quote:

That beautiful little ash colored pup, "silver" lab, etc. quickly become an anchor around your neck when they start having health problems, are dumber than a box of rocks, bite your child, could care less about retrieving, etc...

I've had a lot of different colors.....I never specifiy a color when looking for a dog. To me the most beautiful dog is the one who worships the ground I walk on and would cross the Pacific to make a retrieve.. Like they say, "A good horse can't be a bad color"...same applies to dogs.

Eye roll.....normally I wouldn't even bother to respond but since there are so many whispered innuendos, rumors and lies going around about how I'm deceitful and unethical because I breed for the ash color, I am going to respond. And you're right, a good dog can't be a bad color; just ask Alan, Craig Smith, Tollwest, or any of my puppy buyers in a few months.


First of all as everyone but a small crowd of show people knows, I DO NOT BREED FOR COLOR. But I have had a lot of ash pups recently from my line. All of a sudden, possibly from the notoriety that's been assigned to the color by my detractors, everyone wants ash. I actually could breed for it and make some very lucrative puppy sales if I chose to.

The ash dogs are no more prone to health problems than any other color. All of mine and incidently, the other unrelated ones I've seen, have had nice coats, they are nice looking dogs, NONE have been 'dumber than a box of rocks', none have bitten anyone much less kids, and actually every single one I've produced has been very keen to retrieve and very tractable. While there are people out there churning out dogs that have forgotten about the RETRIEVER in Chesapeake Bay Retriever, I'm not one of them.

I should not need to, but I feel the need to publicly state WHY I bred my current litter since it arrived shortly after a certain clique started the 'rare ash, lack of ethics' accusations. The 10 pups that resulted are from a line breeding that I'd wanted to do for several years, but postponed because my bitch is a Canvas daughter and we were worried about the DM. Once the test became available and the sire tested clear, we went ahead with it. I had no reason to think we'd get any ash from it since the dam is brown and the sire is deadgrass. In previous litters the sire had never produced ash. But since half of the 10 pups were ash, it served as fuel for the flames.

Can anyone explain to me what's flawed about getting ash from sound, healthy dogs with appropriate health clearances and proven performance records? I personally, really dislike the look of light pigmented CBRs with a lot of fleshy pink skin around their eyes/noses/genitals yet I'm not going to trash their breeders. And how about breeding noisy yappy dogs that are debarked, or so hyper they can't live inside and spend all day pacing around finger painting their own feces in a kennel but oh boy they can prance around the show ring?

Picking any puppy from a litter of 7 or 8 week old fuzzballs is a gamble, why not at least start with a color you prefer? I just don't see anything wrong with having a color preference. As you detractors like to say, it's not that big a deal.

THANK YOU JULIE!!! Lets all have some common sense on here! I've explained myself that I maybe didn't articulate properly in my original quote that we are not looking for an ash regardless of health/temperament, etc, etc... It's ok for some people to say they'll take any chessie regardless of color, that's their choice... You don't see me criticizing anyone that breeds just for dark brown chessie's. I'm only going to explain myself once more because frankly I'm getting a little blue in the face and don't feel I have to justify why I prefer a certain color (As a matter of fact I have a deposit with a breeder and will take any color they have). I feel there is nothing wrong looking for an ash. Then, when I find an ash, then I'll look at breeder reputation, health history, genetics & temperament, then decide whether that pup is the right pup. Now, so you can take it from my perspective, take away the fact I am looking for an ash. Then you factor in the breeder/health/temperament. How is this any different than how any of you critics would select a pup? I think some of you are forgetting that I have already stated that I have researched the chessie for over 11 years and am an experienced dog owner. We have already decided on the chessie which is the hardest part of selecting a family pet. We are also the type of people that believe there are no bad dogs, just bad owners or irresponsible owners. We aren't the type to get a pup then decide, maybe this isn't the right dog for us... That is why we have researched the chessie's for so long and have timed getting a pup at the right time in our lives. OK, That's it, I've gotten everything off my chest! It doesn't matter what anyone says, you aren't going to bring me down. May I again remind you that we are getting a pup in the near future regardless of color... I'll have to think up another controversial topic to stir the pot! I must admit, the chessie family is definitely a passionate group

quote:

THANK YOU JULIE!!! Lets all have some common sense on here! I've explained myself that I maybe didn't articulate properly in my original quote that we are not looking for an ash regardless of health/temperament, etc, etc... It's ok for some people to say they'll take any chessie regardless of color, that's their choice... You don't see me criticizing anyone that breeds just for dark brown chessie's. I'm only going to explain myself once more because frankly I'm getting a little blue in the face and don't feel I have to justify why I prefer a certain color (As a matter of fact I have a deposit with a breeder and will take any color they have). I feel there is nothing wrong looking for an ash.

Hedgehog, if you look at the paragraph in quotes that Julie responded to you will see her post was not directed at you, but rather to Tatonka who posted the information.

Then again, if the shot fits.................!

Kathy Miller

Actually I was "Thanking" Julie because she was stating what I have been saying all along, nice try though...

quote:

Actually I was "Thanking" Julie because she was stating what I have been saying all along, nice try though...

Okay, I didn't read it that way, so thanks for the clarification.

Kathy

Hedgehog you can say this about that and come up with a lemon. do what you want and live a day longer but please check the history of the pup and "Enjoy The Journey" with him or her. good luck

Julie,

I am curious how you could not have expected for Jib to possibly have ash pups? Esp considering she had 3 ash pups in her first ('whoops') litter. (even though the sire was ash, he is only half the equation, and half sister to Jib, at that) Wouldn't that give you an idea that by going back to the same lines (that produce ash) you would quite possibly get ash pups? I sure would have thought you would stand a good chance of producing ash....

And no matter what you or anyone else says. If you list the colors or expected colors of a litter, you are targeting potential buyers looking for an 'x' colored puppy. It is a way to advertise....plain and simple..Just like people that advertise for field competition pups, or conformation quality, or agility, or obedience.....Not saying it's wrong, just that it IS.

As has been stated, people do shop for puppies based on color preference, and IMHO some breeders do breed based on what they know/hope will be an easier sell.....otherwise there wouldn't be black and choc, silver, and yellow labs...light deadgrass, ash, sedge, dark brown, tan point, yellow eyed chessies, either...LOL

Has that last ash male pup from Sterling's litter sold yet?

Juli

Juli,
You're correct, we knew Jib could throw ash because she'd had 3 in her previous 'ooops' litter by her ash half bro. But, even though he's related, we didn't think Colt would throw it because he's sired a half dozen litters with no ash pups. As I said, I didn't breed the litter with the expectations of ash pups (as I'm being accused of!) although no one seems to have taken issue that I'd hoped to get one or two light deadgrass!

As you may or may not know, good ole Georgy boy kicked me off his board (or censored me or whatever he's calling it now) during the ash discussion right after I took issue with it. And the REASON I took issue was not because I mind discussing ash or any other color, but that discussion wasn't started to talk about ash or color or advertising; it was started with the sole aim of making me look deceitful and unethical.

So since I wasn't allowed to respond to the discussion on cbrs4larkin, for retaliation I tarted up a few ads (including the one here!) emphasizing the ash color, calling it silver, calling the really light ones PolarPeakes, etc. In reality as Hedgehog knows, I refused to sell them to companion/pet homes; I ONLY sold ash pups to homes that will compete with them. I figured that was the best way to let their quality rise above the smack being spread around by the show clique.

The other unintended consequence of all this is that while they've given me notoriety, the Christmas email campaign with a link to one of my ads started by tweedle dumb and tweedle drunk resulted in an all-time record of hits on that website--the owners just love me now. And all of a sudden there's a whole new crop of ads on there from their clique, now isn't that a coincidence?

Anyway, thanks to their email campaign I've enjoyed an unpredecented amount of calls and a steady stream of very good potential buyers. So I guess, in a way, I should thank them.

quote:

And no matter what you or anyone else says. If you list the colors or expected colors of a litter, you are targeting potential buyers looking for an 'x' colored puppy. It is a way to advertise....plain and simple..Just like people that advertise for field competition pups, or conformation quality, or agility, or obedience.....Not saying it's wrong, just that it IS.

Exactly right, Juli: everyone targets something, or they should be trying to, in ads, and until I started having ash pups and advertising them, no one thought it was a big deal. Now, apparently, since my ash pups are getting noticed, I've ruffled feathers among a certain sect who would really be better served cleaning their own houses. It kind of reminded me of the furor over certain people advertising 'dual purpose' dogs, only it was nastier.

Hmmmm...gives me an ad idea: Dual Purpose Ash Puppies! LMAO...wait til I start up my Lavendar show line!

I love the battle of it all Julie. Every time I saw one of your ads I was wondering if you were doing it to take a shot at or piss someone off and I would just laugh in enjoyment. The little things that make me smile!!!

quote:

Posted Sun March 01 2009 10:58 AM Hide Post
I love the battle of it all Julie. Every time I saw one of your ads I was wondering if you were doing it to take a shot at or piss someone off and I would just laugh in enjoyment. The little things that make me smile!!!

LOL! Julie and Rudd, it sounds like both of you would make a great team to take over Team Chesapeake! I hope you will .

Kathy Miller

quote:

Has that last ash male pup from Sterling's litter sold yet?

Juli the answer is yes , BUT he will stay with me until May for basics . He is a realy nice pup , very birdy and out going , and has recieved his first puppy stakes ribbon at 15 weeks .

Sterling recieved her HR title yesterday and will run her first finshed test march 21st .

As to them biting someone ,,,,,,,,,last week while in the holding blind a 3 year old left his dads side and came into the holding blind and grabbed her by both ears and stuck his nose to hers ,,,,,,,,i was watching the other dog run ,,and heard a low whine and she was licking the strange kid in the face .......I almost had a heart attack .........If it had been my CLM i have no doubt he would have been bitten .

When his dad came and got him ,,,he said i thought chessies were meen .

And the last 2 test a Brown and a DG have failed so i dont think color is a factor in performance . Kinda like my truck is charcole grey , cause i did not want a red one , but the red one would do the same thing ,,,haul me and the dogs .

I love my DG and i love my ASH .

here are some pics of Bull

A very cute pup Alan, and sounds like he is on the road to a good life.

I personally don't have any issue with ANY color of chessie, so long as it is not BLACK or WHITE. LOL...don't prefer tan points either, and some masked dogs just aren't very good looking either....but hey, to each his own.

I also don't think that the same can be said of ash color as can be for silver labs....I don't believe that such breedings produce dumb, aggressive, or unhealthy dogs (unless because of other poor breeding practices, such as breeding to dumb, aggressive, or unhealthy dogs, LOL)

Continued success with your new charge(s)!

Juli

Juli i would love to see some pics of your pup that is related to Trouble .

That would be Hitch - he is your typical 'generic brown dog' LOL - pretty sure there are a few pix here, but there are also pix of him on my website, www.skyviewchesapeakes.com ....

Norene's Dancer looks a lot like Trouble's dam in coloration/marking -I think she (Dancer) is lighter deadgrass though....I love the look of both of them. Some masked dogs are very pretty!

Juli

If you like Tiger and i do ,,,Trouble could pass for his clone

I always thought Tiger was a good looking dog.

Juli

One Ash colored puppy bought solely because the Wife wanted a Ash colored Chesapeake. The Wife wanted Usher the father of Cinder (puppy) but I wanted a female at the time and stood my ground, resulting in,
well any way Cinder has turned into a fine hunter with several wild Pheasant under her collar. She is a sister to Panda, one of Julie's pups out of her jailbreak/rape litter, which I would have called line bread but its not my litter. Very happy with her in every way!



Tomorrow Cinder will get to retrieve her first snow goose, If all goes as planed

Now thats cool ,,post some pics PLEASE !

Hey Craig & Shari,
Great to see Cinder lookin so fine! I'm sure she doesn't know she's rare and special so you must explain to her that she's a Hope Springs SilverFreak
and Ssssssshhhhhh about the inbred part!

Panda is at ear pinching school right now, she got a bit of a late start because we had a house fire in Sept. The main house on the farm was struck by lightning and burned to the ground (rumors are flying around I torched it to have ashes to color my pups!). Anyway she's doing well but we really miss having her toothy grin around. ALthough we had 5 more of her born here in Jan. and we still have her little clone Tanzy. Here's a pic. of them from a couple weeks ago.

Post up some pics. of the snow goose hunt!

Beutiful dogs CraigS, thanks for posting the pics! (Same with you Julie-but you already know i'm in love with your dogs!).