# Brindle Chesapeake bay retriever



## jheath0512 (Mar 21, 2010)

I have a male Chesapeake bay retriever puppy. I was wondering if anyone knew anything or had any info on Chesapeake bay retrievers ever being brindle in color. I found a little bit of information online about the subject but what I found isn't too helpful. I'm just curious about the matter and any information is greatly appreciated. Thanks


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

From the AKC site:

Color
The color of the Chesapeake Bay Retriever must be as nearly that of its working surroundings as possible. Any color of brown, sedge or deadgrass is acceptable, self-colored Chesapeakes being preferred. One color is not to be preferred over another. A white spot on the breast, belly, toes, or back of the feet (immediately above the large pad) is permissible, but the smaller the spot the better, solid colored preferred. The color of the coat and its texture must be given every consideration when judging on the bench or in the ring. Honorable scars are not to be penalized.

Disqualifications: Black colored; white on any part of the body except breast, belly, toes, or back of feet must be disqualified


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## jheath0512 (Mar 21, 2010)

TooneyDogs said:


> From the AKC site:
> 
> Color
> The color of the Chesapeake Bay Retriever must be as nearly that of its working surroundings as possible. Any color of brown, sedge or deadgrass is acceptable, self-colored Chesapeakes being preferred. One color is not to be preferred over another. A white spot on the breast, belly, toes, or back of the feet (immediately above the large pad) is permissible, but the smaller the spot the better, solid colored preferred. The color of the coat and its texture must be given every consideration when judging on the bench or in the ring. Honorable scars are not to be penalized.
> ...



I already read this somewhere and it mentioned nothing about him being brindle in color.


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## Locke (Nov 3, 2008)

jheath0512 said:


> I already read this somewhere and it mentioned nothing about him being brindle in color.


That's because they do not/should not come in brindle. Where did you get your pup? Perhaps he's not purebred, which would explain the brindle coat. 

also post some pictures of the guy!!


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## Marsh Muppet (Nov 29, 2008)

I've heard of it but never seen it. Chessies don't show any black pigment (nose and eye rims should be aprox. same as dominant color), so if it is black brindling it may be less than completely purebred. I don't know how a brindle Chessie would fare in the show ring, but a dead grass Chessie with sedge brindling would be about the ultimate in canine camouflage for the marshes.


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## melgrj7 (Sep 21, 2007)

I found this, don't know anything about its credibility: Retriever Man What caused the brindling in the early retrievers and the St. John's water dog?


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## jheath0512 (Mar 21, 2010)

melgrj7 said:


> I found this, don't know anything about its credibility: Retriever Man What caused the brindling in the early retrievers and the St. John's water dog?



I'll see if I can get some pictures of him real soon. But, perhaps this is some rare occurence in the bloodline? I found a little bit more on the matter and I saw that the early chessies (going back to early 1800's) were bread with portuguese cattle dogs... which looks like a lab but with gold streaks in their coat. Anyone heard of this before?


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## Poly (Sep 19, 2007)

Retrieverman usually gets his history correct - he is actually a historian by profession and knows how to use sources properly. 

Brindle markings do appear from time to time in some retrievers - notably, Labs and chessies. In some lines, brindling is actually not uncommon. However, it is considered as a disqualifying fault under the US breed standards.

Puppies from a registered litter that are so marked are still considered purebred retrievers and are registered as such. _They are not mixed-breeds_ and the dogs have the same health and behavior characteristics of the breed in general. However, a reputable breeder would insist on registering them with a limited registration and perhaps also on a spay-neuter contract so that they can't be used as breeding stock. Also, the breeder will probably not repeat that mating pair so as to not continue the genes. 

One problem with brindling is that often it doesn't show up in younger animals and sometimes even then doesn't appear very prominant until the dog has been out in the sun for a while. So some dogs will have reached breeding age and perhaps passed on those genes before the brindling was noticed. But sometimes it is just a "hidden" trait of the two parents. 

By the way - I hope your breeder wasn't one of those who charges more for these pups just because of the supposedly "rare" markings. They aren't all that rare, and everything else being equal, you should be paying less because of the mismark.


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## htothe3 (Aug 1, 2012)

Our male chessie puppy is brindle too. His father was a very light dedgrass and mother brown. The breeder said they had 1 other pup look like ours over 3 years ago, so they ard just very rare


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

Here is a photo of a Brindle Chesapeake .... 

http://www.geocities.ws/Petsburgh/Farm/1276/brindle.html


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## htothe3 (Aug 1, 2012)

Here is a couple pictures of our brindle boy, granted he is still a puppy. His coloring should pop with age


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## R.Scott (Sep 18, 2011)

They do come in a brindle-y coat color. But, I think it's more of a mix of different shades (deadgrass with more darker brown) than it is actual brindle. They look really cool though!


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## Amielia05 (Sep 8, 2021)

Locke said:


> That's because they do not/should not come in brindle. Where did you get your pup? Perhaps he's not purebred, which would explain the brindle coat.
> 
> also post some pictures of the guy!!


 Brindle is not uncommon to the breed. It is not an indication of being a mix breed in chesapeakes. Also kind of a grey area as far as akc standard as states can be any color of brown sedge or dead grass. Brindling in a chesapeake is not as distinguishable as it is in other breeds. Especially if you have a dead grass with some brown brindling its very difficult to tell. I have had some pups with brindling, i do not charge more for them nor do i charge any less. This dog is meant for serious waterfowl hunting and to be able to break ice and out retrieve some if the best in the biz. The color of their coat as long as its vrown sedge or deadgrass, which if not mistaken i believe the standard says any variation of these colors but ill have to double check, does not affect the dogs hunt8ng abilty and if you ask me actually improve the camouflage to their suroundings. I will attatch a pic of a brindle chessie


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## Amielia05 (Sep 8, 2021)

This is from the American chesapeake club. Clearly states variation in colors of coat should not be a disqualification in show and is only worth 4 pts and more importabting to consider with this breed are other factors contributing to the function of the dog and that a multicolored ir various shaded dog may contribute more to the breed in other factors and should not be excluded for this reason. 😊


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## LeoRose (Aug 20, 2015)

It looks like the Recommended Reading has struck again. This is an eleven year old thread, and none of the participants are still active members.


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