lumi needed help spotting both of the long runs, and she ran around the water on the right mark. She also overran the center bird, then got past it coming toward the SL and began hunting too short. A single hey-hey was all the help she needed. Aside from those issues, she ran her marks well. Not the best dog out there this day, but a reasonable series, especially considering how little she has trained at these distances.

After Lumi's series, we honored the next dog, with the cue Just Watch. Although I was holding Lumi's tab, she made no attempt to break when the running dog was sent. I stepped back and called Here, and she became highly excited, anxious to get to the pile of ducks behind the line. I picked one up for her, and when we got near the van, I threw several happy throws for her with the bird, and we also played a chase game with her carrying the bird. Hopefully this experience served to reinforce her steadiness while honoring.

Laddie's marks. Laddie took a WIL on the go-bird and needed help from the thrower to get going the correct direction. He did OK on the extremely easy left bird. He needed help spotting the middle bird, but pinned it on his outrun. Unfortunately, at that point he then fell apart.

He picked the bird up, began running toward the water to the right and disappeared behind an area of high cover. One of the throwers told me that he had dropped the bird and was rolling on it, and I immediately began to run toward him. I later learned that while I was running toward him, he picked the bird back up, carried it a few yards, dropped it and rolled on it again, and finally started running toward me leaving the bird behind.

When I got close enough to see Laddie, I called Sit and he complied, waiting for me till I arrived. I slipped on his lead and walked him to the bird. I started to walk him toward the SL with me carrying the bird, when I heard Charlie advising me on the radio to put the bird down and have Laddie pick it up and carry it. I did so, until we got to 25 yards from the line. Then, again at Charlie's suggestion, I left Laddie and the bird and walked alone to the SL on the mound, turned and called Fetch. Laddie picked up the bird and ran it back to me.

I then had him honor the next dog with me holding his tab. He made some effort to break when the running dog was sent, and I don't know whether he was only creeping, or would have had a controlled break, or would have made a full break if not for the tab.

Next I picked up a duck and walked with Laddie back to the van. There I threw several happy throws with the bird, hopefully building an association in his mind that after running a series and watching another dog sent for another series, fun was waiting back at the van.

While making the happy throws, I noticed that this duck, which was the same duck Laddie had gotten for the middle mark that he'd done so poorly on, was different from most of the other ducks in that it apparently had been filled with a block of some sort, possibly styrofoam. The block was not visible but made the duck's torso unusually large and stiff. We've seen something similar with pheasants in the past, but never with a duck before.

To give Laddie a little more experience with this duck, I put him in a Sit/Stay near the van and walked to a field 170 yards away, threw the duck, walked back, and sent Laddie. This time he picked the bird up and raced all the way back with it. How unfortunate that he hadn't run the third mark that way.

The blind. Both dogs ran the blind well, especially Laddie, who took three good-looking WSCs. Both dogs were drawn to the old fall of the right mark, but neither dog slipped a whistle.

SERIES D. Two singles (Lumi)

First, I'll describe the series as it was run by most of the FT dogs:

Land double with retired gun

The first mark, the memory bird on the right, was thrown left to right from beside a mound at 250 yards. The second mark, the go-bird on the left, was thrown left to right at 120 yards on a fairly steep diagonal uphill climb. After the dog was sent to the left bird, the right thrower retired behind the mound.

The area of the fall for the memory bird was closely surrounded by several trees, while the area behind the mound was open. As a result, several of the dogs took a good line toward the memory-bird but then veered left behind the mound, some needing help to get back over to the fall on the right.

Charlie advised that I not run Laddie on Series D because of poor performance on Series C. He felt that Lumi had done fine on Series C and suggested that she run Series D as singles, with the short bird on the left first. She had no difficulty with either mark.