Westminster show

[don novicki]

When is the Chessie, Lab or Golden going to win? Some great looking dogs at the show the last 2 nights. Just hoping a waterfowling dog will win some day. Great seeing all the dogs though. How much do you think winning the title is worth to a breeder?

[Feelin' Fowl]

I don't think it will ever happen. That show is rigged.

[aunt betty]

Labs and Chessies are working class blue collar dogs IMO.
Golden could win.

[jarbo03]

The lab will never win as long as the dogs are like this, these are the two top lacing labs from this year. Sickening.

[jarbo03]

Labs and Chessies are working class blue collar dogs IMO.
Golden could win.

What are the requirements for a working class blue collar dog?

[3legged_lab]

The lab will never win as long as the dogs are like this, these are the two top lacing labs from this year. Sickening.

Those are a couple ugly labs

[Bootlipkiller]

The lab will never win as long as the dogs are like this, these are the two top lacing labs from this year. Sickening.

Those are a couple ugly labs

X2 wtf

[3legged_lab]

The lab will never win as long as the dogs are like this, these are the two top lacing labs from this year. Sickening.

Those are a couple ugly labs

X2 wtf

Over fed, sawed-off sonsabitches

[AKPirate]

Gonna have joint issues if they were ever worked hard and why breed for a chest that low to the ground? Crazy

[3legged_lab]

Gonna have joint issues if they were ever worked hard and why breed for a chest that low to the ground? Crazy

I've seen a few labs that fat before.

[jarbo03]

If they're gonna look like this in the show ring, they should be moved from the sporting dog group.

[jarbo03]

Majority of these dogs in the sporting group look bad to me.

[Rick]

Not being one who buys the hopeful myth that there's no breed split in Chesapeakes, it pleased me to see the best of opposite sex and runner up male Chessies were both hunt tested and apparently hunted in the BOS dog's case. Not too many years ago a spooky number of them at Westminster were starting to lumber, so it looks like the ACC is having some luck educating judges to stick to their standard.

[jarbo03]

The Chessies are one of the few that actually looked like hunting dogs. Was not a big fan of the britts, might have fit conformation, but not what I look for in a britt.

[Redbeard]

The lab will never win as long as the dogs are like this, these are the two top lacing labs from this year. Sickening.

holy crap. Can you say dead weight?

[Rick]

The Chessies are one of the few that actually looked like hunting dogs. Was not a big fan of the britts, might have fit conformation, but not what I look for in a britt.

Well, you made me look, and we'll have to "agree to disagree". Thought the SEL (read: "runner up") GCH Marsport Hot To Ride Lucky Seven MH appears a dandy with some test credentials and pedigree (sire's a Dual Champion) to back it up:



My first Brittany was a more compact little "grouse bred" fellow who was good at his trades, upland and waterfowl, but thought 80yds a long way out. Which turned me from Britts to setters once I'd seen how much more effective bigger wheels could be. Believed I'd stick with setters for life until a couple trial bred Brittanys came through the camp and opened my eyes to that possibility. And when I started researching local Brittany's, serious hunters and trialers, alike, pointed me to the fellow with Dual bred Britts that were flat neat and, through him, my guy Kie:



My best old friend is now 16yrs old and retired after as many seasons but was a mere pup of 10 when the above, one of my first digital photos of him, was taken. He worked out so well for both upland and waterfowling that I was waiting for a pup out of close kin of his x DC/AFC The Whiz Kid when "life" brought a newborn human pup and his mom into our household and precluded the acquisition. Now, our quail appear gone for good with woodcock all too close on their heels in my area, so Br'er Kie will likely be my last pointing dog, but I remain a huge fan of Britts like him.

[jarbo03]

I will agree that is a fine looking dog, all I found on the website was the top two spots.



My britts were in the 50-55# range, stocky with a blockier head, worked great for me. With where and what I hunted that size and build was preferred, he was also a heck of a waterfowl dog, as good as any dog I've ever field hunted geese with. With the areas I hunt now, a longer dog capable of covering more ground is preferred.

[Rick]

You'd think Kie one of Jelher's midgets, but at 20" and 38lbs, he was still bumping the top of their standard. In his prime he made a couple or three measured half mile casts in overgrazed quail pasture which was more than enough range for our more common purposes. Just glad he was brought on to also tuck right in for the thick stuff, as that's where he spent the great majority of the second half of his career.

Well, that and waterfowling. Pretty much perfect for our floating marsh, as he could stay on top of more of it than the Chessies, and fine for the type of, mostly low volume specklebelly, goose hunting we were then doing. Only worked one big, 53 bird, light goose hunt and had to be lifted into the truck after. (That Spring I heard from a fellow at a HRC test, whose brother was on that hunt, that it was 70-some geese Kie handled, so there's no telling how many the little fellow retrieved that day by current accounts.) Even knowing time polishes some memories, it still tickles me greatly when long time lodge regulars reminisce about thinking they were screwed when a bird dog jumped down from the truck at the boathouse and went on to prove them wrong.

Been deaf since he was nine, nearly blinded by cataracts the past few years and much too often addled by "canine cognitive disorder" (read: dog Alzheimer's), now needs what passes for a "running" start, if not a boost, just to make it onto the couch and has developed an inexplicable fear of riding in the truck, but it was showing absolutely no interest in some woodcock his "brother," the coyote, and I brought home that finally sealed his retirement this year.

Still, can't resist a parting shot of of my guy when he was still living large at 15:

[jarbo03]

Always like seeing the pics of Kie, bring back good memories. Buck spent most of his days chasing pheasant and quail in thick CRP and hedgerows. He would retrieve ducks out of water past ice up given the chance, I would normally hold him back and let my lab take care of those. At that time, 90% of our geese were giant Canadas, one of my favorite pics, which I can't find, is him alongside my lab making retrieves in the snow. They were coming back side by side, my 100# lab had a cackler and my britt had a 12-13# honker, made for a great pic. He ended his days with the same ailments, deaf, cataracts, cognitive. Was 14 when he made his last hunt, pointed 1 rooster that I think gave himself up for the cause, I knocked the rest down blocking and let him find them. Also his last goose retrieve, a 75 yard blind in cattle pasture. Even after retirement he liked me to throw a few ducks in the back yard.

[Rick]

...one of my favorite pics, which I can't find, is him alongside my lab making retrieves in the snow. They were coming back side by side, my 100# lab had a cackler and my britt had a 12-13# honker, made for a great pic.

I'll bet.