Water blind (run first).
The principle challenge of this blind is getting the dog to enter the small slice of water after a long entry of approximately 150 yards with the distraction of the prominent blind planter in a white jacket sitting near the pond, inviting a run-around. An obvious piece of wood set along the near edge of the pond strongly suggests dogs should not enter the water to the right of it, leaving a narrow corridor for success bounded by failure on either side. There have been several run-around with dogs missing all the water. Some dogs however need guidance to be left of the parameter stick that is on the edge of the pond so that they do not take too much water, a timing challenge for the handler. If the bird is missed when a dog climbs out on the far side of the pond, the dog immediately drops out of sight, requiring some quick come-in whistles to recover the bird.
Land blind (run second).
Whistles are usually needed to achieve the desired angle across the road and the preferred corridor through the hay bales. However it is the end of this blind that has caused the most problems. The variable terrain and the field of hay bales requires precision handling towards the end of the blind to keep the dog from over-running the and finding the hidden blind planter and his trail just beyond the blind. For some the end is smooth but there has also been some rough work at the end of this blind. The rooster pheasant does not always seem easy for the dogs to wind, especially the earlier dogs.
We have run approximately 25 dogs on this test so far …
