Favourite Set-ups: Picture Perfect Multiple Blinds (with a teaching bonus)

Favourite Land Blinds
In this series of Favourite Set-Ups, I have been describing only marking set-ups. In this issue, I will discuss favourite set-ups for land blinds. Previously, I have described several concepts important to consider when designing blinds. One of the most important is the idea of 3-Peats. Three-peats are a set of three blinds which emphasize a similar concept. The repetition allows additional opportunities to practice and reinforce teaching a dog to deal with a factor. Examples are 3-peats with a crosswind, angling a road or ditch, a patch of cover or crossing a pot hole. The concept of factor repetition in a set of blinds will become part of our Favourite Blind Set-Up.

The second concept for blinds is to seek a picture that the dog can identify from line. If the dog can look way out and recognize a line to a distant spot, then prospects are high for a very good line. The most obvious way to create a situation that the dog can look out and identify is to use parameters or borders to a blind. Remember, we are talking about cold blinds, so that memory blinds, marked blinds or white jug blinds do not qualify here. (However, use the same concept on those blinds to help teach a dog about slots.) Slots are usually created by physical objects such as lone trees, brush piles, rock piles, large round hay bales, gunners or chairs. I use chairs when ideally located natural obstructions are absent. Chairs can be used to set the other border of a lone tree for example.

Picture Perfect Multiple Blinds

The favourite set-up for blinds includes the concept of 3-peats and the concept of picture slots. The set-up will involve 3-5 retrieves, each of which have a picture or slot and ideally repeat some concepts. An example of this is shown in Figure 1, in which three blinds cross a cover swale and four large trees create three slots.

When it is difficult to find three slots and also repeat a concept I use mobile border definers such as chairs, gunners, stickmen, ATV’s, etc., in these circumstances.

Adding More Teaching

This winter, our training group in Florida is employing a new twist to the usual Picture Perfect 3-Peat Blind. It is based on the idea that early in the off-season, we ought to be teaching more and reinforcing basic skills like casting overs, lining past gunners, solidifying come-in whistle. The general consensus was that it would be good to work on a particular skill for about three days in a row and then to try and maintain with a weekly reminder session. However, our experiences to date suggest that our formula is suitable for almost daily lessons, perhaps throughout the season. Each set-up repeats concepts, has picture blinds, teaches or reinforces a basic skill but still includes challenging big league blinds. The dogs’ attitudes have blossomed and their skills have improved. We also enjoy doing these set-ups.

Picture Perfect 3-Peats with Teaching Bonus

Here is the formula:

1. Consider advantages of doing as the first set-up of day –

• dogs are fresh and in good frame of mind for blinds and for learning
  
• easy to set up and get started before all training partners arrive
  
• doesn’t require as much help as multiple marks
  
• fits with ending training session later with marks

2. Determine skill that you want to emphasize. Examples are:
overs
come-in whistles
lining through scent
running tight past chairs/gunners
poison birds
lining over brush piles, fences, across ditches, channel, etc.

3. Identify (or create) 2 or 3 long (250-400 yds) picture blinds. Ideally, they repeat a concept such as illustrated in Figure 1 or perhaps a crosswind.

4. Set-up 2 or 3 blinds to address your skill in #2. For example, let’s suppose you want to work on overs. You might start placing a dog in a remote sit and casting him over to a bumper (previously shown or not). After running a long blind, you might send your dog towards a slot, but at some pre-determined distance, you stop him and cast over to a bumper (perhaps 50-100 yards over). This may be repeated to another over. We often mark our overs with a semi-visible stake that the dog will identify at some point and “the lights will come on”.

5. Run the sequence of 4-6 blinds in a beneficial order for the stage of each dog. For example, with a more advanced dog, you might run a long blind second so that when you require a big over on the third send, you are more likely to get a dog that wants to just dig back. With a group of dogs the young dogs may have to be moved up to simplify the blinds.

Whether you correct or not, use attrition, simplify or help depends on whether this is Day 1 or 4 or 10 and the stage of the dog. Is the dog paying attention and trying, does he just not understand or is he being willful? As always, try to be precise in both your lining up and in your casting.


An illustration of the Favourite Set-Up is shown in the figure above:
1. Start with remote over
2. Get blind #2
3. Send to 3A and give over to 3B
4. Get blind #4
5. Get blind #5


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