The Three Graces and the Chesapeake Bay Retriever

I am so happy to introduce Sasha, the newest author to the dog blog. Sasha hails from the UK, but currently lives in Tel Aviv with her family, that includes her Chessie, Troy. She’ll be posting here now and again and I’m excited to have a fresh perspective from a different part of the world.

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One of the dog garden regulars (note: not a park, because it is a garden behind our local performing arts center) shares his life with three almost fairy-like Collies, who flutter about so elegantly and ethereally, I’ve come to call them the “Three Graces” as based on the Greek goddesses of charm, beauty, and creativity. Whichever celestial part of Planet of Dog they’re from, they have smitten the hearts of many a man, woman and child.

Including that of a bumbly, happy, muddy and wet (alternately) Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

I get a lot of “dog racist” attitude because I’ve stuck to a specific breed of dog, between you and me mostly from people who bleeding heartedly support animal rescue, but don’t even have a pet. But I’m sticking to my guns even though I’m not out there shooting ducks with Troy – that’s his name, by the way. Why so?

Is it the mad butt waggling that’s always seems like an invitation to dance? Perhaps the Tiger-like eyes, which induce a spontaneous outburst of “tiger tiger burning bright”; perhaps the “man at work” attitude when fishing in the sea? The way he attaches himself to a group of kids and its all play play play from that moment on?

It’s all that and more. I met Troy up with another Chessie and their attitudes (the big doggie NOW is highly manifested by Chessies, as their humans will tell you) were in sync; it’s a wonderful genetic pattern, trait, whatever.

And that’s what makes them such great companions, because they put you in sync with that attitude of theirs – and the actual proof is in me as in the last two years I have become bumbly, happy, muddy and wet (alternately).

I never thought I’d wake up dancing.

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All photographs were taken by Sasha. Visit her wonderful images on Flickr.

Chessie Photo Round-Up

Q: What kind if dog is that?
A: It’s a Chessie.
Q: ?
A: A chesapeake bay retriever.
Q: Oh, a retriever! Like a lab…
A: Uh, yeah, both are dogs.
Q: They sure are handsome, aren’t they?
A: Absolutely.



Photo Credits:
1. Play Ball, 2. Lincoln 4:52, 3. catching water, 4. STYLE, 5. Twiggy, 6. I BESEECH THEE, 7. Chesapeake Bay Retriever, 8. Dugan the Chesapeake Bay Retriever, 9. chesapeake Bay Retrievers, 10. American Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, 11. Chesapeake Bay Retriever Family, 12. Chesapeake Bay Retriever Family, 13. Chesapeake Bay Retriever Portrait

The Heart of a Chessie

That is the only photo I have of my mom, BB, but you see where I get my good looks. It’s unusual for dog offspring to have contact with their mothers after the infant puppy stage. The Dog Mom does her job, does it well and then she bounds on with her human family. I saw my mom only one more time when I was about ten months old. I was all legs and panting and energy. And BB wanted absolutely nothing do to with my shenanigans. She had her family and I had mine.

Most dogs are tough. Chessies are probably one of the toughest. Pain, fatigue and injury all take a back seat to the love for our family, the love of a swim and just the love of life. That’s why, when my mom started limping a few months ago, the vet prescribed anti-inflammatory meds and she was on her way. It was her only symptom. Who knew how much she was hurting? After a few weeks, her humans began to be concerned. Tests began and that’s when they found the cancer.

BB passed away on Tuesday. She had a great life and her family cared and loved her very much. I don’t know if she had been a different breed, if they would have discovered her illness sooner. But that is the heart of a Chessie — strong, stubborn and full of love.

Last Pet Postcard Roundup

September was a great month. I want to thank all the pets and their humans for contributing to this project! We helped feed so many dogs (or we will once the cards are printed and sent today!) I want to give a shout out to Nikki Moustaki for creating this great charity. I hope all these postcards have inspired you to make your own and send them to the Pet Postcard Project.

Chesapeake Bay Retriever Week – A Little History

For the wrap-up of Chessie Week, I thought I’d give you a history of the breed.

An English brig shipwrecked off the coast of Maryland in 1907. The crew was rescued, as well as two Newfoundland puppies named Sailor and Canton. They were bred to local retrievers, including the English Otter Hound, Flat-Coat and Curly-Coated Retriever. The Chesapeake Bay Retriever was created, one of the few American-bred dogs.

Chessies were well-known for hunting waterfowl in rough and icy waters. We could be asked to retrieve hundreds of ducks in a day. We could be in the icy waters of the Chesapeake Bay for many hours retrieving and tossing them over the side of the boat with very little rest. Gives you a little snapshot into how much exercise we need, doesn’t it? As a result of being in the water for so long, we started to think instead of just obey. Perhaps the reason why we have the reputation of being stubborn…

That’s just a little of Chessie history. We have our unique traits, just like most breeds. if you’re interested in a hands-on experience with all different kinds of breeds, you can visit Meet the Breeds. This is an AKC event at the Javits Center in NYC on October 17 and 18. There will be 166 breeds of dog (lots of cat breeds too, if you like that sort of thing), including the Chesapeake. Go, pet our wavy fur and perhaps, fall in love.

Thanks for hanging out for the week and celebrating my heritage! Woof!

Chesapeake Bay Retriever Week – The Happy Growl

A classic dog smile… we Chessies know how to smile like that as you can see above. But did you know that we also have a Chesapeake-only “smile” that can flip out the uninitiated?

This “smile” is toothy and comes with all kinds of vocalizations, which can include a growl or two. Each Chessie has a unique “smile,” just as humans do. If you don’t know this about our breed, it could seem as if we’d like to eat you for lunch. But it’s our way of showing happiness. Even when we aren’t smiling, we can be very vocal. A deep and throaty “roo-roo-roo” means “What’s up? Where have you been? I’m so happy to see you!” It always makes the humans laugh.

I give my smile only when I have a toy in my mouth, so you don’t see my teeth, but you can hear my happy growls. Many a visitor has recoiled to these noises, but they soon see I’m just a bucket of love. I don’t have any media to show you my smile, but here’s a little clip of another Chessie showing his lovely teeth, enjoy!

Chesapeake Bay Retriever Week – Chessie, Get Your Freak On!

**This post was originlly published January 29, 2009 and has been updated for this Chessie Week**

I haven’t really written about my particular breed yet, so I’ll share a little skinny on Chesapeake Bay Retrievers.

We love to swim and are known for something called “water freaking.” Any water that’s deep enough will do for swimming in circles, while splashing with our paws, snapping at the splash, and yipping with rowdy abandon! And if you call us while we’re freaking, it’s like we’re plugging our ears and saying “Lalalalalala-I can’t hear you-lalalalalala.”

Chessies can adopt this behavior as a bad habit, if humans don’t nip it in the bud. Sometimes there’s a gap between us learning to swim and finishing our basic training. That could be big trouble time. The solution is to tap into our retrieving work ethic. If we’ve got something to accomplish in the water, chances are we won’t freak. If you wait too long to give us a task like retrieving, we’ll use our independent Chessie minds and think up our freaky-deaky.

Bottom line, we need exercise, as all dogs do, for both of our mental well-being. Chessies have been bred to need activity more than some other breeds, so you have to get up and get out with us. Swimming is a great way to exhaust us into the sweet doggie oblivion of laying on your bed and woofing in our sleep. Don’t be afraid of the freaking. If it happens, there is no magic spell to snap us back to reality. Patience, my human, is all you need. And love.

Chesapeake Bay Retriever Week – Social Dog

Do you follow me? I’m @ScouttheDog on Twitter and I hang around Facebook on the RiverDog Prints page. Are you a fan?

With social media being all the rage, even dogs like me can have our own little part of the interwebs. How does that relate to being a Chessie? Roll with me homies…

My breed is fiercely loyal – we are a one family dog. We protect and love our family, whatever that may be. I’ve been raised with cats and kids, so I’ve been socialized to accept and love them. Socializing a dog means to introduce them to other dogs, animals and people. It can also mean to expose them to different social situations. When a dog is socialized, we remain calm and polite in most situations. It is essential to socialize Chesapeakes from the get-go of puppyhood. Our Chessie history has placed us with just one person, usually a hunter, and that mentality is ingrained in our independent brains.

When we meet another dog for the first time, we’ll make quick introductions (yeah, you know how we do it.) After that, it’s like the other dog doesn’t really exist. If the other dog wants to play, we’ll go along, but we’re always looking to see what our main peeps are doing. We won’t engage unless we’re the dominating kind.

Without socialization, meeting other dogs and humans can be a terrible experience. Chessies will either be excessively submissive or the completely obnoxious A-Dog. So, bring us out. Introduce us around and we’ll show you that quirky, silly and very active doggie that make humans marvel at our positive energy.

It’s Chesapeake Bay Retriever Week and it’s My Birthday!

I am eight years old today and as a way of celebrating, I’m featuring my breed all week on this here blog. Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are not as well known as say, Labradors, so I’m here to educate y’all on some of our great, and not so great, qualities.


Let’s kick off the week with how I look. I am 56, you know, and I think I look darn fine. But I want to talk about a Chessie’s characteristics.

See those green eyes above? As a puppy, chessies have either green or blue eyes which will eventually turn to a golden hazel. These eyes make it difficult to take indoor photos, as illustrated below in the before pic. But once those humans of yours figure out how to REALLY use the camera they have, you can get a nice representation of what a chessie’s eyes look like.

Frequently on walks, other humans will say “What a beautiful chocolate lab!” I’ve seen A-Dog and Shoes-on-the-Floor react differently each time to this misinformation. They used to get a little huffy and try explaining what breed I was and see how my hair is wavy in places. Then it moved to a quip, “She’s something like that.” Now they just smile. Do I get offended by some human’s ignorance of my breed? Not in the least. If I’m out for a walk and seeing other people and dogs, Dude! I’M OUT FOR A WALK! Who cares what people call me?

If you look closely, my coat is distinctive. We Chessies come in a variety of warm, earthy browns. But we all have this wavy look because we have a double coat. The top coat helps us repel water with its slightly oily texture and the undercoat stays kind of dry to help us swim in any temperature water. You can find me at any time of year swimming. It’s what I’m built for with my webbed feet and crazy desire for waterways. And yes, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are named for that waterway in Maryland.



So, come on back all week for more fascinating tidbits about Chessies.

And Happy Birthday to me!