Issue: 17/05/2024
Kirsty Watts, who probably participates in more sporting activities with her dogs than anyone else with Chesapeakes in the UK, has now found “Barn Hunting”. Popular in America it arrived in the UK a few years ago, but is not widely known. Kirsty took Libby & Eiche to train, work and compete at a Barn Hunt International UK event, having a very successful day. 2 Instinct titles for Kirsty, Libby & Eiche, and Eiche is on her way with Novice! I wonder if the CBRC will take this one as a third activity for the Club.
Charlotte Westerholm’s (Sweden) has had tremendous success with Waterlover Krona winning BOB & receiving her forth CACIB gaining her FCI International Championship in beginning of April this year. Bred by Mia Bagger. In another country and on the island of Ireland Madelaine Cummings has also just gained BOB & her fourth CACIB making her lovely bitch Penrose Realta Eriu also into an International Champion. Fortunately living on an island the FCI do not insist that dogs travel to exhibit and win the 4 CACIBs in 4 different countries, but that overseas judges travel to Ireland. Madelaine said the judges that awarded Eriu her 4 CACIBs were from Argentina, the UK, the USA and Italy. Now what you may be thinking do these two lovely dark brown, similar looking bitches have in common – Krona is by Int CH Penrose I Spy and Eriu is by CH, Int CH, Lux CH, Dutch CH Penrose Incredible European 2019. These 2 dogs are of course litter brothers by CH Penrose Wise x CH Penrose Away With A Fairy. Well done to both ladies and their bitches.
These two bitches and their sires are probably the darkest colour brown you will find in Chesapeakes. I mention this as the subject of colour in the breed has yet again reached my ears. It would seem that there are those who do not understand colour in the breed and believe that all Chesapeakes are brown. The breed standard will tell you of the 3 main colours of deadgrass, sedge and brown. You could line up 100 or more Chesapeakes from the lightest deadgrass to the darkest brown with everyone graded one into another – no two exactly the same. Many breeds have specific colours but not so the Chesapeake. All must be within the brown spectrum, self-coloured dogs preferred, but there are many different shades between the lightest and the darkest. The lightest deadgrass can merge into a more wheaten shade to a dirty wheaten through to a light tan and then on into brown. If there is red in the coat the deadgrass will gradually turn into a sedge which may gradually grade into a red brown and then into a dark red brown. A true sedge, the colour of gold, will be the same colour all over. Unless a dog is a dilute it will have slightly different shading of the same colour which is usually darker on the neck, back, tail and ears. The throat, chest, underside and skirt may often be a shade lighter; you will find this slight difference in shading in almost all Chesapeakes.
Then there are all of the colour patterns, which are basically deadgrass, sedge and brown, but one of these colours will occur more pronounced than with a dog that has shading. We do not often see colour patterns in the UK. One of the most common that there has been is ash, this has been put alongside the 3 main colours. Puppies are born silver, as they grow they turn into a steely blue grey, gradually turning more pink ending up as a pale brown by the time they are veterans. This colour is perfectly acceptable and should not be judged down against other colours. For those people who are only recently into Chesapeakes I would mention that in 1992 Peggy Grayson was judging the breed at Crufts, awarding BOB to Christine Mayhew’s ash bitch Chesabay Crystal For Arnac, bed by Sandy Hastings.
The next colour we come to is brindle – full body, legs and head or part of. Some brindles will be very definite and some lighter shading. The most unusual brindle I have ever seen was at one of the ACC’s National Specialties when very nice people brought their pet dog along, it was an ash sedge with well defined stripes. We in the UK tend not to like the brindle, it is very common in some European countries and of course America.
Next is aguti. This is similar to brindle but the stripes are much wider and looks more like patches.
Next is tan points. The same markings of any breed that has tan points. This again can occur in any of the main colours – brown with sedge points; sedge with deadgrass points.
Hound masking. Most common in deadgrass colour, it can be in browns too but as the masking is usually brown the body colour brown hides it. As it says, it is masking on the head – some can be quite heavily coloured, some light and sometimes just spectacles where the eyes may have a darker circle or half circle around the eye.
Top coat colouring. This is where the coat is of one colour, more often you will see this in deadgrass dogs where the outer coat is of a dark brown colour, so dark that I have known people believe it to be black, but it is not – it is brown. A very prominent example of this coat colour was in Multi CH Cheslabben Dirty Blond, bred and owned by Birgitte Jorgenson. A stunningly beautiful bitch she was a huge show winner, her name says it all.
Much of these colour patterns will be in self coloured dogs, especially in the browns, but we very rarely see it until you may do a breeding that throws it up.
All of these colours and colour patterns are perfectly acceptable; no one colour should be put above another. Self coloured dogs preferred. So as a judge if you have two very equal dogs in the ring you may select the solid colour, but you must never judge on colour alone.
White is allowed on the chest (not the throat), toes and spots on the belly. We occasionally see dogs with a white toe or toes. At one of the ACC Breed Judges seminars JoAnn Colvin brought in an ash dog with all the permitted white in all the afore mentioned places, both the ash and the white was perfectly acceptable. The less white the better, but it is very common to see Chesapeakes with a white spot on its chest.
If you are going to breed Chesapeakes you should not be surprised when one or all of these colour patterns turn up, even when you breed solid brown to solid brown. I am sure Christine Mayhew would be the first to back this when a litter she bred a few years ago produced mixed colours with colour patterns. When shown, judges judged the dogs and not the colours awarding them very high awards.
The only disqualifying colour in the ACC breed standard is black.
People selecting a puppy or novice judges think that because they have heard brown is the only colour will not place a light colour dog accordingly, but have moved it down the line or out. I implore all judges to gain a good knowledge of colour in Chesapeakes.
Joyce Munday (Sharland), who started The Chesapeake Club, had predominantly deadgrass dogs, importing and breeding them. My second ever Chesapeake was a golden sedge. I have loved this colour ever since, it is a very hard colour to produce, as a result there are very few sedge Chesapeakes. We may all have a favourite colour but it is the dog that matters. Although, on the American points system colour counts for only 4 points in the breed standard, however when you see someone with a Chesapeake it will be the colour that first catches your eye.
Murray Armstrong was judging Chesapeakes in The Czech Republic at The Retriever Club Show. Judging Chesapeakes and BIS he awarded both to Kuchařova’s Dream Daisy Od Hošťálky, who travelled to Crufts this year winning the BCC, judge Dr Ron James, and in 2023 where they won RBCC, judge Jeff Horswell.
Tilly Thomas was awarding CCs for the first time, at Birmingham National, 34 dogs entered, 10d 24b 4abs. BOB & DCC Mayhew & Murch’s SH CH Next Generations Arctic Storm (imp USA); RDCC Mahom-Hunns, Hunns & Newton’s SH CH Arnac Bay Huron AT Bergelle JW; BCC & BV Mayhew’s SH CH Arnac Bay Flax; RBCC Mayhew & Middleton’s SH CH Arnac BAY Hebe WGC EW’22 ShCHx; BP Mahon-Hunns & Middleton’s Susqudilla Bergelle Big Apple (imp USA); BSB Hewitson’s Melseed Don’t Stop Believing.
Janet Morris
01873 880271
penrosechesapeakes@gmail.com