The American Chesapeake Field Trial held Ocean City, MD, October 13-15, 1987 had some 167 dogs entered in the program. I was pleased to see so many bitches entered in the various stakes. I think they are just as good as males, but of course, they sometimes come into season at an inopportune time. The only judges that I knew personally were Mr. and Mrs. Wm. W. Atterbury of Palm City, FL and Dolly Reath of Easton, MD.

The weather was quite cold and windy. The grounds were sufficient to handle all the dogs. I would have liked to have seen more cover, but I know it is now difficult with so many dogs to run. The falls were long but the working dogs were always visible, hence his mistakes appeared more glaring. Handling was easily noticed and also showed which dogs were out of control. In fact, the dog was left quite naked and his faults and good points quite visible. The dog that did not mark his fall or take a good line was easily seen by the gallery.

As I have not handled a dog in field trials for some forty years, I will not criticize the present day trials or the work of the dogs. I will, however, attempt to give some idea of what the trials were like some years back.

The rules stated that each dog should walk quietly at heel, mark the fall of the birds, and retrieve on command without unduly disturbing the grounds.

In the early days we came up to the line without a leash and took whatever position the judges gave us. Frequently there were two other dogs already on line so we had to wait our turn. One of the guns shot a flyer off the line, and another thirty yards out with a longer fall further out. If a bird was missed you stayed on line until a bird was killed. You soon found out which dogs could mark. Most of the birds were clearly visible as the bird was shot, but the cover could be knee high and the dog not always visible when working. Birds were shot into corn fields or into or over hedgerows and ditches or into bullbriers. Dogs in line were not given an extra chance if the fall was extra long. If the gun missed, they shot another bird but we still had to stay on line. It was difficult to line your dog for frequently there were trees and heavy cover between you and the bird. You were more inclined to look at your dog to see if he was marking his falls. After all - he was supposed to be the one to retrieve.

At the Ocean City trial I saw one of the handlers - an old buddy of mine, use a pair of binoculars to see where the bird came down. It was obvious to me the dog could not see the fall unless he had binocular vision, but he took a good line to the guns and hunted the bird out from that spot.

We did not expect all the falls to be the same for each dog. Sometimes a bird would come down after being wing shot but could still run. Then we had a chance to see what kind of nose the dog had. I remember one trial on Long Island where the dog had to swim where the dog had to swim across a fairly wide pond to retrieve a single pheasant shot on land on the far side. All dogs did pretty good work when Dave Elliot, an old pro, came up to line with his Labrador. His bird was shot and his dog was swimming across the pond when we noticed the pheasant was walking across the lawn of a house behind the pond. It was obviously Dave's bird. His dog went to the fall and gradually followed the scent to the edge of the lawn and then across the lawn to some bushes near the house. The dog came back shortly with the live cock pheasant and, I believe, won the trial. It proved he had a good nose.

At another trial I was on line with Dave. He had a Labrador and I had a Chesapeake. The judges and guns were working fairly heavy marsh cover with a mosquito drainage ditch running through the middle which we didn't know was there. Two pheasants were shot fairly wide apart. My dog retrieved the first bird quickly and went back to the fall of the second bird. She couldn't find it. Dave's Labrador was then sent to find it and failed. The bird was never found and we were never called back. I suspect the bird was a runner and escaped by running along the ditch, which had several inches of water in it, and got away. Today that wouldn't happen but we knew we had a chance to win the trial if the dog had retrieved that runner. We called it "the breaks of the game."

At one of the Chesapeake All-Breed trials held at Rudy Carpenter's estate in Benton, MD we had a land test in a field covered with thick, heavy briers. It was a forty yard single marking test. I was on line with Gypsy with two other handlers. A bird was shot and fell into a clump of very heavy briers. The first dog failed to mark; the second dog wouldn't go into the briers. Gypsy was sent and went directly to the fall and came back with a big cock pheasant which she had grabbed by the tail from the briers. It shows you don't need to have a long fall if the cover is adequate. The Carpenter's place had some of the best grounds for land and water that I have ever worked.

At the Ocean City trial I came to the conclusion that some dogs had been given rough treatment with an electric collar. While they barreled out for the first bird and came back with enthusiasm; when lined for the second bird, they went out slower and perhaps timidly. I felt this lack of enthusiasm was because the dog expected to get a jolt for a wrong move. When the dog turned and faced the handler after a short whistle, some appeared a little timid about taking direction. In the "old days" we did not mind if a dog asked for a help after staying on the fall for a reasonable time. Now if a dog asks for help he is considered to be "blinking" and is severely penalized. Your damned if you do and damned if you don't.

On the subject of do's and don’ts, in the early trials we used live decoys among the wooden decoys. We used a lot of decoys and the dog was always tested on one bird shot in the decoys. Of course, sometimes a dog would try to bring in the live decoy which was always anchored. The result was disastrous for the duck as well as the dog. This brings me to the question, "Why isn't a retriever trained to pick up the decoys after a days shoot?" Some old gun dogs are expected to pick up the decoys, especially if the decoys have been dragged out into the middle of the pond or the tide has risen and the decoys are beyond reach and you have no boat to row out to them. In a trial today, the dog that picks up a decoy, or gets entangled in them, is not going to be looked upon favorably by the judges. If the dog can retrieve a bird that has been shot so far away that the handler has to use binoculars to see the fall, or take a line three hundred yards up a narrow canal on a blind retrieve, why can't he be taught to pick up or ignore a wooden decoy? Try picking up decoys on a freezing cold day with water over your boot tops - or try to launch a sharpie alone off a lee shore with the wind whipping up the whitecaps!

When Rudy Carpenter sponsored the Chesapeake trials on his estate, we stayed in a motel in Elkton. The lobby of the motel was also the entrance to the local moving picture theater. The first night we stayed there, we awoke about 10 PM to the sound of gunfire and much commotion. The next morning, it was all explained when we found out the theater was showing a Civil War movie.

Mr. Henry Mitchell was the mayor of Elkton. He had a couple of Maryland Chesapeakes out on his farm which he would run in our trials. One of his hired hands, Cy Perkins, was the handler of a big hard-going Chesapeake. The water test was run with the handler and dog inside a portable wooden blind. Old Cy brought "Chief" into the blind on a lead with the end hooked to his wrist. When the first duck was shot and fell into the decoys, old Chief broke and pulled Cy and the blind with him down to the water. It was a spectacular exhibition with much yelling and hollering. Needless to say, the story has grown in proportion as told by Cy's drinking companions.

Mayor Mitchell was a heavy rotund man who drove a big old Cadillac. He knew all the cops, gin mills, and eating places on the Eastern shore. When he took us out on the town for an evening of eating and drinking, with a police escort, we weren't really fit to run our dog the next day.

At the Ocean City trial, I tried to get out to the grounds early and watch the dogs work. By late afternoon I was cold and tired and did not participate in the evening's activities. Consequently I don't know what the handlers and the helpers do at the social hour - but guess there is not much difference except to walk a straight line when it's time to "get on home".

Frankly, I think there is a lot lacking in the trials today. Too much emphasis is placed on the dog being trained to take a line and not enough on marking falls accurately. Style and speed are high on the priority list but not enough on the nose of the dog.

At the trial I judged some forty years ago at Quoque, Long Island, we set a blind retrieve across a small tidal creek. It was about twenty yards across - you could almost throw a dead duck across it - only the tide was out and it was mud instead of swimming water. The handler stood back about thirty feet from the edge of the creek to send his dog, but when they landed in the mud, which was about two-feet deep, some lost their desire to retrieve and looked to their handler to come get them, while the handler, in turn, looked at me with disgust. Anyway, we found enough dogs willing and eager to retrieve that we could pick a winner.

To all Chesapeake owners, guns, judges, handlers, and friends, we wish you the best in the dog world and to all Chesapeakes - Good Hunting.