|
| First Dog | Dog Care | Dog Training | Dog Feeding | Dog Health | Dog Breeding | Dog Showing | OutDoor Dogs | Working Dogs | Careers with Dogs | Forum | Pet Links | Site Map | Home | |
CHESAPEAKE BAY RETRIEVER |
|||||||
|
Additonal Breeds Starting With Letter:
Pet Sites
 |
The Chesapeake
Bay area has been famous for its first-rate duck hunting ever since the
first settlers set foot on shore. Retrievers have always been in demand
by the Bay and, for many years, each hunter simply used the best dog he
could find bred from other dogs who worked well. The Chesapeake dog was
not an overnight creation, taking much of the 19th century to develop.
The oft-repeated
story of the breed springing from two dogs saved from a shipwrecked brig
is probably another doggy "tale." These two dogs, "Canton,"
a black female, and "Sailor," a dingy red male with yellow eyes,
were probably of the early smaller Newfoundland type and certainly did
contribute to the breed. But the fact that they were never bred to each
other assures that there were other wellsprings. References point to imported
Red Winchesters from Ireland, perhaps bearing some relationship to the
breeds which spawned the Irish Water Spaniel. By the last third of the
1800s, owners had formed an organization to promote and standardize the
"Chesapeake Bay Ducking Dog." Type was still a variant, with
the modern breed taking shape over the next 20 years.
The Chesapeake
Bay dog was a favorite of the commercial duck hunter who shot for the
restaurant and market trade in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Well-documented
records chronicle dogs who averaged a thousand ducks each fall. The icy
water and rough waves of the saltwater bay necessitated a dog tough in
mind and body who lived to retrieve. And the tougher the conditions, the
more the Chessie seemed to enjoy the hunt.
The "dead
grass" color was preferred, to provide a camouflage that blended
with the fall landscape.
His coat is very dense and harsh with an almost oily texture that sheds
water and insulates from the wet and cold. The head has a tendency to
be smoother than the rest of the body; just a hint of the possible stem
to the European water dogs like the Curly-Coated Retriever, Wetterhoun
and Irish Water Spaniel. Described as "utilitarian rather than beautiful"
and "about as sensitive as a Sherman tank," the breed attracts
serious duck hunters.
Bearing the
reputation as a hard head, he retains the mental toughness and independent
sin-gle-mindedness so necessary for his early work. Once the Chessie
knows who is giving the orders, he is a hard and willing worker. There
are excellent breed members in obedience and field trials, as well as
weekend gunners' companions. This is a devoted family dog who loves
children. Although most modern families could hardly provide the kind
of work performed by one early dog, who "all his life worked an
average of five days of every seven," it is necessary to provide
a Chesapeake with adequate exercise and some kind of job to make him—and
consequently his owner—content.
|
