The golden retriever and Chesapeake Bay retriever are descended from the same ancestors, the St. John's water dog and the wavy-coated retriever. However, they are very different dogs in terms of temperament.
The Chesapeake Bay retriever is a dog that is either loved or hated in the world of retrievers. It is the only retriever in existence that was bred specifically for retrieving waterfowl. It is also the only one that developed for swimming in frigid salt water. And, importantly, it was the only one that was expected to be a guard dog as well as a retriever.
Virtually all other retrievers were bred by the wealthy. The golden’s founders were high-ups in the Liberal Party in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The flat-coat had members of parliament and the founding president of the Kennel Club demanding its “improvement.” The Labrador was bred first by the Earls of Malmebury, and then it was developed as distinct breed by the Dukes of Buccleuch. The curly-coat and the toller were also meant to be gentlemen’s dogs, but the toller did have some blue collar support.
The Chesapeake, though, is the blue collar retriever. It was developed by hunt clubs and market hunters in Maryland from two St. John’s water dogs that survived a shipwreck in 1807, one of which was a reddish liver dog.
Such dogs never got to work pheasants on driven shoots. Instead, American gun dog fanciers trained their setters and pointers to retrieve. They had no use for a retriever whatsoever. However, market hunters and men who just liked shoot waterfowl on Chesapeake Bay often needed a dog. In America, the usual breed chosen for this task was some strain of Newfoundland, which means all the various different strains of that dog from that island. Audubon had a Newfoundland of some sort when he shot birds in Florida named “Plato.” This dog was used as a retriever, although he had to dodge alligators on occasion.
Retrieving Newfoundlands or St. John’s water dogs, which included some of the smaller ones, were a major influence on the development of all retrievers. In fact, all retrievers partially descend from these dogs.
The Chesapeake strain of these dogs gradually developed into a distinct landrace. Virtually all of these dogs were liver or reddish in color. None had black skin. All were of the brown-skinned. They could retrieve anything from even the roughest and coldest water.
Because some of their owners made money off the birds they caught and the seafood they hauled, they very much needed a dog that could protect their catch. Chesapeakes are unique among retrievers in that they were selectively bred to guard.
When the Chesapeake was first standardized as a breed, it was thought of as the toughest and most aggressive of all the retrievers. These dogs were rugged in looks and in character. The breed also had something of a bad reputation for hard-mouth, which further hurt it in the trial circuit.
Since then, the Chessie has been mellowed out. It is still a protective dog. It develops strong bonds with its owner, and it is still the only retriever that can be recommended as a guard dog. However, it is an easier dog to handle than it once was.
The Chessie has all the working retriever characteristics, but it also has a stronger temperament. I would put its temperament in about the same category as a Weimaraner. It’s not a surly dog, but it needs careful socialization and training to ensure that its temperament is sound.
However, this breed is very much a working dog, and its owners appreciate its very different temperament.
I know a guy who runs cattle in NorCal and uses Chessies to help move the cows. He says he’d take them over ACDs, Aussies, or any of the other hard-chargin’ heading breeds typically used for such work. Supposedly, there is a small network of Chessie herding enthusiasts, and certain lines known for being especially capable of such work. His dogs are what I’d imagine the historical Chessies to have been, before their ‘toughness’ and guarding instincts were mellowed.
Chesapeakes have some “unknown” dogs in them. I suspect that these are herding curs or dogs of the English shepherd type.
Murray River Curly Coated Retrievers were also bred for waterfowl or ducks, they were a meat dog and had to earn their keep. Many in the past had reputations for being fiece guard dogs. They are certainly good alert dogs although I reckon my current lass would go further… So chessies are not the only retriever originally bred for only waterfowl, I susupect the difference may be that they were more used in commercial operations and here in Australia that would be rare.
They are the only one in this hemisphere. They were expected to be fierce guard dogs that guarded the boats of market hunters. The original Chessie was like molosser in temperament.
If you look at photos of very early Chessies, it’s pretty obvious they were liver-coloured Curlies (which is to say, the Poodle/PWD gene pool) with a good dollop of something else in them, I’d guess mainly Airedale (which would produce not only the guardy temperament, but also that ripple-wave coat, at least per the old type hunting Airedales, AND the saddle/mask markings often seen in Chessies) and in some lines a little bit of hound and/or pitbull (hence brindle — and dogs showing that type usually are not good retrievers). Labrador seems to have been either very minor or not an ancestor at all; it’s not only a different type, but Lab/Chessie is an awkward crossbreeding at best, indicating a lack of common genes.
Goldens are basically yellow Flatcoats (in fact you can trace many pedigrees back to Flatcoats) with some later crossbreedings. Flats are essentially longhaired Labs with some setter admixture.
As to the Chessie “foundation dogs” Sailor and Canton, one was described as liver and the other as black, now given the type seen in early Chessies, what breed would that be, hmmmm?? They were obviously Curlies, which had been an established discrete breed for several decades already.