Chesapeake Bay Retriever History, Grooming, Living Conditions and Breed Description

The Chesapeake Bay Retriever is a muscular dog with a lot of power. The head is broad. We see the muzzle is the same length as the skull. This breed has small ears that are high set and hang loosely. They have wide set eyes which are amber and yellowish colour. Their teeth meet in a scissor or level bite. Their height is between 21 and 26 inches, dependant on sex of your dog. Their weight is in the range to 65 to 80 pounds, for the male dog, with bitches, 55 to 70 pounds. The body is muscular and is in keeping with a working dog. The tail is medium in length and is rather thick at the base. This breed has webbed toes, which helps them when swimming. Their coat is short, with a slight wave to the fur, the coat is oily, which enables the dog to dry off quicker and swim in colder waters than other breeds. Coat colours include light tan, red, brown and sedge, occasionally, we see small white spots upon the breast, toes and back of the feet and also on their tummy. They live for about 12 years. This breed does have an odour.

History of the Chesapeake Bay Retriever: An English ship was wrecked on the coast of Maryland, in the winter of 1807. Everybody was successfully rescued including two dogs that were given to a family of dog lovers; these were Newfoundland dogs, and the start of this breed of dog. The Newfoundland dogs were mated with the flat coated retrievers, curly coated retrievers and the English otter hounds. We see in this breed, the outstanding abilities of the retriever, the enthusiasm from the Newfoundland, combined with all these breeds love of water and the webbed feet from the Newfoundland. The Chesapeake Bay Retriever has received some wonderful skills from their ancestors. Some of the talents we see are retrieving, hunting, guarding and more recently, competitive obedience, field sports and schutzhund.

Temperament: The Chesapeake Bay Retriever breed is highly trainable, willing and able to please. Training can be slow sometimes on learning new training commands. Here we have a dog that is great with children, and is a very friendly dog. This breed has a lifelong passion for water. They love nothing better than swimming and retrieving. It is to be remembered, this is a working dog, and therefore, needs consistent leadership. However, a kindly approach is the best way for this dog to learn, this breed is not recommended as a first dog. This breed can be very dominant, and so needs an experienced handler, offering training, and lots of it, consistently or this breed can become headstrong. If the balance is maintained as the human being a good strong leader with the dog firmly but fairly in its place it should belong, and the human as the alpha, both the dog and owner will be happy and content. This breed is slow to mature. This is a dog that is happy, and can show this with "speaking" their greetings. Socialize this dog well which will help the dog to gain skills and accepting new things.

Health issues: The Chesapeake Bay Retriever breed can be prone to hip dysplasia, Willbrand disease, entropia, retinal atrophy.

Grooming: Bathing can be done, but only if really needed, as the oils in their coat can be striped. This breed needs brushing weekly just to remove lose hairs and debris.

Living conditions: The Chesapeake Bay Retriever dog is not recommended to apartment life. Needing a good sized garden as it is an active dog. This dog enjoys sleeping out doors, but needs to be a member of the family.