Issue: 15/11/2024
When everything seems to run smoothly we tend not to be bothered in thinking is it or it is not. Once a club has an established calendar of events which seems to work one year can roll into the next and so on. Implied that I am only an ‘Ordinary Member’, not knowing that there were those that were above being an Ordinary Member I have not felt the need to challenge the running of the Chesapeake Club. When there were events that I was interested in and I could attend I would and when not convenient I did not.
When I started the club in the early 80s with two other ladies I believed it was for the interest of the fanciers and for the benefit of the breed, in creating a bigger gene pool, encouraging the competitive working ability of the breed in field trials and working tests and in breeding a healthy, happy dog, that conformed to the breed standard. As a founder committee member I gave my all for the first fifteen years, which on reflection was ten years too much, but I was keen and dedicated. I am now a strong believer that new blood is so important bringing in new ideas, energy and enthusiasm and not hanging about like a dead mans suit that has lost its style! In the past five or six years I have become more and more distressed by the number of owners and other ordinary members that feel the club is being run by a few for a few. Two years ago it was necessary for me to change my email address, this was a real pain as there were hundreds of people, clubs and organisations and official bodies that I needed to update my details with. One of these was the Chesapeake Club, seeming to accept my new email address I would have presumed that this would have been accepted by all aspects of the club. It was not until the secretary of another club told me she had failed to contact me by email (on my old one). This gave me reason to start to look more closely at the judges list. I was surprised that the BEC who had my changed email address and was using it failed to amend it on the judges list, this BEC has since left the committee. I was also surprised by how many new judges there were on the list in the past few years, how many I and others do not know, wondering where they all came from, why and were they really interested in Chesapeakes or were Chesapeakes a quick fix breed enroute to becoming a group judge. World renowned breed specialist Dyane Baldwin ‘Pondhollow Chesapeakes USA’ has said time and again to judge Chesapeakes properly you really have to like them. Looking at our judges list how many of these judges really like Chesapeakes? What a disaster for our breed when candidates can complete on online seminar and then judge without every putting a hand on a dog. Much of structure, balance and proportions can be observed from a silhouette photo but muscle, barrel ribs, movement, tail carriage and action, ears on the move, temperament and attitude cannot. Above all of this is coat, there is a wide arc of coat in the breed from wiry, harsh to the touch, dense that it cannot be parted or prolific, slightly straighter and oily (natural oils not added oils). Each hair from different dogs can be of a different shape, from a tight frizz hair to a hook to almost straight. The frizz will not wave but is usually harsh with a woolly undercoat, this type of coat is often most desirable. Hair that hooks will form waves on the neck, back and down the top of the tail, and shoulders, both coats are thick and dense, both coats are correct, some dogs with more and some dogs with less. Hair on the face and legs should be short and straight, no ringlets behind ears and no feathering on the legs, a correct coat requires no clipping or trimming. When I read a critique that says ‘perfect coat’ I cringe, good coat, excellent coat but not perfect, this puts one coat over another when there are many different coats all of which fit the breed standard. What is not perfect is a curly coat or the long coat, both are disqualifying faults in America. In the 80s we had a stud dog with a very prolific coat he sired many top quality gets, he also sired long coats, I bred several long coats back then which I was very surprised to see. I certainly did not aim to breed long coats but I learnt much from it, a photo of one of these long coats with more coat than an IWS I show in my breed seminars, alongside a photo of a dog with less coat than a Weimaraner (no insult to either breed). Judges would not put up a Chesapeake with no coat but many have put up a dog that had a long coat which has been clipped. As one judge said to me this summer, you have two minutes to assess a dog how can you tell if a dog has been clipped, this is where breed knowledge and understanding shows through.
Why does the correct Chesapeake coat matter, we speak about fit for function but what is this? Judges in the ring may have little or no idea of the true work or working conditions Chesapeakes have been bred to perform in, the ideal coat is unique amongst other gundog breeds. The correct coat is a breed characteristic which should be judged with credit at all times, dogs with long, soft, open or curly coats, clipped or not will not have the ability to repel water and keep the dog warm. Just look at your working Springers and Cockers when they get wet they stay wet and get cold. I had an A panel field trial judge in one of my picking up teams, he had a small lab bitch, a field trial winner(!) with an untypical thin shiny coat and thin skin. On a shoot in December on a drive over the river Usk our dogs were required to retrieve any fallen birds that landed in the water, it was a cold day probably about 0 or -1 degrees, after one retrieve from the water this small lab shivered and shook. The owner said it was terrible to ask a dog to go into the river and walked off the shoot, back then I had three dogs working that day. All three went in and out crossing the river many times, not missing a bird, not one of them showed any signs of feeling cold this is also due to Chesapeakes having a thickness of skin which some breeds do not have and with their coats only damp due to having correct coat. I am sure I speak for all wildfowlers who work their dogs on or in water on such cold days that this breed characteristic is essential.
Next year of the judges names who have already been announced to award CCs, there are only a few breed specialists, most being allrounders some awarding CCs for the first time. One name in particular I found alarming as this particular judge had awarded a BP and RBB to an unclipped long coat, this judge is not on his own in judging long coats and curly coats awarding them many top honours, so much so that we stand on the brink of the first long coat champion being made up, whilst the owner or owners and breeders will be full of glee the breed loses out. All of these judges need educating. Now!
On a totally different subject we welcomed Chesapeake owners Chris Hutt and Ed Aldridge from Essex to come and stay for the weekend. Most people I know in dogs talk about dogs and nothing else, we all talked rugby. Had a great time in Cardiff at the Principality Stadium watching Wales get whupped by Fiji. For the whole weekend dogs were virtually never mentioned, except for taking them on walks. Roll on Wales vs South Africa when we will all be back in Cardiff where Ed can support his native South Africa.
Janet Morris
01873 880271
penrosechesapeakes@gmail.com