Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Chesapeake for upland?

Which breeder would that be? Westwinds, Chestnut Hills, Wildwoods? Please don't say Lakeshore!

Fireweed/Harger

I am wondering how you came to the conclusion that Fireweed/Harger is the most decorated living breeder??????

You said you are on your third, yet you say you vote against. How the hell does that work? Or are you just learning challenged?

I have trained one and helped train four others. I have been around many more. I have not experienced any problems with them and other dogs. Though I will say mine was more interested in kids and other people over other dogs. However she was fine with other dogs.

Possibly you didn't properly socialize your pup? Possibly bad breeding? Possibly both?

Add me to the club that thinks a chessie would be limited by their size and strength in the upland game. They are great hunters and strong swimmers etc, but in the warmer temps of upland bird hunting, I think they would tire quickly

My old hunting dog, Pitch, is a 67 pound black lab, and he is built to run. He has long legs and can cruise. We do not have good upland hunting in my area, but I really wanted him for the state stocked pheasants. He has not had to opportunity to hunt hard all season and really get worked into great shape, but he has always been very fit and healthy. He could hunt all weekend when he was younger and was great. But when you put him next to a true upland bird dog like a Visla or a Short hair, it was obvious that he did not handle the warmer temps (60 degrees) as well as they did, and he tired to a greater extent each day. He just had to work harder, and was darker. I think it would be worse with a big chessie, who was never meant to hunt upland. No doubt they have the skills, just the wrong body type. Like road racing with a 3/4 ton pick up.

My young dog (11 months) is another black lab, right at 65 pounds now. He is not quite as fast as Pitch used to be, but powerful and built with muscle. He can really go!

Captain Obvious!

I didn't see a single post that anyone said a Lab or Chessie could out run or handle the heat better then a Pointer or Spaniel. That goes without saying. Not everyone runs dogs in hot weather. Not everyone hunts birds hard day in and day out. Not everyone wants a Pointer or Spaniel for a dog. If a person wants a Retriever most likely they already know what they are getting into and looking for. Some people just like a certain breed. If it fits their bill for hunting so be it, it's a perfect match at that time.

However I will tell you that a well conditioned, trained, and fed Chessie will out run any person all day in the field. Heat can and will effect any dog. Some more so than others. They (chessis's) are not covering the ground a Pointer is expected to. They should be close working to flush for you. I will say that a Chessie is a bull in a china shop when it comes to hunting Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock. For sure a smaller more agile breed is better served.

One thing generally speaking to remember: Small dog, small bills and Large dog, large bills.

Best of luck in your search for a pup

MCH- GFY

Ok, I'm a guy that's had lots of dogs, and hunted over many others, over the last 45 years, hunted lots of waterfowl and chukars with all of them. Here's my experiences: First, I've only had one Lab, and won't ever have another. Not saying there are some great dogs, but mine was the worst hunter we've ever owned and the biggest pain in the rear of all the dogs we ever had. Yet, one dog is not typical of anything. I've hunted over some decent labs, but none that were exceptional. Just my experience, though.

Chessies are a different breed and trained diligently, as such. They demand to be worked. They are oily of coat and don't do hot weather well. I've had 5, though, and every one was different. They "can be" big and heavy, my largest about 95# at peak hunting condition. However, I've also had a few females that were in the 70# range, as well as one 80# male. My big male was the BEST dog I've ever hunted over, bar none - trained to voice, whistle and hand signals, great temperament with people (though not so much other dogs, as has been mentioned). However, in the 6000-7000 foot lava rock where our chukars live, his weight would eat up his pads if I tried to hunt more than one day without giving a day to rest. Pheasants we hunted only on the reserves and his pads were never a problem, and often, getting them out of the brush, his size was a help. With my smallest dogs, I would use a little "tough pad" every morning and evening, and even hunting a week strait every day in the lava rocks, was no problem. However, they were exhausted every night. Yet, if you are only hunting on reserves, I can't see that being a problem. Their noses were as good or better than most the dogs I've been over, and like you, I like a retriever.

However, day in and day out, our Brittanies (1), English Setters (1) and Vizlas (2) would cover every day with energy to spare, even when it was indian summer weather. Never a problem with pads because of light weight. The Brit was more ornery than all but one of my Chessies. The lab, setter and vizlas were all just too friendly and wanted to visit all the neighbors (even though we live in the country) and would have let anyone into our house. We live where multitudes of coyotes and the occasional lion might be around; I also want might wife to feel safe when I'm not home because the sheriff is a good 30 minutes away. Our last two females Chessies both filled the bill perfectly for me.

Likely another setter (one retired now) for me, but I'm concerned this might be the one that outlives me. However, that could be true on any given day of the 2 that own me now.

This is kinda like agonizing over Chevy vs Ford...

If you want a retriever, Labs or Chesapeakes will do fine if you get a good one and it’s trained right. Any dog, no matter the breeding, can turn out bad (not a good hunter, etc), but odds are much better from a proven line/kennel.

For a pet, I’d rather have a lab personally (I’ve had both). More “friendly” in general, coats don’t stink like Chessies do, and easier to train in my experience. My dogs all came out of successful field trial lines. I would say they were harder to train on average, but much higher energy and drive than “hunting” dogs - still very capable of hunting but needed to be trained properly. You can train a high energy dog to be obedient, but you can’t train energy or drive into a dog that doesn’t have it! My last lab was an awesome dog, would love to have another like him someday!

Also, I’ve hunted Kansas CRP lands with buddies for pheasant many years, and we always used labs. My dad has some excellent English pointers, but, while really fun to watch work, I prefer to hunt over retrievers myself. Some folks don’t have a preference, but some are just retriever people and some are pointer people - to each their own. The hunting part is, for most, a very small part of having a dog!

I saw one that was owned by some folks that just moved into the neighborhood give an, up until then terror of the area, Pit Bull a bad surprise. I don't think they ever tried him for upland but If his upland ability was up to his take no s h i t ability he would have been a great upland dog.

I think a general misconception is that a Lab is a Lab. The English variants are stocky block-headed and pretty calm. The American version, however, tends to be longer in the leg and often hyper, which will hunt the fields all day long.

Don't know, first hand, about Chessies, but I have seen some Labs do some AMAZING waterfowl and upland work. If anyone has ever heard of Rocky River Gun Dogs in NC, that guy has a bloodline of "Pointing Labs" that regularly dominates over GSPs and Spaniels in competitions.

Labs are supposed to do AMAZING waterfowl work. They never made a Lab yet that has qualified for a Cover Dog Championship or the Field Trial Championship. They may place amongst the GSP's and Pointing Spaniels, but they don't run for long against the good Setters and English Pointers. A good one of either of those two would have the field cleaned before a pointing Lab finished their first kennel point. Reverse the rolls and a three legged Lab will leave the pointing breeds looking for a pat on the head when it comes to playing the swimming/retrieving game.

Addition: That being said I saw a runt midget Lab work that had as good a nose as any hunting Dog that ever lived. He may have hit 40 pounds on a good day. He covered ground fast and knew how to pace himself. He would have made an excellent flusher on Grouse or Pheasants. To ask that Dog to shut down his drive to put Birds into the air would have plainly been wrong. Then again, I had a great Springer that in the end would point. But only if he thought you were out of shooting range. He had the game figured out, but it was almost near the end of his days. Both were extreme exceptions to the norm.

Dogs are pretty dam smart animals. You can teach them to do about anything within reason. But they are not going to outshine dogs bred for the task at hand. I don't want to offend anyone but a GSP is a jack of all trades master of none. GSP's are great hunting dogs for a guy that wants a hearty dog that can do a lot of things good. No GSP, Lab, Chessie, Spaniel, or Brittany is going to out point and run a EP or ES. They are a machine bred for one task and they are the masters of that task. End of Story. Chessie's and Lab's are on the other end of the spectrum, no other hunting breed is going to out retrieve them. Specially Chessie's when it comes to cold and violent water. Spaniels are flushing kings, if you ever have the privilege to hunt over an amazing Spaniel you will see that no other breed works in the manner they do. Every other sporting breed to me is a multitasker and not great at anything but does a lot of stuff well. I believe that the average bird hunter is probably best suited with the breeds in the middle that can do a lot of things good. Where as your dedicated Upland hunter is much better off with a EP, ES, Brittany, or spaniel. Depending on their style of hunting. A dedicated Duck hunter is much better suited to a Chessie or Lab. In every breed there are dogs that just outshine their peers. I am not talking about one off amazing dogs. I am talking about the breed as a whole. When you get your puppy you never know what you are getting. There are so many variables. Imagine if I had bought Elhew Snakefoot from Bob as a puppy. We would have never seen or known his greatness.

LOL. Shame on me for using the competition analogy. I apologize if I've offended anyone's experience or accolades in competition.

My point was (and remains) that since the OP was specifically interested in RETRIEVERS for upland, labs can bring enough upland ability for real hunting. I'll submit that it may be a certain bloodline or "one off" dog in the breed, but he seems to have several of them than can do it and seems like a capability of a retrieving breed the OP may want to research.

I don't think you offended anyone. Competitions are geared to specific things. Things that make those breeds that compete in the competitions shine. Hence why in the pointing world there are Field Trials and Cover dog Trials. As with NAVHDA it is geared for dogs that can multi task rather than focus on one prominent skill. In the retriever world it is Hunt test and retriever Trials. A Lab or Chessie is only going to be a stud in Hunt test of retriever trials. They just are not built to hang with big running dogs. They are also not going to hang with the Dogs in NAVHDA. But they can proved adequate upland hunting skills for the average foot hunter. How many of his dogs have been to NAVHDA Invitational Test?

I see a lot of Pointing breed hunters say that watching a Lab work is boring or slow paced, I'm on my first Lab and I constantly have to work at keeping her in range and slowing her down. The only thing limiting the ground covered is me keeping her in shooting range. Hunted from 8 am until 5pm yesterday with two 15 minute relocation breaks and about a half hour lunch break. Honestly, I can't see too many people wanting to hunt a whole lot more. Again I'm no expert and my dog may not be a perfect representative of her breed, she is definitely not the hulking block headed Lab you see often with duck hunters.

No offense here either. However, I run my Cockers and Springers often with some good Pointers and Setters. Now when I do that they are sucking hind because those others Dogs are eating up the ground 50yards plus out and they are good at the game. Mine on those occasions are covering ground they have already worked pretty good and being good they don't always leave any pickings. They do miss some and the Cocker may get to have his fun with them. They also get to do most of the retrieving because the Cockers are better at it.

I personally don't care what others hunt, but I acknowledge when I put the Merlot down alongside a couple good Pointers or Setters I'm not doing him any favors. On the other hand, he will leave all but the most exceptional 75-90 pound Lab or Chesse sucking hind when it comes to tearing up a field. And the hotter it get the more he will do so. That thick skin on both doesn't do them any favors.

All should hunt what they like, but there are Dogs built for specific Birds. Labs and the Chesse shine on the rough water and none are better at it.

Battue Merlot will leave even a 50lb Lab or chessie in the dust. I don't know that I have ever seen an adult chessie weight 50lbs but you know what I mean.

Butch is a 2 year old 75 lb Chessie thats just learning the ropes of waterfowl and goes upland hunting when I do.
I take him sage grouse hunting because He is my hunting partner.
Butch flushes grouse, I shoot em, Butch gets em. Thats how we roll.
It works, but I have to say there are better dogs for upland. The biggest problem is keeping him in check of 25 yds or so.
He cant hold a candle to the Pudlepointer we hunt with on the prairies. That dog will range 300+ yds and hold on that bird forever. I never seen him sneek in and flush one without his Boss telling him to. What is amazing is if the bird is even wounded but alive he points, if it is dead he retrieves, I have no idea how he figures it out.

If you have your heart set on a Chessie I say go for it. If you need a good friend they wil fill that role, if you gotta kill a limit of birds everytime and a dog is just a tool, then get a tool bred for the job.

Wish I could get the hang of this picture posting I woulld share a few.

I worked with two Chessies one year doing bird control work at an airport.

They are very much one person dogs and protective to the edge of safety. My co-worker owned the dogs but they were his WIFE's DOGS and it would have been very bad news to anyone who got too close to her.

But they worked. I mean worked. Very tough dogs. They were upland born/bred but waterfowl dogs by geography. They were flawless and tireless. They worked for me... just a human who occasionally cared for and worked them.
We did just about lost one in open water. She had her goose ( just wounded) and got stuck on thin ice.
I got a 911 from my supervisor and ran the boat over to the dog... but this all took about 10-15 minutes.. this dog was in the water, under ice, in the water a few times... but refused to let go of the goose.
By the time I crashed a path in the ice and got a grab on the dog's collar she was very nearly dead of exposure,
The goose was alive and that animal was DOG TIRED but after she warmed up she seemed uninterested in calling it a day
My boss was shook up and in shock as well.

'Sent them both home.