The last thing we did before calling it a day on Saturday was to set out a blind for Thunder.  This blind would require him to run next to the pond but not go into the pond.

Lining Up
Lining Up
He's Off
He’s Off
A Little Off Line--The Blind Is By A Tree To The Left
A Little Off Line–The Blind Is By The Tree To The Left
Stopped--Left Angle Back
Stopped–Left Angle Back
Stopped Again
Stopped Again–The Blind Is At The Tree Behind Him To The Right
Back
He Was Given A Back Cast But Did Not Take It
Stopped Again--Thinking About The Pond
Stopped Again–Thinking About The Pond
Right Angle Back
Right Angle Back
Heading Back
Heading To The Blind
Stopped Again For Control
Stopped Again For Control
Back!
Back!
Thunder Has It
Thunder Has It
Good Boy!
Good Boy!

34 thoughts on “Running A Blind”

  1. When you say “stopped for control,” do you mean you gave him direction to stop? And how do you give the commands from so far away? voice? hands?

    1. We use a whistle blast to stop the dog, and arm signals to direct him. Thunder’s handler has been working on controlling Thunder’s movement when he is way far out in the field. Because he is also a hunting dog, he can tend to go into hunting mode when he is close to the blind. We were working on that, so he was stopped close to the blind even though he knew it was there and made to sit before he picked it up.

      1. Thank you so much for explaining! Judging from the comment below mine, maybe you could do a blog post devoted to some of the technical stuff ? Pretty please.

        1. Sure. I have written a few of these in the past and will see what I have and link to them on Follow-up Friday. Then I can add to those. Thanks for the suggestion. 🙂

  2. That’s mind blowing to me how well he is trained and I was wondering the same thing as Sue. Personally, I think Thunder was just being kind to stop before and let you have a great photo op. Isn’t that right Thunder?! What’s a back cast mean?

    1. The handler indicates to the dog to go in a backward direction. I will explain further in Friday’s post. 🙂

  4. Yay Thunder! And so good handling practice for both of you…(PS I had a nail tech who would paint a wood duck head on my ring finger for every hunt test…it was my good luck thing 🙂 )

    2. I bet that was cool and a wood duck no less. Wood ducks have a lot of detail I imagine.

      Maybe Thunder’s handler should consider that for luck…lol.

  5. I have to give serious credit for running by a pond and not ending up in it. I can only hold out so long and then I am in the water no matter what!

  6. Great photo story. Thunder is as obedient as he is handsome. This was a lot of fun and I appreciate the explanations as I know nothing about training retrievers to …you know…retrieve.

  7. Yeah, Thunder got a duck for his blind! Love your background for your blog and how exciting 7 days left for Storm. Good luck to Storms breeders during the whelp.

  9. Thunder you are a good dog indeed. My buddy Bert would have jumped in the pond. So hard to resist water.
    Blessings,
    Goose

  10. Thunder is so gorgeous and clever! You’ve done such a great job with him. Love the new blog layout too! (sorry if I’m late to the party!)

  12. Great job! Just curious to know more about the sport… What does ‘running a blind’ mean? At first I thought you mean that he is fetching something that he didn’t see get thrown or dropped and he has to look for it. But then you said the blind is by the tree so it makes me think the blind is that duck he found.

  14. There is no way Misty the alpha Poodle would not have jumped in the water.

  15. Look for once it isn’t me asking the questions. 🙂 I’ve actually been thinking of breaking out the whistle again and using it at night. Two short blasts and “Cookie Time!” with some dried steak as the cookie. Working that emergency recall. Not sure how the neighbor’s will like it though. ;-0

  16. Pretty good self-discipline with the lake only causing a little over-the-shoulder look and not an all out dart-and-swim! 🙂

  23. Haha I love this pictures and a excitng moment for both of you. He really is sooooo well trained, itis really remarkable, shows everyone how much hard work you both have put in.
    PS- I know this is totally unrelated, but I love your background theme (I think this is the best one yet) and I love your theme you chose, though I am wondering did you do the extra and get the customization pack from wordpress.com, because when I try to look at options to put in the banner, I can’t upload my own, have to pick a default one, so just curious, as if so I think I might be getting that too! 🙂 Anyways you guys are great and really loved this post! xoxo-kirby and leah

    1. I have the CSS upgrade which lets me change the colors, fonts and rewrite the style sheet. For this theme, I changed colors and also had to rewrite some of the style sheet because the links were all pink and I didn’t want pink links. 🙂 I also changed some fonts. But you should be able to change your header without the up grade if your theme supports a custom header. Same with custom background.

      1. ok thanks so much for letting me know, I have heard and read some about CSS, but will definitely need more study before I am ready to use it, which is hopefully soon. Thanks for the detailed explanation, with my brain I need it…lol 😀

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