Chesapeake (Bay retreiver) heritage foods

Booker has, over the course of the last few years, informed me that certain types of eats fall under the category of "Chesapeake Heritage Foods". I'm sure others who are familiar with the breed (I'm looking at Chas and Chad)   have encountered this phenomenon.

Considerable thought has led me to conclude that Chesapeake Heritage Foods are those things that are particularly appealing to Chessies because of the role those foods played in feeding Chessies and proto-Chessies over the development of the breed. Basically, some things speak to the Ur-dog, some flavors call up the memory of generations of water dogs in the past and are, accordingly, particularly appealing to the Chessie of today.

Some Chesapeake Heritage Foods are not particularly surprising given the breed's long association with coastal areas and parts of the South- for instance,  oysters, fried fish and hush puppies are very clearly Chesapeake Heritage Foods, the latter so strongly favored that they are known to us as "corn dogglers". In fact, Booker prefers a hush puppy to a piece of fish out of the same oil. However, other items that qualify as Chesapeake Heritage Foods call for a little research about the history of Chesapeake Bay Retrievers in the U.S. and, in turn, American history.

A recent example is spruce tips. Booker assures me that these are, in fact, a Chesapeake Heritage Food.

I surmise that spruce tips (which are quite tasty and no doubt good for you) probably entered the category of Chesapeake Heritage Food through the experiences of Seaman, who, while not a CBR, was a Newfoundland, one of the breeds that went into creating Chessies. Thus, spruce tips got in at the ground floor of the breed, so to speak, as Seaman no doubt shared spruce tips with the rest of the Corps of Discovery during their various times of privation, and possibly during times of plenty as a bit of change of pace as well. A famous dog when he got back (sturdy from lots of elk, bison, and Vitamin C from spruce tips), Seaman most likely contributed to the foundation stock of CBRs, directly or through a couple of removes. That genetic memory no doubt has led to the popularity of spruce tips as a Chessie snack today.

flying viszla

'Cause life isn't just about hunt tests.

Persistence

So, last fall we were driving out after a slow day duck hunting when we spotted a drake mallard in a riverside drain. Uncharacteristically, the bird didn't fly, so we eased past it a good ways then walked back down the road to flush it. The drake went down wing tipped and swam for the bank. We got the dog on the spot and this is the video of the retrieve.

Booker located the mallard in a beaver hole. At about the two minute mark Booker starts digging and eventually gets the bird to flush from the hole, then runs him down. Unfortunately, most of the action occurs into the sun and behind a Russian Olive. Edited a bit for length:

getting the kinks out

"Graceful" isn't really an option, how about "athletic"?







"Chesapeake rampant"

Limber Tail

I've read about it before, but now can claim first hand experience with a dog developing limber tail (also called cold water tail). After a hunt this weekend that featured a couple of pretty extended retrieving efforts, we got back, cleaned birds, generally picked up, then noticed that Booker the Chessie was walking funny. I thought he had a cockleburr caught in an indelicate place, but an attempt to check his tail brought a cry from him, the first I've ever heard. His back end was extremely tender and he generally felt down. A bit of internet research suggested an anti-inflammatory. Fortunately, he seems much better today after a little ibuprofen and some rest, though he'd still prefer to lay around and isn't his normal active self.






Normal tail:



Broke-looking limber tail:



We're hoping a week's rest will have him back to form.

progressing

Last year, my sister's Micky was all feet and fuzz. This year, he just passed his NAVHDA Natural Ability Test (2nd Prize). Now his sights are set on the Utility Test.




I hear he'd also like to try on some wild birds. Hmmm, there's a dove split going to open before too long in Texas.

dogblog

Big sticks are more fun to fetch:



Weight training for the next goose retrieve:

Micky

Reasonable minds might disagree, but I will venture that while puppies are always cute; bird dog puppies are more cute; vizsla puppies, with their loose skin and abundance of brow wrinkles for conveying expression are more cute still; while wirehair vizsla puppies, having all that plus an abundance of fuzz, might well be the cutest of all.

My sister's new pup, Micky, at 3 months:





Approximately 20% of his body mass appears to be feet:



Sheesh! He'll grow into them.

CBR R&R

Right at one year ago I got my Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Booker. I chose to get a rescue dog for various reasons and utilized the help and good offices of the Chesapeake Bay Retriever Relief and Rescue organization. So far, things are working out pretty well for the dog and I both and we're looking forward to the start of the hunting seasons here in a few weeks.

Each year, CBR R&R raises funds by selling a calendar. Cleverly, they raise more funds by having folks pay to vote for their favorite photos as well as by selling the calendar. Go check out the Chessie photos. The money goes to a good cause and while you're there, you could always vote and support the organization's good works. Heck, you could even vote for this guy:

Fire and water, a dogblog

We headed up to northern NM this weekend to enjoy the mountains a bit. While there, Booker the Chessie reacquainted himself with the campfire, first by sticking his nose in it and singing off most of his whiskers:



notice the curlicues on the right side of his muzzle. A closeup:



Got the eyebrows, too:



He spent most of the evening chasing sparks out of the fire. If he caught any, they didn't cause any apparent burns. The cat cites this sort of behavior as proof positive of superior feline intelligence.

Apart from fun with fire, we managed to find a little creek or two:









flowing well from the rains, which have also rendered the mountains verdant and a bit buggy. Wild mint, myriad wildflowers, mushrooms, a hen grouse with two half-grown chicks (discovered via a nice flush by Booker, who didn't try to run them into the next county), a cow elk, long coyote choruses, rain, hail, and other fun things. More photos, I hope, at a later date.

@#$%&**!!! Snake!!

Hope you all had a good weekend. Ours was good, just interrupted a couple of times. Kind of a southwestern version of unwanted encounters. Saturday was devoted to chores- getting the swamp cooler hooked up and ready to go, pulling a mort of weeds, watering, mowing, and all those little things.
Sunday, A, the dog and I took the morning and headed up the mountain behind town.


Our exercise was cut a bit short by running into this fine fellow:


At least he had the grace to start buzzing right away. It's been a while since I've run into a rattler and I'd nearly forgotten the full body adrenaline rush that sound can inspire. Cue bad words and me skipping backwards yanking 95 pounds of confused Chessie behind me. The weather is nice enough for snakes, but I was a bit surprised to see him at what must be at least 6000 feet in elevation. Wonder what particular type? Not diamondback. (Edited to add- I think he's a Northern Black-Tailed Rattlesnake).


Since I was seeing snakes under every rock, and there were lots of rocks, we headed back down the hill. Booker is training for the summer backpacking season:



That evening, we blew up to one of my very favorite venues and caught Blue Rodeo. I'm happy to report that they are every bit as good, if not better, live as they are on album. The whole scene was definitely something white people might like, with lots of folks up by the stage, bobbing their heads and tapping their feet. No judgment, I was happily bobbing & tapping along, noting Los Alamos Barbie & Ken in the audience. All in all a very good time, great weather, lovely patio, good music, very good beer and a superior type of bar food. Get the Asian slaw as a side. That place is one of the things that makes me happy I live where I do.

Today we headed up into the mountains, looking to dodge holiday crowds and find some water. The dog was not impressed with the plan-


We had just bailed off the trail to head down to the water when we ran across three and a half feet of bull snake, an unwelcome surprise at 8000 feet.


I didn't think any snakes hung around up there, but he was big around as a ball bat in his middle.


I used the encounter to engage in a little snake training with the dog, as I saw the reptile first. Once Booker noticed him, I yanked to dog downhill, shouting and doing my best to instill a little aversion. Still, my equanimity had been lost. Soon, though, we got down to the creek.

Runoff swollen, but fishable. Swimable for sure.


Cold water? No problem:


That stuff was snow 10 hours ago.

I'm going to need to work with the dog a bit on the concept of fishing, though. He takes my interest in a stretch of water as a reason to check it out first hand:


Little mountain trout don't rise to the fly under these circumstances:


In the end, a beautiful outdoors day and a tired dog:




Hope everyone else fared as well.

Dog discovers fire

Guess he's never seen a fireplace in action before. Things have turned cold here, so I've built fires the last couple of nights. Booker has only ever been around one camp fire with me and considers this to be high entertainment.



The cat has added "crazy" to his list of reasons why the dog annoys him.

The dark side

Good dog:







Bad dog: