Blinds

written by Butch Goodwin
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Northern Flight Retrievers  
The Retriever Journal Aug./Sept  20004

Anyone just glancing at this column’s title might be expecting to read something profound that I have to say about blind retrieves, casting, lining, or handling - well, you have come to the right church but you’re in the wrong pew. This column is about hunting blinds - you know, camouflage, concealment, scootch down so the ducks don’t see you sort of thing. And, more specifically, it is concerned with familiarizing your dog with working from under a cover or hidden inside of a "dog blind." 

  I’m not going to take up space evangelizing as to whether a blind to conceal your dog is totally necessary; there are differing points of view. Some very knowledgeable dog men claim that a visible dog is an attraction to waterfowl; others want a dog that is completely hidden from sight. It’s a judgment call that only you can make based on your personal hunting. 

  I will tell you that every year, I get increasing numbers of requests from guides and hunters alike asking that, in addition to teaching their retriever basic foundational hunting training, I also teach their dog to work from some sort of concealment. That concealment might be an actual blind specifically built for a dog, or simply teaching the dog to lie down and remain motionless while covered by a camo cloth or a burlap sack.

  So it is up to you to make the final decision. But from my personal experience, whether a dog is in the open or not doesn’t much seem to matter. What does matter is that he remain motionless and silent and not start heading toward the decoys or running around when the action gets hot and the birds are thinking of making a commitment to land.

  Introducing a dog to working from any kind of concealment has to start with basic obedience training - and has to start long before the birds begin to migrate. Field trial and hunt test trainers use the term "line manners" to describe a dog that will heel to the line, sit when told, remain steady and watch while the birds are shot or thrown, and leave the handler’s side only when sent for a retrieve. And for lack of a better term, "line manners" are exactly what a hunting retriever must have instilled in him before he can be taught to work from a blind. Some of the actual procedures that a hunter requires may he a bit different for his dog from those expected of a dog in competition, but they all evolve from the same basic and unquestioned obedience drills.

  Perhaps the most important thing that’s different is teaching the dog to lie down on command and without question. There are a great many dog obedience books that include teaching a dog to lie down, so I won’t go into it in great detail. But I will add that the dog should be taught to lie down "squarely," with all four feet under him, like a sheep or cattle dog ready to spring. Lying down with his feet off to the side is called a "lazy down," and is indicative of a dog that is lying down to relax rather than ready to work.

Mike Ernst hunts Canada geese with his Chesapeake, Josey, lying near his Final Approach blind clearly visible in a wide-open Iowa stubblefleld. Mike says, before ever taking the dog the field, it is imperative to make sure that the dog responds to the ‘down’ command on a lead and that he is unquestionably steady to marks being thrown and birds shot in a training situation. It helps for the dog to respond not just to the verbal ‘down’ but also to some sort of a hand signal for 'down’ as well. For instance you might be out in the dekes re-arranging them, and if you have birds suddenly appear (as often happens with late season geese that might not be as vocal) and if the dog is not right by your side, it is helpful to be able to give a quick shout to get his attention and then give the verbal or hand signal for 'down."’

Steadiness that comes from a few days of "on-the-job training is a prerequisite for a dog working out of a blind on a boat.

  Mike goes on, "After making sure Josey was very solid on the ‘down’ command in training, the next thing I did was to set my blind up in the yard and sit in it. I would then tell her to 'heel’ so she would come to my left side and sit outside the blind - I wanted her to get used to being next the blind on my left side with me inside the blind. Once I got her used to that, I would tell her, ‘Down,’ and I would lie down in my blind. I also have a piece of camo burlap that I sometimes put along the side of the blind for her to lie on or cover her over, depending on the amount and type of cover in the field.

  "The first couple of times I took her the field," Mike continues, "she was already very reliable on her commands and her steadiness, but, just for insurance, I took a tie-out stake - one of those types that you screw into the ground. I attached a black traffic leash about twelve feet long with a quick bolt snap release. I would get my blind set up and put the stake in next to it and clip her to it, since I wasn’t sure how she would react in a real hunting situation with birds flying, loud calling coming from the blind, the blind flipping open, shooting, and birds dropping out of the sky. You can’t honestly simulate all of those things in training. The twelve-foot lead is a perfect size because the dog finds it easy to lie down. 

Teaching a dog to go into a blind should be no problem if he has been taught to "kennel" into a crate.

  "The only problem with this setup is releasing the dog after you shoot. Obviously, you have to reach over and unclip the snap, which can he a problem if you have a dog that is lunging to go. I only had to use the tie-out stake for the first couple of hunts. Then finally when I took her out without it, she did really well lying next to the blind on her own. I think the big thing is to really practice all of this with the dog both before going to the field and on the first few trips. And be willing to tolerate a little movement - at least while the dog is in the learning stage. I figured I’d rather take her along, do some on-the-job training, and risk that her movement might flare a few birds, rather than sitting out there in the field all by myself." 

Every year, I teach a few dogs to work from a variety of the actual dog blinds that are available from various manufacturers. I find that this really isn’t too different from teaching them to go into a dog crate and lie down. As a matter of fact, before I had one of these factory made dog blinds, I used a travel crate with the door removed for this training. 

  We start the training with teaching or reinforcing the "down" command. Once the dog is reliable at lying down when told, we teach him to enter the blind by using the same "kennel" command that he has been taught to get into a crate in the truck. It’s pretty simple to tell the dog to "kennel" and then "down" and "stay." 

Given the "down" and "stay" commands, this dog is ready to watch for marks and work out of his blind.

  If the dog’s steadiness to thrown marks and shot birds is solid, it isn’t much of a transition for him to learn to stay put in the blind. If the dog needs further reinforcement on steadiness, it is simply a matter of attaching a rope and having someone stand behind the blind or crate to stop his break if he exits before being sent. Then, after the dog is reliable at working out of the blind, it’s important to put him into situations that as closely as possible simulate actual hunting conditions. 

  To reinforce training and to try to replicate his field-hunting conditions as closely as possible, Ken Parrott in Ohio also finds that it is important to practice in his yard and in the field before the season opens. 

  Ken says, "I spend lots of time on ‘practical practice.’ The biggest challenge that a dog has to face is the very close shot, and, more importantly, birds are usually right in your face and possibly trying to land on top of you. That makes it pretty tempting for a dog to break out of the blind, even before any shots are fired. So, to simulate this as closely as I can, I have someone hide and throw dead birds mixed in with a few live, shackled pigeons right toward us while I shoot at them with a blank pistol." 

  For the hunters whose dogs must also work from a blind that is mounted on their boat, the training is not much different - but there can be transition problems when going from the yard or field to working off of the boat. Mark Reilly hunts divers from his duck boat on the lower Columbia River in Oregon. Mark says, "As far as getting my dog to sit steady on the boat, I pretty much had to take a few hunts off to train her. I tried but was never really able to duplicate the excitement while training in the field that happens on the water when guns are blazing and birds are falling. She would break and hit the water; something just didn’t seem to transfer from training on land to working out of the boat. Anyway, it just took a few trips where I focused more on the dog than on shooting." 

  So if you are a hunter who wants his dog to work from some sort of a dog hide (as I have heard them called in the South), the training necessary is simply an extension of the obedience and steadying drills that your dog should already be familiar with. And then think about taking a few days of actually hunting and let your buddies handle the shooting while you do some "on-the-job training."