I know what you mean I train alone too. I have to give Basil some free time and hope he'll amble on ahead (my throwing isn't up to quickly putting one out while he's on a retrieve in the other direction )
We're still mainly sticking to using tracks at the moment for blinds so he's not really needing to hunt yet just follow a straight line until he sees it.
In some ways our old 'find' game is now helping because I can send him into a small patch of cover (literally a 3m2 patch), stop him and then say 'find' and he remembers this is where he can ignore me and use his nose!
Although 'find' seems a bit of a naff hunt command he does seem to get it.
Thanks, will set some easy ones up to start with, and see how it goes. Thanks v much..
Sarah, its tricky progressing when you train alone (well it is for me anyway) so have bullied OH into coming out with me at the weekend.. I always let Chester have 10 mins to blow off some steam before training, so can get away with one or two, and then I have tried throwing one in a different direction when I send him out for a marked or memory, but I can never throw far enough, so its pretty pointless.. the amount of dummies I throw that go straight up above my head really high, then slam down about 2 inches from my foot!!!!!!! haha
You do better than me, Basil watches me like a hawk when I have the dummies with me so I end up alternating a bit of training with free time to wait until I can put a blind out, it's far from ideal.
We end up doing a lot of memory retrieves as a result of my bad throwing as I can't get any distance otherwise.....I've tried walking and throwing for a mark but it's not much better and Basil is quite uncomfortable with being left alone so far away so runs to catch me up (i've tried building idistance up).....something he never does if there's someone else to stand close by or throw for us.
I once threw one up the top of a 20 ft wall where it landed on a ledge just in sight, Basil was literally whining with frustration when I tried to take him home without it. Perhaps I should train without the dog tomorrow and just practice throwing
To start of with, I hardly ever use blind retrieves. Certainly not with a young dog.
I like to built confidence up on memory retrieves and 95% of the retrieves my dogs get are memory retrieves.
I do a few marks, but not a lot and if theyhave all the basics in and go out with confidence I sneak in a blind retrieve every now and then.
If I want to put out a few blinds, I just put my dog in a sit behind some cover, go out and put the blinds where I want them and I go back and pick up the dog. If the basics are put in, my dog should stay in a sit without me being there. If he doesn't, I know I need to go back to the basics before I move on.
You have two basic problems. Firstly getting your dog into the area, and secondly actually hunting that area when there.
If your dog is capable of running straight lines, and taking direction then that is the first part taken care of.
It's only when your dog is in the area that you use the hunt command, "Hi Lost" or "Lost there" or whatever you intend to use. Remember, you know where the dummy is so it's almost like the old "Hotter/Colder" game. When the dog gets near the dummy you call out "Hi Lost" and as it gets further away you go silent, possibly redirecting back into the area if the dog starts to get too far away. In time the dog cottons on to the fact that the hunt command means he is in the right area. It's often a good idea to "Salt" the area with several dummies so sucess is quite quick after the command is given, and also, using a corner of a field helps direct the dog into the right area.
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I know what you mean I train alone too. I have to give Basil some free time and hope he'll amble on ahead (my throwing isn't up to quickly putting one out while he's on a retrieve in the other direction 
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