Steve and Kylie,

I writing to thank you for doing such a wonderful job with my new Chesapeake Bay Retriever pup, Zeke.

As you know, I'm a avid hunter and I was looking for a retriever to hunt ducks and geese on Virginia's rivers and chase upland game.  I've owned both chessies and labs for 20 years.  I've been extremely pleased with Zeke's natural hunting abilities.  I really wanted a dog that still had the "hunt" in him -- not a field trial prospect that will submit to every command perfectly.  I do a lot of waterfowl hunting on the James and Shenandoah rivers, sometimes in spots where the bird and the dog can be swept downriver.  I needed a powerful swimmer that comes back with the bird.  Zeke shows every sign of becoming that dog.  He's very athletic and birdy and as his confidence grows I think he'll make a fantastic river dog.  (In my book, the ultimate gun dog).  At 10 months he's also done very well on pheasants and grouse.  He can run all day -- and after hunting over a lab with hip dysplasia for the past several seasons -- that's exactly what I wanted.  The early training you folks did with Zeke was the foundation of what we worked on all summer.  Exposing him to different birds, varied habitats, and gunfire was exactly what I would have done if I'd been raising him from birth.

I'm married, with a couple kids, and my new hunting buddy had to also be a well behaved member of our family.  Zeke's done great fitting into his new "pack".  He was the alpha male pup but he's now well adjusted and submissive to both my children, including my 7 year old son.  Again, Zeke's early socialization was key to successfully joining our family.  Being raised from birth in your home, with your young son, was perfect.  I really think your early socialization avoided many problems, before they became problems.

Chesapeakes are the best kept secret in hunting dogs.  I'd enthusiastically recommend Appalachian Chesapeakes to anyone looking for one of these great water dogs.  Please feel free to refer prospective buyers to me if they have additional questions about Zeke and this line of hard-hunting chessies.

Good hunting,

Todd Culver

tac36@cornell.edu

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