Teaching Your Dog to Blind Retrieve

If you are hunting in a blind or in water, chances are that your dog is going to need to know how to blind retrieve. Your dog is not likely to see on sight the fall of every bird that you shoot down and will have to hunt for the birds in the blind. You should teach your dog how to blind retrieve in a way that will help him to get to the spot as soon as possible.

Before you can teach your dog how to blind retrieve, he must be used to retrieving and obeying either the whistle or the training collar. In a blind, your dog will most likely become out of sight, so it is good to have the stimulation collar so that you can lead him in the right direction of where the bird has fallen.

During field trials, obstacles are deliberately placed in the path of the dog so to see how well he obeys commands to blind retrieve. When you are hunting, you want to take the dog to take the straight path, avoiding obstacles, so that he can get to the bird and retrieve it. This will allow you to continue hunting.

Your dog, however, should be able to navigate his way through obstacles that may distract him or be unpleasant for him when blind retrieving. One way to do this is to practice the blind retrieve with your dog so that he understands how to go through obstacles to retrieve the bird.

In order for you to teach your dog how to blind retrieve, you need to lead him through the course. You can do this on a lead to teach him the line that he is to follow when retrieving. Once you have done this, you can then set out to teach him to ignore obstacles on command.

Placing a few decoys is a good idea when you are teaching your dog this retrieving method. He should be trained to ignore decoys as he pursues the hunt. You can use the whistle or the collar to help him understand what he should do during the blind retrieve. You should place a bird in the blind for him to find. Once he retrieves the bird with you, give him positive reinforcement. This is a good way to start him on his way with blind retrieving. He will soon begin to understand his job based upon your commands or the stimulation of the collar.

The more obstacles that you teach your dog to overcome, the better he will be at blind retrieving. He may want to avoid mud, cold water or even running against the wind when he is retrieving. By helping him overcome obstacles, you will have a better retrieving hunting companion.

Once your dog has been shown the way and you have gone through a few trials, you are ready to allow him to blind retrieve on his own. In order to help him, you have to have an idea of where the bird went down. You should then work as a team with your dog to help guide him to the bird. Like anything else, the more your dog practices the blind retrieve, the better he will become at this hunting aspect.

Geoffrey A. English is the Founder of GundogsOnline.com, the internet's premiere online magazine dedicated to bird dogs. Visit their site for more information on training bird dogs and hunting dog supplies including a wide variety of dog leads, shooting glasses, and Tracker Maxima dog tracking collars.