First, I do agree with Lisa & others. If someone is breeding for & selling to the FT market, then the females in the breeding program should not only be good working dogs but also demonstrated to be able to take whatever training method is current in the game.
Having said this, I think that many dogs that wash out from FT training may have great value to a breeder who is selling to waterfowl hunters. Depends on why they wash out of course. Hates birds or water, bites under pressure, whines & barks with only moderate excitement levels- these things are not good for the hunter either.
This board is mostly used by FT/hunt test oriented people or, at least, owners who are interested in training. However, this type are in the minority among waterfowl hunters. "Didn't do well with FF"- They want a dog that doesn't need FF. "Doesn't like handling drills"-neither do a lot of the people who buy a Chessie for hunting.
A lot of new Chesapeake owners bought their dog because they read the books that say Chessie's are calm dogs, not barkers. Too many do not fit that description any more.
So, the FT bred bitch that can't do the 250 yard marks, tells you where to shove the whistle when she knows damn well where the bird is and just doesn't have quite the drive for land work in FT's may be just right to produce top quality waterfowl dogs if she is a good water dog & hunts well with minimal training. She just shouldn't be in a FT breeding progrma.
Adrienne

Here's the chicken!

Amen

The reason I got back into Chesapeakes was 20+ years ago we hunted these dogs in all conditions. We were a long ways from sophisticated and we weren't looking for that type of dog.

Looking back we knew little or nothing about training, we just went hunting...a lot (probably when we should have been doing other things like school). And these dogs went with us and did the job, in spite of us

Lorne

Unfortunately, breeding for a purpose has taken a backseat to breeding for a dollar. It is going on at every level of Chessie breeding.