In conjunction with our marks this week we ran multiple blinds. A blind is when there is a planted bird, or bumper, at a location unknown to the dog. As the handler it is your responsibility to get the dog to the destination. Blinds are a true test of obedience and extensive training. To do this you give the dog cue words such as, "dead", "good, right there" and to send the dog you give the command "BACK". To accomplish running a good blind it is your job to keep the dog as close to the line to the blind as possible. This is done with giving a whistle blast and a cast. A cast is a directional change you indicate to the dog with your hands. Some people also call casts or blinds hand signals. There are 6 main casts you can give a dog. A left or right back is straight up above your head. This is to get the dog to correct his line very minimally. The next casts are angled backs. Represented with a 45 degree angle between a straight back and an over. This gets the dog to make and even larger change in his direction. Finally, there is the over cast. This is a cast that is straight out to your side and the dog should make a 90 degree change in his course to the blind. Here are a few examples of blinds we ran this week.

This first blind was pretty straight forward. It was approximately 100 yards through a couple of cover changes. My dog Kirby lined this blind and didn't have to take and directional casts to change his initial line.

This next set of blinds were a little more difficult. There was a side hill on the right hand blind working as a factor against the dogs and they had to fight against it so they didn't cave one direction or the other. The left side blind was down through a valley, and back up the hill then drive past the top, over a road, and through a field to get to the end. Kirby took 2 casts on the right hand bird, and one cast on the left hand blind. Very good work out of him this day.

This set of three blinds was tough on some of the dogs. The right and middle blind had what we call a "key hole" slot to run through. The right blind had two bushes on each side of the line the dogs had to go through. This blind was about 75 yards. Kirby took one cast. The middle blind was through a key hole in 4 small trees. It was about 125 yards. Kirby lined this blind. The last blind was an angle across a road and tight to a round hay bale on the right. This was a 250 yard blind. Kirby also lined this blind.