Oringin

The Chesapeake Bay can be identified as a large indentation halfway down the East coast of the North American continent. It's a submerged valley where rivers meet sea. The indians called it Great Bay; in their language Che means Big, Sepi means River, and Ook means Many, or many in one. From this early name "Chesepiook", comes "Chesapeake".
The history of the development of the Chesapeake Bay Retriever can never be know. Dogs was used on the Chesapeake bay to recover the waterfowl which were shot down in great number, especially at the time of the migration. The dog for this work must not only love water, birds and retrieving but he must be physically strong and able to resist extremes of temperature and rough icy waters.
All stories of the beginnings of the retriever breeds seem to go back to a "water spaniel". Crosses with pointers, setters, newfoundlands and hounds were made. For long time it was generally believed that the special attributes of the Chesapeake Bay Dog derive fromtwo Newfoundland puppies, called Sailor and Canton, rescued from a shipwreck in the year 1807.
The gentlemen landowners were intensely interested in all the livestock on their farms and worked to improve the strains of the dogs as well of the farm animals; their were sportsmen, and valued highly the dogs that made "ducking" supreme among the sports of the Chesapeake area. The Chesapeake of those days spent much time with their owners and the childrens of the family; they were part of the family and highly valued.
On both the Eastern and Western shores of the Chesapeake Bay a very definite type of dog was developed. They varied in coat - curly like an Irish Water Spaniel, wavy like a Newfoundland, or straight lika a Pointer or Hound - variances which came from the outcrosses made, and in size and weight. But their temperaments and great abilities were fixed.
Chesapeakes were shown in a bench show for the first time in Baltimore in 1876, under the classification of Chesapeake Bay Duck Dogs. There were two strain competing, quite unlike each other. The gentlemen present decided to have a meeting to discuss the possibility of improving the breed, as well as to standardize the names of the types. It was decided three classifications were acceptable: the otter dog; the straight-haired dog; and the curly haired dog.
In 1878 the first American kennel Club registration of a Chesapeake was recorded: "Sunday", a male bred by O..D. Foulks and owned by G.W. Kierstead of La Porte, Indiana.

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