Teaching blind retrieves is critical to successful hunting because your dog will not see where many of the birds you shoot actually fall. Some he won’t see at all; and some he will see as they begin to fall, but then lose sight of the landing spot because high marsh grass, willow bushes, or other natural obstructions will block his view. The dog not only loses his sight line, but his depth perception is changed and he cannot tell if the bird fell 30 yards away or 50 yards away.

Please understand that teaching blind retrieves is something you work up to; it is NEVER something you start out with. Like many skills you will teach your dog, you have to teach them in order because they build on each other. Your lab must handle before you send him for something that he has no idea where it is. Included in the handling requisites are lining, hand signals, sit on the whistle at close and long distances, come to the whistle, etc.

The better he handles, the easier he will learn blind retrieves, but be mindful that this skill takes time, repetition and most of all, your patience. It should be practiced on all kinds of terrain and it is worth the effort. Watching your dog complete a successful blind retrieve will be among the most meaningful rewards for your dedication to his training.

I am assuming that when you deem your dog ready for blinds, you have already given him easy, very short distance retrieves in grass at least high enough to ‘hide’ the bumper. These are bumpers he saw fall with no obstruction to his view but he has to use his nose once he gets to the area of the fall. That is important because with blind retrieves the dog’s nose is key.

Start with easy blinds that guarantee success. Build up his confidence that he can find things he cannot see on the ground; and then you can slowly extend the distance. Do not set him up to fail. That means make the bumpers easy for him to find at the beginning, You WANT him to find the bumper quickly and efficiently. When he gets more proficient you can then make the bumpers more difficult to find so he has to work to find them. When starting out and he performs really well, even if on only one or two blind retrieves, stop the drill for the day and let him go home feeling good about himself. And like with most other drills, when he falters, don’t push it too far and end the session.

Just a few really good retrieves or a couple of really bad ones are often enough reasons to stop that lesson for the day.

It is very easy to confuse the heck out of a dog making a blind retrieve. First you send him back and he doesn’t do it right so you send him over and then back again and he still messes up and you’re standing there whistling and waving your arms like a windmill. Now, he doesn’t have a clue what you want him to do. That level of confusion should end the drill.

The tricky part of setting up blind retrieves is planting or throwing a bumper without the dog knowing where it is, especially when you train by yourself. It’s good to hide dummies before you even let the dog out of your truck. But always keep planted dummies far enough away from each other so the dog doesn’t accidentally run into one while really hunting for the other; especially while you are giving hand signals. That hurts your development of his trust in you. “He’s sending me over there, when the bumper is really over here! How can I believe what he tells me?”  So don’t put too many bumpers out at once and start with just one at a time. Be sure he cannot see the bumper on the ground from a distance. These are not sight retrieves.

No matter where you plant or throw a blind bumper, it should be in high grass or some spot where the dog cannot see it. The point of theses drills is to send the dog for a bird he never saw fall.

And, remember where you plant or throw blind bumpers!

You will learn that is not as easy as it sounds. Use a landmark of a tree, rock or whatever it takes. But focus and remember where you put it/them. You do not want to be working him to a bumper or bird that isn’t there.

In that same regard, when you plant bumpers, try putting out the same number each the time. If you plant three now, and four another time and six another time, you’re going to forget how many you put out. You will. Then you will either be sending him for another bumper that isn’t there (very bad thing) or leaving a bumper in the field (costly thing.) Over the years, there are still bumpers hiding in fields where I train waiting for me and my dog to come and find them!!

What I do most often when I train by myself is ‘covertly’ drop a bumper in high grass while the dog and I walk away and then when we reach the distance I want, I work the dog back to that bumper. With that method you can create the blind retrieve from any distance. Want to make it a longer retrieve? Just walk a greater distance away.

But sometimes, labs are smarter than we are. I often drop a bumper and walk away say 80-100 yards. When I send Ember back to get it, she impresses me by covering the distance in a straight line right to the bumper. Wow, what an amazing dog I have!! But, I think sometimes what’s really happening is we do this so much that she knows what to expect. And I also believe that she follows the scent trail she and I just left from where I dropped the bird. So while this is still a good test, and very good skill development,  she’s not always as amazing as I would like to think in this particular drill. But man, does it impress my friends!

That’s why it’s important that you work your dog in different areas under different scenarios as regularly as you can. You don’t want the dog always working just from memory or habit.

I find that a good way to set up blinds is to throw a bumper that the dog DOES see and send him for it. As runs to it and is focused on it, throw another bumper in a different direction THAT HE DOES NOT SEE IN THE AIR. When he returns with the first bumper, give him a line to the second one. But you’ve got to be quick throwing that ‘blind bumper.’ If he sees you throw it or even just catches a glimpse of it in the air, you just negated the set up and realistically wasted his effort and energy on two unnecessary retrieves.

So your timing has to be right. The more you do this, the more you will get the hang of it. And the more you do it, you will figure out other creative ways to ‘fool’ the dog when you throw the blind bumper.

Don’t throw these type of blind bumpers just on land. This is a great drill to work blinds across water. Throw the first bumper (that he sees) on land and while he goes after that one, throw the blind bumper to the other side of the creek. Then give him a line to the blind bumper. In that scenario, always throw the blind bumper on land on the other side, because if it’s in the water he will see it floating. The goal here is to get to to swim to the other side and get up on land to find the bumper.

Always give your dog a line to the blind bumper whether on land or across water. And don’t throw blinds across water until he understands the concept or unless you are in the mood for swimming.

Once you BOTH perfect blind retrieves across water, start throwing the blind bumper farther away from shore on the other side. Dogs like to work the banks and getting them to go ‘back’ from the water’s edge is a challenge. Work at it. The ecollar can be an effective tool here AS LONG AS YOU GOT PROFESSIONAL ADVICE AND YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING WITH IT.

As you extend the distance of your blind bumpers, whether thrown or planted, work the dog with whistle commands and hand signals you (hopefully) have already taught him.

This is a good time to remind you not to over handle your dog.

Yes, you want to handle him so he understands that when he follows your direction, he finds the bird a whole lot easier and quicker than when he tries to freelance. But… he also has to be encouraged to hunt with his nose and not look to you for direction every 10 yards. Once you do this, you will see what I mean and begin to learn to find the balance.

You also need to distinguish when the dog is hunting or just running.  If he is running wildly with his head held high, he is most likely not hunting. Yes, sometimes he will get scent from air currents above ground level but he must learn to hunt with his nose to the ground. Study your dog and learn what he is doing, when. If you don’t think he is hunting, do what you should do in other situations when he isn’t working well; shorten the distance and make is easier for him. If that fails, stop the drill and come back tomorrow.

I recall a duck hunt in a salt marsh with friend who typically hunted by himself and had no experience hunting with a retriever. Essentially he retrieved his birds by himself. We’ve all done that and realize the challenge of finding a duck, especially a still-alive duck in any cover. My friend shot a duck that glided and landed maybe 60 yards from the blind. I worked my dog to the area and he found the bird 30 yards from the original point of the fall. My friend’s reaction was, “Wow! We got that bird at that distance and without ever leaving duck blind.” The entire concept was new to him; not just the retrieve, but the fact that it was a blind retrieve and the dog had to hunt it up.

Blind retrieves make good dogs great and put otherwise lost birds in your hand. Hopefully you will include blind retrieves in your ‘how good is good enough’ equation.