Teaching the Blind Search by using a Ball

south central schutzhund training

This is a technique for getting a ball or tug-crazy dog to slow and actually look into each blind during a blind search routine. All of this prelim work is done without a helper.

Suspend a clothespin from the apex of the blind where the legs come together. Tease the dog with the ball, clip the string into the clothespin and encourage the dog to jump up and grab it. Once the dog is comfortable doing that, let the dog see you clip the ball on the string. Then sit the dog a few feet from the closed side of the blind, and indicate the direction you wish the dog to go get his ball.; i.e., position his so that the shortest distance around the blind will be in the direction you wish him to go. Send the dog to the blind to get his ball and play two ball with him when he brings it back.

It is but a short step to increasing the distance from the blind and having the dog consistently run to get the ball from the clip.

Now sit the dog outside the blind, leave him, and pretend to place the ball on the clip. Return to the dog, and send him to the blind.
Timing is important here: as soon as he leaves you, move laterally to the side of the blind from which he should emerge, and the minute the dog rounds the blind call him to you, waving the ball for his attention. This will encourage the dog to properly round the blind each time, and not simply go back the way he came in.
When he comes to you, play ball with him as a reward.

For the next few sessions, randomize when the ball is in the blind for the dog to grab, and when the blind is empty and he must come to you for the ball.

Learning concept: The dog never knows if the ball is in the blind (run fast and look!) or if his handler has it (run fast back to the handler to play!).

The logical next step is to have the dog go to more that one blind to look for the ball. By now he should understand the concept and sending him to a second blind should not present any confusion. When you set up more than one blind, do randomize which blind has the ball in it.

Learning behavior: The dog will consistently run fast to the blind, in anticipation of play, and run fast back to handler upon command. Hanging the ball/tug up high in the blind also makes the dog slow and actually looks in the blind for a second, which looks quite impressive on the competition field.

If the dog has already been properly taught to engage a helper without a blind search, the natural learning behaviors at the sight of the helper will take over when he rounds the blind for the first time and finds a helper instead of a ball. At that time the bite, not the ball becomes the reward.

Using the ball can also help with a dog in overdrive who attempts to skip blinds to go directly to the helper. I.e., you can continue to incorporate the ball retrieve with your blind search after adding the helper by teaching the dog he must find and retrieve the ball in order to earn the right to go to blind six and engage the helper. The quicker he finds and returns the ball to you, the quicker he gets to be sent directly to blind six. So if he finds it in blind two and brings it to you and comes front, you can send him directly to six as a reward.

Keep the ball’s location random, and sometimes he won't find it till blind five or not at all, but by completing the search he gets to go on to blind six.

Last Modified January 11, 2006

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