We had a great training day on Saturday. The thermometer said the temperature was in the 50′s, but it was windy and felt much colder. We put on all of the layers of clothing we brought with us and stayed for the whole session. We ran both marks and blinds. The last blind that we ran was a keyhole blind.
When running a blind, the idea is to direct the dog in as straight a line as possible. A “blind” is a bumper or a bird placed in the field that the dog did not see fall. The handler must use hand signals to direct the dog to the bumper or the bird.
Many things can affect the dog taking a straight line. Obstacles in the field, wind, terrain, previous marks/blinds the dog has run in the field, can draw the dog off line. Sometimes a judge sets boundaries for the line to the blind. If the dog goes outside of those boundaries, it is marked down or may fail the test. If the required line to the blind is between two obstacles, sometimes it is called a “keyhole” blind.
On Saturday the”keyhole” blind required the dog to pass through an opening between two trees. Keyhole blinds can cause a lot of mischief for a dog because the dog may want to go around the “keyhole”. To make this keyhole blind more challenging, we ran a short blind before running the longer keyhole blind. The short blind put another thought into the dog’s head that may pull it off of the correct line.
It has been a while since I have drawn a training diagram. Remember, it is very rough and not at all to scale. 
Freighter is in the early stages of handling and is not ready for blinds and we decided not to train Thunder, so Storm was up. We use orange bumpers because they are difficult for the dogs to see.
What Are We Doing?
We are running a couple of blinds Storm. Let’s go!
Shorter one first:
Lining Storm Up
Off To The First Pile Of Bumpers
The Pile Is Close
That Was Easy
I Could Do This All Day
Good Girl
Back To Heel
Now for the more difficult blind:
Resetting The Line (The Handler Uses His Legs To Help Line Up The Dog)
Storm Is Trying To Go Back To The First Pile So Her Handler Stops And Sits Her With A Whistle
Her Handler Gives Her A Left Angle Back
She Is Still Off Line So Her Handler Whistle Sits Her Again And Gives Her Another Left Cast
She Is Getting Closer To The Correct Line But Is Still Off So Her Handler Stops Her Again
Left Over
Her Handler Stops Her Right Between The Opening Of The Two Trees And Gives Her A Back Cast
She Took A Nice Back Cast Through The Trees And Got The Bumper (You Can Just See The Pile At The Edge Of The Grass Before The Plowed Field)
I Got The Bumper, But I Am Not Coming Back Through The Tress
That blind turned out not to be too much mischief for Storm. She did a nice job considering she has not run blinds in a few months. Good girl Storm.
I will have more training pictures throughout the week.
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Monday Mischief
Way to go. Great graphic. We love these posts. We learn so much. Have a marvelous Monday.
Best wishes Molly
This is so interesting!! Love the pictures too and well done Storm!!
Your “mischief” would be “work” for ME!! You are awfully talented!!!!
Mom and I know nothing about this training stuff, so it is quite interesting to learn about it.
The third time the handler stopped Storm she looks like she’s saying, “NOW what do you want?!!” LOL Great photos. I’m still so very impressed at how the dogs respond to commands and whistles at a distance. We still can’t get Daisy to come when called!
Yeah and on the next blind she gave up and started to freelance…lol. She was a bit rusty.
Great pictures! The left angle back picture is amazing! I am just in awe at how Storm knows just what to do when the handler signals her. Good job sweet Storm! Hugs and nose kisses
This is great…you don’t know how much I like watching a well-trained hunter run retrieves…it’s been a long time since I’ve had a dog to train for this, but I can remember the joy of watching your dog respond and be successful…It’s exhilarating…Keep the training photos coming please
Thanks a lot. Hope you got your fill of training this week. We have a bit of a break for the show this weekend.
MOM wiahes she could just whistle and I would stop where I am. hehhehe
Blessings,
Goose
Ah Goose it doesn’t always work for us either…teehee!
Thank you for explaining the ‘keyhole’ and by the way, despite it having been some time since you drew a training diagram, I have to say your trees look like Ents. And I’m perfectly fine with that.
I am curious about what those hand signals are, does the handler just point or is there a specific hand gesture? And how does one go about teaching that to their dog?
Happy Monday.
Nice to see Storm doing some work. She makes it look easy-peasy!
Way to go Storm!
Lovies, Miss Mindy
Nice job Storm! I love that shot of her taking a left angle. Great capture!
This is fascinating! What great photos! I find it so inspiring to see dogs doing what they’re ‘meant’ to do! (I used to love to watch my Brittany in the woods – he had no training and was full of mischief, but he just seemed to ‘belong’ there! And the odd time he ever pointed at anything I was astonished – it just looked so right!)
It is great to watch dogs working using their natural ability. I could watch dogs work all day.
Pawsome! Good job, Storm!
Good girl Storm! Love her look as she waits for the handler to give her a signal!
Wow, we are impressed, even if the blind was too much mischief for storm. Great photos! Looks like Storm was having fun “working”! Happy Mischief Monday!
I love watching both dogs work, but there were some pretty nifty moves that you caught on film of Storm today…..
Bert
I wish it was that warm here for us to train, 10 degrees yesterday. Great diagram and description of keyhole blinds. Love the angle back shot!
We had a January thaw. I am glad our dog shows are this weekend or I would be stressing about blowing coats that always seem to happen when we get a warm snap in January.
It is back to winter now and next week is supposed to get even colder.
I’m still shocked at how clever you guys are, no idea how you find those bumpers, I’d be off looking for some sheep!! Tee Hee
Wags to all
Your pal Snoopy
I wonder if you would find them? It is farm country…teehee!
Is the keyhole blind advanced training, that seems much harder to direct. I see from the dogs point of view; why go through when it’s easier to go around?
Yes advanced training, but we have seen them in some mid-level tests.