Lottie's Diary - training diary of a Chesapeake Bay Retriever

We settled Lottie down in her crate at 11pm last night. She cried on and off for half an hour and then slept until 4:30am. It is surprising how you forget those really early mornings......

Despite a sleep fuddled haze, it was lovely to see how transformed she was - a frisky, happy little dog - ready for fun. It is amazing how puppies bounce back from the tremendous trauma of being whisked away from everything and everyone they have ever known.

Apparently the lovely green eyes are just temporary - they will soon turn a golden amber

My training site for today was the farm where we run a small pheasant shoot. I stopped off at my office on the way to introduce Lottie to some of our team. She was very happy to be passed around and cuddled.

it was lovely to see Lottie

transformed

I would like to tell you I achieved a huge amount with my extra hours in the day after rising at 4:30... But I can’t as it wouldn’t be true! Seven week old puppies, and ‘achievement’ are not terribly compatible.

My first priority with Lottie is socialisation. Chesapeakes can be rather more reserved than Labradors, and somewhat territorial. It is especially important therefore that these large and powerful dogs are well socialised and confident amongst people.

Lottie's first new adventure today was to meet one of our other dogs. We chose Meg

she was very happy to be

passed around and cuddled

I am avoiding placing Lottie down on the ground until after she has had her second vaccination, but when we reached the farm, I carried her about for a few minutes, let her listen to the sounds of the countryside, the breeze playing through the trees, birds singing, and take in all the different sights and smells. She then very obligingly slept soundly in her crate whilst I trained and exercised the other dogs

During the afternoon, Lottie slept peacefully for a couple of hours by my computer waking up just in time to be entertained again by my sons.

AFC CH Caroway's Wild Goose Chase - Lottie's

G G Grandfather*

some Chesapeakes have a tendency to be noisy

for the first introduction. Meg is a three year old cocker bitch and like most cockers, has just two speeds 'stop' and 'rocket' speed. The pup was not impressed by the moving version and fled into a corner. I sat Meg up for polite introductions. As you can see, it did not take long for Lottie's curiosity to overcome her fear.

Lottie will be meeting the other dogs gradually and spending a little exercise time with them as she grows more confident.

We currently have four other gundog bitches, a Labrador, a Springer, and two cockers. My experience of retrievers so far with the exception of a single Golden Retriever, has been limited to Labradors. It will be interesting to see if and how this dog differs from the others I have trained.

I will be taking Lottie out in the car with me each day. She will remain in the crate whilst I train the other dogs. Today was her first journey since yesterday's car sickness, but she settled down nicely and seem quite happy.

We continued to put her into her crate frequently throughout the evening, bringing her out again only when she was quiet. I follow this procedure with all my dogs to get them used to sitting quietly in a crate or kennel. I have been warned that some Chesapeakes have a tendency to be noisy, and so we are paying particular attention to discouraging any vocalisations right from the start.

Lottie seems to be working out very quickly that she is ignored if she whimpers and cuddled if she is quiet. As a result, she happily spent much of the evening being cuddled.

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*Photo of Caroway's Wild Goose Chase by kind permission of Carol Anderson