Welcome to Heritage Chesapeake Retrievers
If you’re looking for a loyal, hardworking, and family-focused companion, the Chesapeake Bay Retriever is the perfect choice. Originally bred for waterfowl hunting, “Chesapeakes” are known for their love of water, intelligence, and determination. They are protective when needed, but above all, they are deeply devoted to their families.
Whether you’re interested in hunting, dog sports, or simply having a loyal best friend by your side, a Chesapeake will rise to the challenge. Strong, reliable, and full of heart — that’s what makes this breed so special.
What Sets Us Apart
Our breeding program begins with fully health-tested parent dogs, including genetic and OFA certifications, ensuring your puppy has the best possible start in life. Raised with care and intention in our home, our pups are prepared to excel as skilled hunting partners, beloved family members, or dependable service and therapy dogs.
Early Development Matters
From day one, we provide a comprehensive enrichment program rooted in puppy culture puppy-rearing practices. Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) begins at just three (3) days old, followed by age-appropriate enrichment activities, socialization opportunities, clicker training, and early potty and crate training through 8 weeks. This ensures our puppies are well-adjusted, confident, and ready for life in their new homes.
Nutrition for Lifelong Health
With an in-house certified raw canine nutritionist, we prioritize optimal nutrition. Puppies are weaned onto a balanced raw goat’s milk mush and gradually transitioned to a high-quality kibble, supporting strong, healthy growth and development.
Finding Your Perfect Match
We temperament test each puppy to ensure the best match for each family or individual. Whether you’re looking for a reliable hunting partner, a dedicated therapy dog, or a loyal family companion, we work closely with you to find the right fit.
Lifetime Breeder Support
Our commitment doesn’t end when you bring your puppy home. We offer lifetime breeder support for nutritional advice, behavioral guidance, and more, giving you confidence and peace of mind throughout your pup’s life.
Start Your Journey With Us!
Discover the Heritage Chesapeake Retrievers– where superior health, sound temperament, and dedication to the breed unite. Begin your journey with us and discover the exceptional quality and care that sets our program apart. Bring home a puppy that embodies the very best of this extraordinary breed!
To apply for a Chesapeake Bay Retriever puppy from an upcoming litter, please complete our puppy application.
Is This Breed Right For You?
Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are intelligent, active, and thrive with a job or purpose. They are best suited for families or individuals with an active lifestyle. If you’re new to the breed, we encourage you to research their unique traits to ensure they’re the right fit for your home.
Is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever the right breed for you?
We are, of course, quite biased that Chessies are the best breed in the world, but that does not mean they are the right breed for everyone! It is important to know all about the breed before bringing a new puppy into your home. Check out the following resources:
About the Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Chessies are strong, powerfully built gundogs standing anywhere from 21 to 26 inches at the shoulder. A male can weigh up to 80 pounds. The distinctive breed trait is a wavy coat that is oily to the touch. Chessies are solid-colored, either chocolatey brown, sedge, or deadgrass, with keen yellow-amber eyes that nicely complement the coat.
Chessies are more emotionally complex than the usual gundog. Chessies take to training, but they have a mind of their own and can tenaciously pursue their own path. They are protective of their humans and polite, but not overly friendly, to strangers. Chessies make excellent watchdogs and are versatile athletes. A well-socialized Chessie is a confident companion and world-class hunting buddy.
The Chesapeake Bay Retriever (often referred to as the Chessie) is a breed that originates from the State of Maryland, where they were developed for their excellent waterfowl retrieval skills. They are a very intelligent, tenacious, loyal, and athletic breed. Unlike their Labrador and Golden Retriever relatives, though, they do not have such easy-going personalities and can be very strong-willed. This means they are not always a good choice for a novice dog owner.
What is Puppy Culture?
Puppy Culture is a socialization & enrichment program developed by Jane Killion, professional dog trainer and breeder. It is a comprehensive, organized program for breeders to follow during the first weeks of a puppy’s life.
The first 12 weeks of a puppy’s life are incredibly important. This is an almost magical time when a breeder has the power to change the outcome of a puppy’s life by what we choose to teach him. By doing just the right things at just the right time, we can give your puppy the best start possible.
Prenatal Period:
Making sure that your puppy’s genetic material is excellent is only the beginning. The physical and emotional health of the mother will affect the health of her puppies. Since research has shown that puppies born to mothers that receive prenatal massage are more docile and enjoy being touched, we spoil our mothers with lots of affection and belly massages. A puppy’s predisposition to form deep and meaningful relationships begins even before they are born.
Neonatal Period: 0-14 days
Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) begins on day 3 and continues through day 16. Research shows that tiny struggles and stresses in appropriate small doses are actually good for puppies and will help them grow into strong, healthy well-adjusted adults. Benefits include greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeat. This is a gift that a breeder can only give their puppies once during the window of 3-16 days.
Transitional Period: 14-21 days
Behavioral markers are used to identify the beginning and end of each developmental period because every puppy is different and these timelines are simply guidelines. The transitional period begins when the puppy’s eyes open and ends when they first startle upon hearing sounds.
Critical Socialization Period: 3-12 weeks
Most people think of socialization as exposing their puppies to as many new experiences as possible while the puppy is young. While this is part of the process, it’s not enough. Our goal is to raise dogs that have the emotional intelligence to connect with you. Emotional intelligence can be taught to young puppies and one of the goals of the Puppy Culture Program is to teach breeders how to do this. There are 7 key things that will nurture the emotional intelligence of a puppy.
1: Communication – giving a puppy his own voice (Communication Trinity – (power up clicker, box game, manding), attention/distraction protocols)
2: Emotional stability – the ability to recover easily from fear as well as stress (startle recovery, barrier challenges, Volhard Aptitude Test at day 49))
3: Habituation – familiarity with the maximum number of things (Puppy Parties, sound protocols, habituation soundtracks and noises, meeting different people, dogs, other animals)
4: Enrichment – the view that novelty and challenges are opportunities for enrichment rather than things to be feared or avoided (novelty items, Adventure Box, off-premises socialization)
5: Health – physical wellness and motor skills that will allow the puppy to develop in a neurologically and physically sound way (daily weight checks, grooming, vaccinations, deworming, proper nutrition, vet health checks)
6: Skills – learned behaviors which allow him to function in human society (recall, manding, simple commands, litterbox training, crate training, leash walking, resource guarding, bite inhibition)
7: Love – the desire to seek out the company of both dogs and humans as emotionally positive experiences (shaping emotional responses, Happy and Calm CER (Conditioned Emotional Responses), daily cuddles with humans and mom).
Going Home: Weeks 8-12:
Per Puppy Culture protocol, puppies go home with their families. This is the final critical socialization period to adjust to their new family’s lifestyle and be introduced to new people and experiences.
When you adopt your puppy, you will be just as thankful as we are 100% in agreement with this program — to breed socially well-adapted Chessies, into adulthood!