Yesterday, after posting the thread on "Barry", I was reminded of a couple important names in both field trial and

http://teamchesapeake.infopop....40660554/m/644107461

Chesapeake breed history that Nancy Macmillan mentioned in her opening paragragph. Roger Reopelle and Jim Kappes, both from Minnesota. Roger was a long time Lab field trialer that took a chance on a Peake, put him on the National Derby list and completed a field title. Most of you probably known the name, AFC Caroway's Wild Goose Chase who was "Rudy's" sire and "Blaze's" grandsire and the rest is Peake history.

Jim Kappes was one of the many 70's Rex Carr students that was a very, very talented trainer in the Midwest. Just read some of the old posts on RTF from some of his peers. A well respected guy who died too young. He was influential to many pros like Mike Lardy, Pat Burns, Merry Lake and others. His early training videos (before Lardy) influenced many and I for one was happy to read last night on RTF that there is a new DVD in the works to preserve the Jim Kappes/Curtis early production (12 hours).

I don't spend much time on RTF anymore so if anyone reads this thread and comes across an outlet to buy this Kappes DVD, please let me know.

Wayne D, I too have wanted a copy of these tapes for many years!

Thanks in advance.

Keith

Craig Klien may have more to add, but Pete Fischer from the Avon MN area trained with "Chase" (i think that was his call name?)and Roger. Pete has spoken highly of both of them to me a couple of times. Pete has said of Chase "he could do the BIG stuff!". Pete is a lab guy, but was always impressed with that chessie.

Damon

Very cool Damon! Are you from MN?

I only saw "Chase" run a few times as an older dog while on Mark Edwards (old friend of Roger too) truck running trials in Colorado while working for Danny Farmer. I know Scott K. knows a bit more about "Chase" than I.

Keith

Here is the link to the RTF thread..

http://www.retrievertraining.n...highlight=Jim+Kappes

Yes Keith.

I live in western MN. Kinda in the middle of no-where. Cool place to live, but nothing compared to some of the great pics I have seen you post over the years of your area.

I would have loved to watch Chase run.

Damon

Yeah, but you guys have got the birds, retriever trainers, trials and hunt tests close by with tons of history! I have to travel 500-600 miles roundtrip to go play the games.

Didn't you get a new pup the past year? If so, lots of luck with him/her.

There is some good training information to this link to John Cavanaugh and if I am not mistaken, Bruce Mitchell trained with him early on and several others from the East have mentioned his name. I would bet Billy Smith could add some insight.

PS. Notice that Cherylon's book is in the suggested library.

http://teamchesapeake.infopop....7060164/m/6111071703

John Cavanaugh is no longer doing the dog thing. Burned out. Was a lab man very technical and won a national amature.

Pete Fischer has spoke of Roger many times, but talks more of Lorney Martin, who he worked for and is now in the Retriever Field Trial Hall of Fame. I'll try to get a good story out of Pete on Roger tonight and post it up.
Pete's first titled dog was a peake, he was the first MH in Minesota, that was NAHRA of course, which was the first hunt test organization. He then went to the "dark side". Pete really likes my Trapper X Jet pup though, maybe he'll see the light once again .

Craig,

Would love to hear a Roger Reopelle/"Chase"/"Tar" story from your friend.

Also, would like to see a photo of your new pup from Gary Ridout. I am glad he has done some real nice breedings with his well bred Peakes. But that is not new!

Keith

PS. Do you live near Roger's old place?

It's the kind of trialing "grip and grin" shot that's probably made the rounds, but here's one I have scanned of Roger and Chase:

Never got the chance to see Chase or Roger, but never tire of seeing photos of them. There are a few stories about Roger & Chase at http://teamchesapeake.infopop....401093801#9401093801

Several years ago Joe Maher, who was living in Anchorage, travelled with Roger for a few months. Even at 80, Joe said he couldn't keep up with him.

Here's a pic of a Chase x Yukon Sloughs Choppy Water MH*** "pup" from a couple years ago. "Channel" was a field trial washout early on, but I feel blessed to have shared the last 5 1/2 years of his life. He had to be put to sleep a few weeks ago at 14 & is missed.

Didn't have a hole lot of time to talk to Pete about Roger last night, he had two customers picking up dogs. He did say that Roger trained out at his place quite a few times and was one of the nicest guys he's met. Also said he could tell jokes with the best of them. Pete also said Chase was a hell of a dog, and he dosen't complement many dogs. I'll post again when I get a chance to talk to him more about it.


Keith, here's a picture of Hawk (Trapper X Jet).
We're getting pretty excited about her, she's coming along extremely well.

Rick,

I have seen that photo before of "Chase" and Roger but never in color. Anybody know how old Roger was when taken? Thanks for posting.


Karen,

Great link to that old thread with some nice commentary by John Nichols. I had forgotten all about his (and Soctt's) post. Thanks!

Once again, sorry to hear about "Channel". It so tough to lose them at any age.

Still waiting for more "Minto" news!


Craig,

Nice looking pup and lots of luck! Will look forward to reading another "Roger" story in the near future. Those two sound like a very interesting pair.

Keith

Keith,

Roger was 89 when he passed away Mar. 1, 2003, but I don't know when the picture was taken. Have seen it somewhere before. Thought there were some other Roger & Chase stories on the old RTF, but couldn't find them.

Thanks for such kind words about Channel. His first owner said as a pup he'd run up & down the beach in Seward, stealing hats or even tackle boxes from fishermen, then off he'd go. They swore the dog was grinning all the while.

"Minto" is coming along & Mark's pleased with her progress. Can't wait to fly down & bring her home, but have to be patient.

Have a great weekend & thanks for the interesting posts!

Karen

I saw a post in the event results on RTF about "Chase" dragging back a cement block, the bird and the blind board...anybody?

Best of luck to everyone trialing/testing.

quote:

Originally posted by Gary Ridout:
I saw a post in the event results on RTF about "Chase" dragging back a cement block, the bird and the blind board...anybody?

I'd not heard that, but know his son, Chien, carried a log on most of his airing rounds one summer that was so large he had to handle it by a limb staub. Weighed 21 lbs. Could be he came by it honestly...

Karen,

Thanks for the info on Roger and what a great story about a guy who had a lot of succees and I would bet a ton of enjoyment the last 25 years or so of his life with his retrievers. Well into his retirement and still very active.

The link to the old thread on TC that you previously posted, reminded that in 2000 I had gone to Ft. Collins to visit wth old friends, went to the field trial and was fortunate to run into Scott, his wife and of course, "Mary" running the derby. And Mark Edwards was pretty cool to be running his old friend's Peake at 10 years old, trying to finish his field title before Roger left this earth.

Keith

Just curious if anyone on these boards have seen any additional informaton about the "Kappes/Curtis Training Tapes" being converted the dvd format and being re-issued.

Thanks,

Keith

Roger was a cherished part of the upper mid-west trial scene for many, many years. He also had many good friends on the southern trial circuit, particularly in Texas and Arizona. I had the pleasure of knowing Roger pretty well. I also saw a lot of Chase. Many folks don't know that Chase was originally obtained from Carol Anderson by a young women (whose name I can't recall) who intended to run him in hunt tests. Chase was trained as a young dog by Phil Berger and his then-assistant Steve Yozamp. I had the pleasure of training with Chase when he was a 6 month-old pup. Even then you could tell that he was special. Eventually, this young women became involved with another fellow that had pointing dogs and Chase became available. Roger took Chase hunting in Canada to evaluate him. The rest is history.

By the way. The picture of Roger and Chase was taken in Duluth, Minnesota. Chase won the Amateur that weekend to make his AFC. He also took 2nd in the Open. Thus, he probably got as close to a "double-header" as any Peake in recent memory. Years after this photo was taken I overhead some folks saying that if Chase had not been "screwed" out of the Open win he would have won the double header. I found this interesting since I was, in fact, one of the judges who gave him the 2nd (my co-judge was Rick Van Bergen). The winner that day was a black lab named Truckee's Firestorm. Chase was a young dog at that time and none of us had any way of knowing that he would fall short of earning his FC title. If memory serves me, he placed 2nd in the Open several times. But, as I always try to do, I called it how I saw it on that particular day.

Anyway, Chase was a marvelous animal. Roger used the electric collar but most of his training employed pre-collar methods. His style of handling was pretty loose. I often felt that Chase's performance on blinds had less to do with Roger's handling and more to do with Chase's ability to figure out (on his own) what the correct line was. Chase was one of the finest natural markers that I have ever seen. I can recall several specific instances when he marked birds in a manner that made everyone's jaw drop.