Chessies- What to know

[Downeast]

No they don't.

Everyone I had did. Chessies are duck dogs and that's it. They suck at field trials, and upland game, and everything else. They were bred to retrieve ducks in the worst of conditions and that is about it. If they do anything else well then consider yourself fortunate. Every few years my pond would freeze over with maybe a quarter to half inch of ice. My Chessie would go in the pond and swim and break ice for hours with her tail wagging all of the time. I called it "getting in her zone". It would chill me to the bone watching her. I never saw her shiver either. Weird as hell. I guess it was like August to her.

[Tha Dick]

Everyone I had did. Chessies are duck dogs and that's it. They suck at field trials, and upland game, and everything else. They were bred to retrieve ducks in the worst of conditions and that is about it.

That’s because people use the same ole stereotypical excuse. They don’t suck at everything else, it’s the fact that the owners let them suck at everything else.

Trust me, I know how aggravating it is to train a hard headed but yet soft temperament dog. It takes longer than usual and takes more care on when and how to apply pressure. Most people make an excuse because of the breed for not knowing or not going through the extra effort to train the dog to preform at said levels.

IMO, it happens more with Chessies and Boykins. When the owner cannot get the desired result (whatever it may be) they automatically blame it on the breed. “They weren’t bred to do that” “They’re too small to swim that far” I’ve heard them all.

My point is for the OP. Don’t be one of those people that blames the breed for not training to a proper level. What ever level makes you happy. People let chessies slide on aggression and bad manners more than any others that I’ve seen because of the “breed excuse”. If you don’t know how to properly correct or stop certain behaviors, get with a pro.

Good luck and enjoy your trip with your new buddy.

[Fish]

Everyone I had did.

No they didn’t.