Dog questions.

[Jmort1754]

We lost our Saint in November. Most wait lists are a year for another one. We are on a wait list for a well respected breeder.

Is raising two dogs from puppies together a bad idea ?

We are getting a chessie as well.

 

[willtim]

I have a chessie. Great dogs.

 

[CBreeze]

Depends on your goals, and standards. Honestly. And abou your talent and dedication as a trainer. . It’s not too hard to raise puppies together and get whatever outcome you want but the amount of structure it requires is beyond what most can provide. Gwtting 2 puppies to live as reasonable guests in your home is beyond what most can get done. Getting that done while training one as a flusher / retriever is a whole other deal and not likely to amount to much.

So it’s all doable but it’s not a setup for success for the firsttime
Trainer.

 

[Jmort1754]

Saint would be 5 months before we get our chessie if that matters. I’ve raised labs and chessies but never saints and a chessie.

 

[Jmort1754]

Saint would be 5 months before we get our chessie if that matters. I’ve raised labs and chessies but never saints and a chessie.

 

[Billy Goat]

Two puppies together isn't terrible, I wouldn't raise litter mates again.

 

[Hoghead]

They tend to act like puppies longer and horseplay. But if you take the time and stick with it you can do it. One of my hog dogs is 4 I will probably breed her next year. I don't like to have more than 1 puppy in my pack at a time. I can't stand it when they want to screw around when they are supposed to be working. 1 puppy and the rest adults works well. The adults wont tollarate scrweing around and put the pup in line. Doing it this way also keeps experienced dogs around and younger dogs coming up.

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[Salmonchaser]

I have raised litter mates together, don’t want to do that again. I was retired at the time so I had the time to work two pups but I agree with the comments above it more than doubles the work.
five month spread will help in some regards but you’ll make up for it by having to switch gears. Certainly can be done it’s simply more work.

 

[CBreeze]

If you’ve got a “program”!for the chessmen it won’t take much to get the saint in line, but they won’t train the same way and you obviously won’t need to take the saint “through the yard” like a retriever. But the fundamentals of obnand. Good citizenship are the same and it’s easier to bring both along than to bring one along while letting an the Other go without standards. . So in that sense it really only harder in that it takes twice as long each day.

 

[Antarctica]

Everybody is going to jump on me for this and that's fine. But if you've never had a chessie before, my one piece of advice is never, never trust them with strangers - dogs or people.There will be ten people chiming in that they'd trust their chess implicitly, and I don't care what they say. Chessies are high strung, unpredictable, one man dogs. Which of course is also what makes them such tremendous animals.

 

[CDK]

Ya don’t trust chessies with kids or strangers......good grief. There’s shitty dogs in every breed and good ones in every breed.
For the record I’ve been heavily involved with the breed for close to 30 years. Currently own 3 MH-QAA chessies and am the breeder of the only living FC chessie. Any stranger could take my dogs out hunting or come feed them and take care of them and wouldn’t have any issues. (I’ve done it many times)


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[CDK]

I train dogs for a living and most likely train more chessies then anyone in the country. I’ve been at it for 15 years or so. I’ve been bit twice, both times by labs. (I still think the Labrador breed is great)


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[KurtR]

Ya don’t trust chessies with kids or strangers......good grief. There’s shitty dogs in every breed and good ones in every breed.
For the record I’ve been heavily involved with the breed for close to 30 years. Currently own 3 MH-QAA chessies and am the breeder of the only living FC chessie. Any stranger could take my dogs out hunting or come feed them and take care of them and wouldn’t have any issues. (I’ve done it many times)


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I don’t want to high jack this thread but I am in the process of training my lab for hrc hunt test and that is super impressive what you have done. You don’t get to that level by chance.

 

[CDK]

Lots of blood sweat time and $ lol. But thanks.
I own Www.Fischerskennels.com


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[Antarctica]

That's great - you're entitled to your opinion (obviously a very experienced one). You have beautiful dogs and I'm glad that you are developing sound lines.

But that doesn't change my opinion. I've been around a lot of chessies and have owned and loved them (always will). My experience with many (bear in mind I live an area with probably the highest concentration of chessies on earth - maryland state dog, so every dip-stick suburbanite within 10 miles of the bay thinks they need one to be a 'marylander') informs my opinion. Given where I live and their popularity (not for hunting) there's probably a commensurate high percentage of poor lines and problem dogs. And I didn't single out kids, I specifically said strangers.

Dogs have personalities, much of it the individual, but much of it the breed. In my opinion, the same traits that make Chessies awesome also often come with problems - namely, knife edge aggression that flips like a switch. I've seen it many times. With the right owner/handler, it can be contained, but your average lap dog owner is unprepared for owning and being responsible for a Chessie. And maybe that's more the fault of many that own them than the dog's.

Not here to debate it with you, just provide a data point - my data point. The OP can take it or leave it.

 

[Antarctica]

and the second image you posted....

That intensity - is so indicative of a chessie! That dog looks so much my old boy Rufus. He was a machine on geese! Could hunt an uncut cornfield for downed doves just as well.

What a beautiful dog (both yours and mine (was))!

 

[2ski]

Okay, everyone seems to be talking about a saint like they're a hunting dog. I'm assuming we aren't talking about a St. Bernanke. What are we talking?

 

[Jmort1754]

Saint Bernard yes. The chessie as well.

 

[CDK]

Chessie= Chesapeake bay retriever is the breed we’re talking about.

Just like most things, if you don’t research what your buying and try to get by on the cheap you have a high likely hood of getting a dud. There are a ton of shitty dog breeders out there in all breeds.
Lots of dedicated / good ones also.

Chessies are slightly higher maintenance and require solid pack leadership but if you spend a fair amount of time with them and are a solid pack leader they are one of the coolest hunting breeds you can own IMO.
Like most breeds you can teach them to have aggressive tendencies if you want but the opposite is true also. Start forming the good habits the day you bring them home.


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[CDK]

Chessie= Chesapeake bay retriever is the breed we’re talking about.

Just like most things, if you don’t research what your buying and try to get by on the cheap you have a high likely hood of getting a dud. There are a ton of shitty dog breeders out there in all breeds.
Lots of dedicated / good ones also.

Chessies are slightly higher maintenance and require solid pack leadership but if you spend a fair amount of time with them and are a solid pack leader they are one of the coolest hunting breeds you can own IMO.
Like most breeds you can teach them to have aggressive tendencies if you want but the opposite is true also. Start forming the good habits the day you bring them home.


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