The United States has only one native retriever– unless you also count the Boykin spaniel and American water spaniels as retrievers. We, however, have only a single breed derived from the St. John’s water dog. Of course, here, I’m talking of what was once called the “Chesapeake ducking dog.” We know it officially as the Chesapeake Bay retriever.
The breed is anomaly among retrievers. Not only are its origins in the United States, but it also very different from the other retrievers. Now, I’ve been told that curly-coat is like a Chessie, but I’ve also been told that Chesapeakes are an outlier among retrievers.
You see, most other retrievers were bred by aristocrats. The curly and Murray River curly had some blue collar roots. The curly was used by poachers on the great estates of the early nineteenth century, and the Murray River curly was used as a meat dog along the marshes of its native river. The Chesapeake, though, was the market hunters’ dog.
And that required a different temperament.
Chesapeake Bay isn’t the Grand Banks, but it is cold and stormy ocean at certain times of the year. To have a dog that could fetch shot birds efficiently from the sea in all sorts of weather, the hunters bred a tougher, more drivey retriever that would brave the water with little hesitation. They also needed a dog that would guard the boats and their owners’ daily harvest, so the Chesapeake was bred to much more protective than the others.
Some of old-line Chessie were extremely “rugged.” These dogs were really tough customers. They were often criticized for having hard mouths and surly dispositions. Some of this criticism may have been warranted, but I think some of the comparisons were unfair. After all, Chesapeakes are more protective than Labradors, but Labradors are known for being rather terrible guards anyway. How much of this reputation comes from being compared to genteel British dogs and how much of it comes from a fair assessment of the breed’s temperament is still up to conjecture.
Now, let me set a few things straight about this breed. I often read that this breed is descended from the Newfoundland, and of course, this gets people thinking of the dog we call a Newfoundland today. Actually, just like all the other retrievers, the Chesapeake is descended from the St. John’s water dog.
In fact, the Chesapeake descends from two of these dogs that survived a shipwreck in Chesapeake Bay 1807. There were two of them– a dog and a bitch. The bitch was the more typical black coloration and was given the name “Canton” (after the ship). The dog, however, was a reddish liver. He was named “Sailor.”
The two dogs most likely were not bred together. Perhaps they were littermates or close relatives.
“Sailor” was described as such:
[H]e was of fine size and figure-lofty in his carriage, and built for strength and activity; remarkably muscular and broad across the hips and breast; head large, but not out of proportion; muzzle rather longer than is common with that race of dogs; his colour a dingy red, with some white on the face and breast; his coat short and smooth, but uncommonly thick, and more like a coarse fur than hair; tail full, with long hair, and always carried very high. His eyes were very peculiar: they were so light as to have almost an unnatural appearance, something resembling what is termed a wail eye, in a horse; and it is remarkable, that in a visit which I made to the Eastern Shore, nearly twenty years after he was sent there, in a sloop which had been sent expressly for him, to West River, by Governor Lloyd, I saw many of his descendants who were marked with this peculiarity.
Now, this is where the story gets interesting. Governor Lloyd was a planter and sporting gentlemen. He wound up purchasing “Sailor” in exchange for a Merino ram. (This was when everyone wanted to have Merino sheep to improve wool stock. He was Frederick Douglass’s original owner.)
It is generally believed that Sailor’s line begat the Eastern shore strain, while Canton founded the Western shore line. These two lines were not kept exclusively by sporting gentlemen.
One reason is that Chesapeake Bay had a thriving market hunter industry. Shooting as many birds as possible for the fine dining tables in Eastern cities required a dog that could retrieve rapidly and with very little direction.
The breed became popular among people who liked to shoot. General Custer had at least one Chesapeake, and it thought “Sailor Boy” was descended from Custer’s retriever or retrievers. Sailor Boy was, of course, Teddy Roosevelt’s beloved retriever.
Much the most individual of the dogs and the one with the strongest character was Sailor Boy, a Chesapeake Bay dog. He had a masterful temperament and a strong sense of both dignity and duty. He would never let the other dogs fight, and he himself never fought unless circumstances imperatively demanded it.
Teddy Roosevelt
To me, this suggests that the Chesapeake was a protective breed, but nowhere near the maneater that so many old retriever books claim that it was.
Today, the breed is far less common than goldens and Labradors. However, as a breed, it is usually easier to find a dog that is a natural retriever. After all, goldens and Labs have been bred as pets for many, many generations. Chesapeakes are still more commonly bred for work. Their breeders have sought to keep their breed a working dog, and that may be why the breed isn’t that popular. And popularity can be a curse– just look at the average golden retriever!
I’ll be honest that I’m not a Chesapeake person.
I’m much more accustomed to Labs, goldens, and flat-coats. And if you expect a Chessie to be like one of those, you’ll be sorely mistaken.
Those years developing on the Chesapeake Bay as a guardian, meat dog, and assistant to the market hunters shaped a different dog than those softer British retrievers.
Over the years, some lines have developed are more like Labradors than others. I don’t know whether that is a good thing for the breed or not. The Labrador started out as a British estate retriever that later evolved into a field trial specialist. (Contrary to popular belief, Labradors are from Britain, but they are derived from the very similar St. John’s water dog, a Newfoundland breed.)
I don’t think the true Chessie purist would like to see his or her breed turn into a Labrador. I certainly wouldn’t like it if goldens became like English show Labradors. This breed has a certain essence that its most devoted fans can appreciate. If they wanted a Labrador, they would’ve bought one.
I do hold out some hope for the Chesapeake, simply because the fad breeders and the pet market haven’t really worked on this breed. It’s still pretty much as it was.
And let’s hope it stays that way.
One of the hairier moments I’ve had on SAR ops was when a whole pack of Chessies challenged our right to be in the woods behind their house.
My canine partner — no coward, but a peace-loving being –chose the better part of valor and sped off up the ridge, with my full encouragement. My dimwitted walker started yelling for me to call my dog and put her on a leash. Now why would I want to do that? She manged to draw the Chessies off and keep them occupied until their owner could appear and begin collecting them. They are fairly fast in a sprint, but nobody who wasn’t a sighthound could catch Mel.
The dogs weren’t doing anything wrong — from their perspective, we were trespassers — and I really did not want to pepper-spray them, but it seemed like I would have to for a few minutes there. And I doubt I had enough spray for a whole pack. They were not fooling around. Six angry Rottweilers would not have been more serious. I can’t imagine any other retriever being so formidable in defense of its territory.
“The Labrador started out as a British estate retriever that later evolved into a field trial specialist.”
No doubt the Lab is the number one field trial dog–here, in Great Britain, and in Australia, (I don’t know about European countries), despite the different styles of tests–and the number one retriever hunt test dog here.
BUT the Lab is also the number one dog in duck blinds, the number one goose retriever, the number one dog for pheasant hunters (maybe spaniels are preferred in theory, but I don’t think they outnumber), and the number one dog for those who hunt a variety of birds. Whatever bird season it is, when you look at the dogs in the backs of real hunters’ trucks, you’ll see lots and lots of Labs. (And some setters, pointers, and spaniels, to varying degrees depending on the season.)
The Lab is a HUNTING dog, most notably the hunting dog of choice for the “average Joe,” and especially a hunting dog that is also a family pet.
It does excel in field trials, but how is the Lab a “field trial specialist”??? I really fail to follow you on this.
As to Chessies–they are unique, and each one is unique. Those who love them, LOVE them.
I personally like them, but I don’t know if I would have the finesse to train one the way I’d want. For such a “tough” dog, they can be surprisingly soft! It takes a lot of skill to work with them.
If I wanted to know how good a retriever trainer someone is, I’d watch them train a Chessie a few times.
Labs are not number 1 as pheasant retrievers in the Upper Mississippi. The golden has long dominated that area. In the German speaking world, there are more goldens than Labs (at least the last time I looked, which was in the 1990’s). I see a lot of good trial quality goldens in the German speaking world and Scandinavia, but I don’t see as many Labradors. That’s probably because they are using English show stock, which are notoriously difficult (especially).
The only reason why they choose Labs is because there are so many of them, and so many good strains to choose from. The Labrador is a dog that replaced the wavy-coated, flat-coated.
I want a dog that uses its nose more in hunting (I couldn’t care less about marking), and one that is very easy to precision train for other disciplines. Labs are good hunting dogs for people who like their hunting style, but I like a swamp collie. As normal dogs, I’ve found the average golden far easier to train than an average Labrador. Now for waterfowling, I assume that Labrador would be better. But the golden is a far better upland game dog– they are almost as good as Springer spaniels and they are easier to train not to range out.
I’ve never actually written why I prefer goldens, but it’s the fact that they are just so easy to train for other purposes. The fact that they aren’t the best working waterfowl dogs doesn’t bother me. They and border collies are the easiest breeds (IMO) to train for generic purposes. You do realize that we have next to no waterfowl in this state, and if you say “bird dog” to someone, they instantly think Llewellin setter or Kurzhaar.
I am not a Labrador person. I know lots of people like them but they are not and never will be my breed. They just lack something that goldens have. I think it’s this sensitivity and eagerness, plus their “setterisms” that really get me. Behavioral goldens are less neotenous than Labs. My experience is that they do have a lot of wolf-like body language.
http://books.google.com/books?id=BLzDLvXXWoUC&pg=PA143&lpg=PA143&dq=neoteny+dogs+golden+retrievers&source=bl&ots=hiWiAJ8dDu&sig=HSG78sR_UeiyPqiL0YZ3kcQcSMQ&hl=en&ei=ILI9Sv6-DsqEtwe29MkC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9
The reason why I say it’s a field trial specialist is that is the breed that dominates field trials. I’ve yet to find one that is a good a grouse dog as a golden, though. I’ve also yet to meet one that really is easy to precision train as a golden.
The Labrador breed is the trial dog. If I were going to trial, I’d get one. You just can’t do with goldens. They are good gundogs, but very few of them are as good at it as Labs. However, put a Lab in a obedience or agility trial against a godlen, the yellow dogs will cream them.
The reason for the Lab’s dominance is that it evolved for the field trial. Had this not happened, it would have continued to play second fiddle to the flat-coat and golden. Remember, Labs continued to have outcrosses to their strains as late as the 1940’s. Goldens and flat-coats were in closed registries by 1916, and they were unable to adapt to the new kinds of trials.
Plus, goldens are pretty dogs with hair, so they just bred them into
I’m also not a Chesapeake person, because I am not a waterfowl person and I have no use for a watchdog.
If someone wants to kill me or rob me, he’ll just poison or shoot my dog. If I buy one that will guard and he bites someone, I get sued. So I’m better off having a useless guard dog and not risk the potential lawsuit. Not all Chessies are like that, I’ve met more than one or two that are like American trial Labs. I’ve also met them that were more like German boxers.
I mean no offense at this, but I am just not a Labrador person.
No offense taken.
BUT–I still think, IMHDAO, you sell the Lab short to say it is a field trial “specialist.” Lots of them–unforcefetched, water-cheating SOB’s that quarter their ways to marks and disappear into the brambles along old fence rows honoring their noses–hunt successfully every year with amateur, part-time trainers that wouldn’t know an e-collar from a two-way radio (and why would they have a two-way radio, anyway? they haven’t been training on 400 yard marks!)
At the same time, I think you VERY often sell short your beloved little red goldens in terms of their marking and trialing potential. The most impressive field trial dogs I’ve seen have been goldens! Red ones. With great noses.
I don’t have much to say about Chessies. They are what they are, and I really do like them, but unlike a golden, I don’t think I have it in me to own one myself.
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[…] Retrieverman: America’s Native Retriever — Chessie http://retrieverman.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/americas-native-retriever Nat’ War Dogs Monument http://www.nwdm.org [Attempt to create a memorial for MWDs. Organized by […]
I am reading your blog with interest as I am a chessie fan.
I have followed the breed in the UK for 13 years and have found that the temperament has improved but there are still some ‘wild ones’ out there.
Mine has a mind of her own, much harder than my previous labradors. I had choc labs which were a bit useless field trialling compared to the black labs, they just didn’t ‘get it!’. The chessie dosn’t do well in field trials for different reasons, because it retrieves the bird the way it knows is best with least effort, rather than the way you want it to retrieve. My girl will mark the bird, then run round the obstacles rather than jump them, pick up the bird and come back the easiest, if not the quickest way. She loves swimming but if she is 2/3 of the way over the pond when she picks up the bird she will get out the far side and run round the pond to get back to me!
She will instinctively guard the house and the van but is everyones friend as soon as I am there. A nice balance for me as I am often on my own.
I love the chessie as it an unspoilt breed, changing with the times in a good way, hopefully it will not become too popular, although I show my girl she is close to the original chessies whilst the winning show dogs over here do seem to be going the lab way….
Compared to golden and Labrador retrievers, you don’t have to hunt very hard to find a good one.
However, if you’re more accustomed to the golden and Labrador temperament, well, they aren’t quite that soft.
In general the lines of Labrador that produce Chocolates (at least in the US) are not working line.
Is it the same in the UK?