A right-arm Over cast.

This is the fourth and final installment of this series on the blind retrieve. The June/July column presented an overview; the August column covered lining; the September column covered stopping, so, not surprisingly, this column covers casting. (Nota bene: To focus on the handler's job in casting, I must assume that the dog is already trained. For information on how to train a retriever to take casts, see my books, Training Retrievers for Marshes & Meadows, and Retriever Training Drills for Blind Retrieves, which are available from the Gun Dog Bookshelf.)

Get His Attention
Okay, you've stopped your distant pooch with the Sit-whistle, intending to redirect him with a cast. Trouble is, he may have already made up his mind where he should go next.

He may not even be looking at you. If he's looking elsewhere, he won't see your cast, but on hearing your command (Back, Over, or Come-whistle), he'll take off in his pre-selected direction, which will seldom be what you have in mind.

Even if he seems to be looking at you, he may not be paying attention, so he will go his way, not yours, when you cast him. You need to know your dog well enough to know when you have his attention and when he's in his own little world out there.

A right-arm Back cast.

If you have doubts about the "locus of his focus," toot the Sit-whistle again -- and again if necessary -- to remind him that you're the quarterback on this team. If he's on land, you can wait a few seconds for him to make eye-contact with you. If he's in water, you can't expect him to tread water while you glare at him, so you should either cast him or toot the Sit-whistle again.

If a couple of Sit-whistles don't bring him around, blow the Come-whistle to start him moving toward you. Then, when he's coming toward you and looking at you, toot the Sit-whistle again. This will almost always induce him to give you his undivided attention.

Which Cast?
Dave Elliot, the inventor of the blind retrieve, offered only four very basic casts: straight Back, Over to the left, Over to the right, and straight Come-in. However, since then, retrieverites have developed many other casts, mostly to gain a competitive advantage in field trials.

First, they added four angled casts, each about half-way between adjacent pairs of the four basic casts. Then they created several increasingly esoteric casts, some involving such "whole person" body language that a field trial handler at the line sometimes appears to be doing some sort of ritual dance.