My love affair with retrievers began on Thanksgiving in 1966.  Little did I know at the time, holding our new retriever puppy on my lap, the impact she would have on my life.

I grew up waterfowl/upland hunting and learned how to train dogs with her.  My Dad ran her in the local Michiana FT club, and I found my strong baseball throwing arm in demand as a bird boy.  One of her pups went on to become a Field Champion under a local pro.  A littermate became mine to train and hunt with through my college years. I graduated with two BS degrees, one in Electronics Engineering and the other Management.

We moved to Southern California in the mid-80s for my new job in the US Defense industry. I soon joined the hunt test retriever movement with a NAHRA club and became an officer.  I suggested the club also hold an AKC hunt test.  Somehow, I ended up as the HT chairman of the first AKC HT in the state.

In 1990, I transferred to Texas for a job in Quality Management.  Here I continued HT club activities/roles and became a HT judge. We purchased our first Chesapeake Bay Retriever for my wife to train for hunt tests. Later, we bred her to a dual champion and kept two pups.

By 2000, my position as a Project Manager and our daughters’ school activities pulled me away from hunt tests.  But, I continued to hunt with our Chessies well into their later years. One day I found myself “retired”, Chessie-less and running a marathon in Chicago.   Carla, my wife decided I needed a new little Chessie “Angel” to keep me occupied.

Angel certainly excelled at her role.  She qualified and ran her first Master National at 21 months and has continued to do so yearly. At the Inaugural Master Amateur Invitational, she became the first and only Chessie to pass. Angel has also earned show points with Carla as her handler.

Carla and I are actively training her young male Chessie, Vinny to run in master hunt tests this fall. When time permits we get together to train with my Dad and his Chessie, Maple. I’m passionate about maintaining the Chesapeake Bay Retriever’s performance in the field and in the ring.  We must strive to maintain the breed’s conformation, intelligence and disposition to ensure they remain America’s premier waterfowl dog