Where to get a chesapeake Dog

[yahaelk]

I am starting to look for a Chesapeake Dog but all I can find is these short ones that have been modified for the Breeder Shows.

I want a real Chessy, Big tall muscular, not short fat and round like they seem to be when registared to the american kennel club.

I know that there may be better bird dogs out there (ie labs) but i will be moving east in a couple of years and would like the chessy for hunting on the tidal rivers of the coast.

So does anyone know of a breeder that still raises big chesapeakes or have they gone extinct like the british bulldog with a proper nose like they had 50 years ago.

[rottie]

google Brian West he lives in the Syvan area,he used to raise Chesies for hunting

[jryley]

honestly man, i dont think you can in fact say "there may be better bird dogs". Chessies are pretty much your ideal Goose dog if thats your game of choice. Although a lab may be one of your best bets for everything (i.e. upland and migratory).....chessies rule the water and the big birds. And if you want a retriever that can double as a protector for the family, they do the trick nicely.

Ive had everything from shorthairs, to labs, to goldens and chessies......the only one of the four i wouldnt buy again for strictly migratory is the shorthair, the only two of the four i would buy hands down for anything would be a lab or a chessie

[Canuk]

agreed. chessies can be a handfull to train, and sometimes not so fun to hunt around other dogs (broad generalization), but they don't have an off button.

I've settled on labs but when there is ice to break and waves to traverse... a chessie is a nice companion to have.

[ganderblaster]

To the OP I like the way you think! Good luck I doubt you will regret your choice.

[simmered]

try stonepeake chesapeakes.

http://stonepeake.webs.com/

[yahaelk]

thanks for the input guys i just have one question

what happened to the chesies of 10 years ago, they use to come up to your waist and weigh about 130 lbs. now their smaller and weigh about 80, if i wanted a black lab i would get one. no knocks to the breeders as this is what the majority of people want. I just have a problem with a breed not staying true to its form and moving to the extremes but that could be a whole nother discussion.

Hopefully I can find one but the Canadian chesie club breeders all seem to raise dogs for show ie smaller not dogs for hunting the tidal waters like it was originally bred for.

thats just my two bits though.

[OutwardBound]

We have 2 Chessies. Dozer our male is 95lbs and Pocket our Female is about 85lbs. We got both of them from Mallardsway near Leduc. Dozer's partly from Brain West's kennel as well. Rocky his dad is a big dog as well. They come from Stacked Deck line of chessies. They were one of the best field bred hunting chessie lines, and they are all under that 100 lb mark.

I think you will be hard pressed to find a pure bred chessie over 100lbs. Dozer is a pretty big dog. Not so sure a dog with 40 more pounds would fair any better in open water. These things will swim all day.

Dustin

[yahaelk]

after a looking some breed standards on line they state that the chesie should be about 100 lbs.

oh well i guess that will have to do

[u_cant_rope_the_wind]

Originally Posted by yahaelk

thanks for the input guys i just have one question

what happened to the chesies of 10 years ago, they use to come up to your waist and weigh about 130 lbs. now their smaller and weigh about 80, if i wanted a black lab i would get one. no knocks to the breeders as this is what the majority of people want. I just have a problem with a breed not staying true to its form and moving to the extremes but that could be a whole nother discussion.

Hopefully I can find one but the Canadian chesie club breeders all seem to raise dogs for show ie smaller not dogs for hunting the tidal waters like it was originally bred for.

thats just my two bits though.

they still come in the 130 to 15LB range just look around,
I have owned 3 from 6 weeks old till they passed away wth old age, they take to retrieving instinctively , they are extremely loyal , to the family and its belongings as well as protective, they start hunt hunting the ruff stuff when a Lab quits ( kinda like a 30-06 vs a 300rum)
try McMahon's in ardrossan, the chessie is hard headed and stubborn, best to meet them 1/2 way when it comes to training a hunting dog , but you will be more then satisfied
if you are serious about getting one then spend the money bite the bullet and get one from a field trials breeder, even if you have to buy one from the states you wont regret it

[Pixel Shooter]

I agree, look south of the border and agree look for FT pedigree.
Chris Locklear in Laurinburg, NC is probably the best chessie trainer in the US, you want to know who has good dogs, look him up and give him a call, he will give you the straight goods. If I was buying a Chessie, I just wouldnt buy from anyone. Doesnt seem to be middle ground lol. Good lck

[7rem mag]

Brian West of Westpeake is a very good place to look. I would research the breed and find out who the dogs are. You really want the good field lines and I would look for dogs such as 'Coot's Gypsey Clipper", his granson "Gambler's Decks" as well as Caowy'a Wild Goose Chse, his son "Westwind's Rudy' and his son "Bertram's Balzing Firewater" and their off spring. Look to see if they have clearnces for DM {nervous system) and EIC (heart) as well as OFA and their rtings and cerf clearances and PRA clearances, both for eyes.

Chesapeakes are different than Labs in some ways, same/similar in others, and I will tell you this: the good ones are easy to train contrary to what the old bingo ladies who never had one will tell you, and can play the hunt test game (and to a certain extent field trial )as well as the labs if given the right dog along with proper training.

Chesapeakes also tend to be "birdy" and good markers. Good luck in your search.

[yahaelk]

k i will admit i do have a bit of dog knowledge but it is mostly to do with schutzhund style of dogs.

so could you guys clarify some stuff for me.

Pixel Shooter you said that there doesn't seem to be a middle ground when it comes to chesies. What did you mean by that?

7rem mag you said that Chesies are birdy and good markers. How does that mean in lay terms

thanks for all the input so far it has really helped.

[El Cazador]

We have 2 chessies, big boys they weigh about 100lbs and get to bout 110lbs in the winter, we got them out of Montana asdkennels.com, Alex and Stacey are great to deal with, do not get a Canadian bred chessie, with all due respect, our dogs are sheer power and raw hunters, they live for it. If you need any info or wanna meet Hugo and DJ let me know.

[Tatonka]

OK.... I'm no expert on the breed by any means, but I've raised them for many years and currently have 3 here. The Chessie is without a doubt the most misunderstood breed I can think of. In my humble opinion, there are some errors posted here and some misconceptions....

The breed standard calls for females to weigh 55 to 70 pounds and males to weigh 65 to 80 pounds (AKC standard). I breed dogs from top field lines and I'd say the average size is somewhat larger than that... Females averaging 65 to 80 pounds and males averaging 75 to 90 pounds is probably more accurate, or at least that's what I'm seeing (my dogs lines include most of the top field lines mentioned here.....Coot's Gypsy Clipper, Dilwyn's Stacked Decks, Caroway's Wild Goose Chase, etc.)... None of these fabulous dogs topped 100 pounds. I've had a couple of pups over the years that ended up over 100 pounds and my old Tonka (female) weighed 95 pounds, but those are the exceptions.

What separates a Chessie from the other breeds is not it's size, but it's determination and strength. Pound for pound, no other gundog breed can match a Chessie for shear strength. My Turk is probably about 85 pounds....I've seen him pick up a fence post and prance around (I have photos of him doing this). There is nothing a 120-130 pound Chessie can do that a 80 pound Chessie cannot do as well or better.. The few Chessies I've seen that the owners have said were 130 pound dogs were fat.. I know I'll get arguements from someone saying they had a 120 pound Chessie that was pure muscle and didn't have an ounce of fat on it... Bull**it. The general rule of thumb is that the larger the dog, the shorter the lifespan. Newfoundlands rarely live past 10 years of age and it's not uncommon for little lap dogs (poodles, etc.) to live 17 or 18 years. Also, the larger the dog the larger the chances of having joint problems.

Chessies are not stubborn and difficult to train... One of the biggest myths out there. A chessie is extremely intelligent by also quite sensitive and they are also very determined.... When you combine these 3 traits what you end up with is a dog that will quit on you if come down too hard on them, rush the training, etc.. They mature more slowly than the other retriever breeds, so it takes a gentle hand and patience to train one properly. If you look at the people who are breeding Chessies today, you'll find that the majority of them are women..... Take a look. Linda Harger has Fireweed Kennels, Wendy Shepard has Westwind Kennels, Carol Anderson has Caroway Kennels, Jane Pappler has Red Lion Kennels (all top breeder of dogs from field lines, by the way). My theory on this is that women do well with Chessies as they tend to have a gentler touch and are more patient than men.... I'm not sure if this is a valid theory or not, but I find it interesting that so many women do well with Chessies.

A Chessie has to be with you... Mine will follow behind me when I'm mowing the lawn and whatever else I might be doing. They will not run off and do their own thing. I board dogs here and have had labs here at times (I have two here right now)... Labs have a tendancy to roam and take off...the two I have here now I've had since June as the lady who owns them cannot find a place to rent that allows dogs, so she's out here every day tending to her dogs... They will take off if she doesn't keep an eye on them. I have two neighbors who have Labs... One is about 1/2 mile away and the other is about a mile away.. Every now and then their Labs will wander over here and visit... My Chessies would do that in a Million years.

If anyone is interesting, here's my website...... I have a lot of photos of my dogs as well as dogs I've placed with people over the years.. I only have a litter or two per year and they are usually spoken for before they are born, so I'm not marketing my dogs here.
http://stonebrokekennels.wordpress.com/

[yahaelk]

wow guys thanks for all the responses.

Duke and Caz i did some research on you kennel last night and they seem like great people. Just wondering what you thought about their breeding lines and why you picked these dogs.

Anyway i'll keep the search on.

thanks to all so far and keep it coming

[Pixel Shooter]

see you posted on RTF, great resource and some already good feedback! good luck on your search

[densa44]

I see so often people discuss the various hunting breeds at great length pick a breed they think is perfect and then don't bother to train the dog.

Any dog, any breed to be a good reliable hunting dog needs to be trained, probably by you!

This takes training of the handler, the hardest species to train, and daily work with the new pup.

All this stuff you have read or seen is about trained dogs, to get that performance you have to train your dog too.

Each dog is different and I dare say there are greater differences between dogs than between breeds.

A good trainer will get the best out of any dog. Try your best to be one.

Welcome to the club.

[artie]

three years ago I bought a chocolate lab. He was the first dog I have had in fifty years but he was my retirement present to myself. Then after numerous people came and asked me how I liked my chessie I started to look into them. Near as I can figure they have a curly coat, a long tail, a white mark on their chest and are somewhat stubborn. Mine does not have the curly coat that I have seen but he does have longer wavey hair that gets curly when he is swimming.. He also likes to bark alot and both his mother and father were barkers. I have more or less given up on trying to keep him quiet but one thing you can't break into my house at 3a.m. without me knowing. Just the other day I stopped at a service station for gas and someone asked me if he was a chessie so go figure. But I wouldn't trade him for anything and he sure likes to ride on the back of the quad and also likes to chase black bears and routed out a grizzly last month before I walked into it.

[u_cant_rope_the_wind]

if you are looking for a true tuff type of chessi wth size look into the offspring of Aleutian Surf Breaker, or the big guy these people have these blood lines
Northern Flight Retrievers
4965 Freemont Road
New Plymouth, Idaho 83655

Prairie Sky Chesapeake's
shanda mann
saskatchewan

here is another breeder of these lines
http://www.blackwoodchesapeakes.com
i had one with the aleutian surf breaker lines , I bought her from sagebrush kennels out of Idaho falls Idaho
wow what a dog, powerful , she would swim up stream in the mcloed river wth y daughter riding her, she also would stand between my daughters and the creek , when ever they went close to it and if they got to close she would gently take their hand in her mouth and lead the away from the waters edge, when i took her beaver hunting and i missed she would go directly to the spot the bullet hit the water, and she never quit hunting , if we were in the yard she would all of a sudden stop and look way off in the sky , we couldn't see anything but in a minute or two you could barely make out a flock of geese,
wish I had the time to spend in goose blind with a dog like that again

[OutwardBound]

Tatonka you took the words pretty much out of my mouth!! I x2x1000000 on all you said!! Very good info there for you Yahaelk.

Take a look through our threads and see our pics posted and stories. Our guys are Canadian bred from a local kennel and the beauty of the Chessie is that there has NOT been a split between show and field. This breed can do it all. To any naysayer on the Canadian side they hauled in 80 ducks this weekend from 5 shooters in 3 hunts in dirty nasty lunging/swimming/land retrieves as quickly as any dog possibly could and were raring to go come Monday. Not sure how a 130lb American could do better than that?

Pocket is from more working lines and to tell you the truth we all have a slight preference towards her 'get it done quickly with little direction and blue collar attitude' to Dozer's more slightly hotter field trial lines where a slower day has him amped and he's taken just a bit longer to come along. That being said they are both amazing gun dogs and this yr we are working them both equally. Both have Coots and Caraways, Dozer has Decks, other notable names are Pond Hollow, Beartown, etc.

You honestly do not need to spend a billion on a field trial line bred chessie as there are sooooo many good breeders who want these dogs in working homes where they will be in their glory. Find a breeder that hunts and has at least a few shows so that the dogs falls into the BREED STANDARD that has proven a healthy working gun dog who will live a long and healthy life.

Have fun!

Danni

[gunned]

I had a good run with my chessie for 12 years. Although challenging at times, he was very smart and capable. At about 90 pounds in his best years, he could easily pack around a big fence post. Couldn't keep him out of water, he'd break ice to swim. Extremely loyal companion, except he would occasionally beat me back to the truck when we quaded around for work, so I'd wonder what happened to him... amazing how he seemed to really think for himself. However, that got him into trouble a few times also. He was great around the kids, but I'd always keep an eye on them anyway, because he would just plow them over if they got between him and a squirell or bird lol. His behavioural instincts around water always surprised us, he thought he was a lifeguard too. He required a firm master, the more time spent with him, the stronger the one man bond became.

[rsako]

This thread brings a few tears to my eye folks. I've had 2 Chessies...both 'slightly' bigger females (around 80-95lbs). They are INCREDIBLE retrievers. Mine would even dive to about 6 ft or more just to retrieve the RIGHT rock i would toss in! believe me...the are unreal and strong. They swim with their chests very high out of the water.

And when all the hunters around you have dogs that cop out...release the Chessies and they will bring all their birds back too...even ones that you don't want that have been downed for days in a corn field....which can be a problem sometimes. And don't shoot and miss...they really give you "the look"!

Problems with them: 1. They have a water problem...you can't get them out of it...even a puddle. 2. mine had to be kept on a leash and released...because if it fell out of the sky...they are gone! even if it wasn't one of mine. Good way to get your dog shot in some places. 3. get one with a good tight oily looking coat or you may have to keep them covered in the blind on real cold days. 4. Remember what i said about the water problem..DO NOT get close to a whitewater river. I chased mine for miles on a camping trip! and when they come out...they run right past you heading upstream to do it all over again! scared the he*k out of me.

God rest their souls...They will steal your heart.

[7rem mag]

Originally Posted by yahaelk

k i will admit i do have a bit of dog knowledge but it is mostly to do with schutzhund style of dogs.

so could you guys clarify some stuff for me.

Pixel Shooter you said that there doesn't seem to be a middle ground when it comes to chesies. What did you mean by that?

7rem mag you said that Chesies are birdy and good markers. How does that mean in lay terms

thanks for all the input so far it has really helped.

The term "Birdy" simply implies that the dog has a strong tendency or desire for the bird or "bird sense". This "desire" shows in dogs with what is also refered to as a "high prey chase"

Marking ability refers to the dog's ability to see a bird go down and be able to retrieve the bird becuse of his sight and memory (memory is very important when seeing more than one mark)

You have been given some good dvice here on this forum. I suggest if you can to go see the dogs yourself and see how they work, what your personal take is on them. Good luck.