Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Friday, October 25, 2019
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That the Chesapeake Bay Retriever is the only native American sporting breed is generally accepted, but when you try to find its origin and development you run into a number of stories that may or may not be fiction. Since this is not a novel, they will not be told here.
The stories agree, however, that at least part of the development was from Labradors, so that can be accepted as fact, along with a note that by 1.885 a duck dog of tremendous stamina for cold water and hard work was being used on Chesapeake Bay.
The Chesapeake is not a beautiful dog, or do his admirers want a beautiful dog. The color requirement is that he blend into his working surroundings as nearly as possible. In the fall and winter the grass is dead. Thus the standard requires the dog be "any color varying from a dark brown to a faded tan or deadgrass. Deadgrass takes in any shade of deadgrass, varying from a tan to a dull straw color." Black or liver colors are disqualifying faults at shows. Chesapeakes work in water and have a remarkable love for it.
They don't just enter it, they'll plunge in with vast enthusiasm. It doesn't matter how cold the water is. The coat is thick and short and so oily it resists the water as a duck's feathers do. He'll almost never get wet all through. When he leaves the water and shakes himself, the dog isn't wet at all, just moist.
Qualities of the Chesapeake besides great water aptitude are aggressiveness, strength and memory. They can work all day long in the bitterest weather. They can remember the fall of half a dozen duck and locate them without faltering. They are not great show dogs, but they are peerless aides on waterfowl.
The stories agree, however, that at least part of the development was from Labradors, so that can be accepted as fact, along with a note that by 1.885 a duck dog of tremendous stamina for cold water and hard work was being used on Chesapeake Bay.
The Chesapeake is not a beautiful dog, or do his admirers want a beautiful dog. The color requirement is that he blend into his working surroundings as nearly as possible. In the fall and winter the grass is dead. Thus the standard requires the dog be "any color varying from a dark brown to a faded tan or deadgrass. Deadgrass takes in any shade of deadgrass, varying from a tan to a dull straw color." Black or liver colors are disqualifying faults at shows. Chesapeakes work in water and have a remarkable love for it.
They don't just enter it, they'll plunge in with vast enthusiasm. It doesn't matter how cold the water is. The coat is thick and short and so oily it resists the water as a duck's feathers do. He'll almost never get wet all through. When he leaves the water and shakes himself, the dog isn't wet at all, just moist.
Qualities of the Chesapeake besides great water aptitude are aggressiveness, strength and memory. They can work all day long in the bitterest weather. They can remember the fall of half a dozen duck and locate them without faltering. They are not great show dogs, but they are peerless aides on waterfowl.