Congratulations on the MH title on your dog.....not an easy feat. Your assessment of Chessies, however, is questionable. You've come to some conclusions based on one dog you owned many years ago. What if that dog had been a Lab with those same traits?

There are probably more misconceptions and myths about Chessies being perpetuated today than any of the retriever breeds. I didn't own a Chessie 30 or 40 years ago and I didn't see very many around to evaluate, so all I know is what I see today. As I've stated before, I breed Chessies. I have 3 of them at the moment. I have my male available at stud, so I've had a couple other Chessies here for breeding. An outfitter here in town has used nothing but Chessies for over 20 years. I haven't talked to him lately, but the last I knew he had 3. A good friend of mine currently has 2 and has had others that are now gone. I'm not a big time breeder....I have an occassional litter. Looking at my records, I've placed 41 pups over the past 5 years. So, that is the history that I base my evaluation of today's Chessie on.........approximately 50 dogs, give or take.

My Chessies are primarily from Field lines. There are some dual champions in their pedigrees and a few Show Champions....the pedigrees are typical of most any you will see from well bred Chessies used in the field today. Dogs such as DC Dilywn Stacked Decks, CH AFC Caroway's Wild Goose Chase, DC Westwind Rudy of Nordais, etc. dominate the pedigrees.

I've placed pups with a wide range of people. Most have gone to hunters and the majority of those were hunters who had just lost a Chessie or who had an old dog and were needing to start a new pup. I've placed a few with non-hunters who wanted a dog to go hiking and fishing with....family companion type of dog. I've placed several with women and a couple with young boys (around 12 years old) as their first hunting dog.

What I've seen from the Chessies I've owned and what I've heard from the people I've placed pups with is quite contrary to the myths and stories most of us have heard and read about Chessies. I've yet to see or hear of any of these dogs being aggressive. Not one. They are not tall and lanky, or short and stocky.....they are well built, athletic dogs. They are a slower developing dog than a Lab.They do not fully mature until they are about 2 1/2 to 3 years old from what I've seen. My dogs get along well with other dogs. I also have 4 Springers. I exercise all 7 dogs together twice a day. I've never had my Chessies get in a fight, although I've had two of my Springers nearly kill each other!!! Anyone can come to myhouse and not worry about my Chessies. We have a lot of visitors when we have pups and have never had a problem.

My Chessies are sensitive and very persistent. When you combine those two traits you can get a dog that is very stubborn....Yes, they will quit on you if you use too much force. Most people treat stubborness with force, which is the exact opposite of what you should do. You will find that many Chessie breeders are women. I think a woman's touch is what works best with a Chessie. Chessies are not for everyone. If a person is in a hurry, want's a dog that will be out there hunting at 7 or 8 months of age, etc. they will be better off with something other than a Chessie.

Are all Chessies from "my" lines like this? I have no idea....all I can base things on are the 50 or so that I've known. I have no idea what a Chessie from straight Show lines would be like as I've never seen one first hand. Here are my Chessies....