Two bumpers and a blind.  Sounds easy, but not always.  For the second set-up on Saturday the dogs watched two bumpers thrown in the field and then turned almost 90 degrees to run a blind before retrieving the bumpers.

Anytime a dog has to take its eyes off the bumpers, it adds difficulty to the retrieve.  This is a diagram of the setup.

Freighter ran this as the diagram shows, but it could be simplified for younger dogs.  It could be run as a double and blind retrieve after the double.  It could be run as 2 singles with or without the blind.  Handlers could change position to make the blind a little easier.  There were many ways to run this depending on the training level of the dog.

Here is Freighter’s try in photos:

You can see Freighter is resisting making the turn because he has his mind on retrieving bumpers.  The handler must use his body position and verbal cues to turn the dog.  Touching the dog or their collar would not be allowed at a test.

Dogs do not watch a bumper thrown for a blind retrieve.  The bumper is placed out in the field and the dog must rely on their handler, using arms signals and/or verbal cues, to direct the dog to the bumper.

Freighter could have taken a tighter line to the blind, but he is just getting back after a long break in training, so you pick your battles.  Taking a long time to complete a blind can muddle the dog’s memory of the marks which he still has to pick up.  Come April, Freighter may be required to have a tighter line.

After Freighter completed the blind, he was lined up to retrieve the two bumpers in the field.

Hubby knew that Freighter was going to have trouble with the last bumper (#1).  He worked to try to line him up to it.  Freighter kept lining up to the bumper he had retrieved in the previous series or he would over correct and line up to the bumper he had just picked up (#2).  A more experienced dog will allow their handler to line them up and then follow the line.  But Freighter is still learning and he is a Chesapeake so of course he knows better than anyone where the bumpers are.

He blew this and tried to go to an old fall (old fall-a spot he had already retrieved a bumper), so needed a handle to put him back on course.  By the end of last summer he was doing complex triples and needs to get back into the swing.  We typically see this kind of back-sliding in our dogs’ training after a period of layoff.

The other issue that may have been messing with Freighter is that the long marks were hand thrown to the tree line at the back of the field.  We do not typically throw marks up next to tree lines because where we train there are not many tree lines.  Also, we use wingers which usually give more height so he may not have marked these bumpers well.  The other issue Freighter has is that Freighter gets excited so he doesn’t always sit and mark (just look at the placement of the bumper so he can remember) because he is anxious for the next one.  This is something we had to work on last year and we will need to refresh this year.  Freighter will be seeing more two bumpers and a blind.