29 March 2026
Following the success of the training days last Friday and Saturday, the big day of the actual test dawned bright and sunny but cold. Our judges for this event were husband and wife team Joy Venturi Rose and Chris Rose whose involvement in dogs, both in shows and work, goes back a long way with their successful kennel of Labradors. Both are Royal Kennel Club Field Trial B Panel judges.
The tests were set in two areas of ground, with a walk up and a double retrieve on the hill (which gave all, including the dummy throwers, a great view of Cowdray Park), then water and further retrieves in the valley with a simple marked water retrieve for Beginners, and a marked then blind retrieve for Open. A simple mark on land followed for Beginners, with a reasonably long mark then a memory in the same area for Open.
With no puppies present, the first class was the Novice Dog/Novice Handler, with four entries. Ross McNaughton, a familiar friendly face on training days with Jason, was running in his first test with Cooper (Tides Nightryder) and led the field to score the highest marks and take the David Mercer shield home. Let us hope that Ross will catch the bug and that we see him at more tests in the future.
Mark Poulton, resplendent in his keeper’s suit, handled Otto (Passione Knightspool) to win the Beginners class, scoring 75.5, and took home the judges choice award. Vincent Acheson and Petros came second with a score of 69, closely chased by Nick Glanvill with Cora (Pixiesrock Green Kirkle) one point behind on 68.
On to the Unclassified Open and at last, the ladies made an appearance with Fleur Bament taking Chester (Pixiesrock Maestro Cadenza) to the winner’s podium. Chester, some will remember, was involved in a horrific accident on Fleur’s Somerset farm a couple of years ago and it was touch and go whether he would recover to full action. For his amazing recovery and return to the shooting and show fields, he was awarded the trophy donated by Vincent and Cathy Acheson for ‘chessietude’. Two awards therefore headed back to Somerset.
Second in the Unclassified Open was Richard Playle with his home-bred Wizz (Riptide Whilstlin Duck) who behaved herself, unlike her younger full brother Roly who showed no end of drive and ability but decided to do things ‘his’ way. Roly did, however, catch the judge’s eye for his natural ability and good looks!
The final trophy of the day for best veteran went to Nick Glanvill’s Grace (Chesepi Viroqua) who scored in every test and belied her 9 years of age.
A good, friendly atmosphere made the day a special one and with smiles on their faces, people gave generously to the extensive raffle which made a good sum of £120 for the Club.
This test could not have been such a success without the seriously hard work of Anthony Ciraolo who was dashing here and there while we all tucked into our lunches! Gemma McCartney and Amie Mellersh Tett were our valuable dummy throwers, along with two lovely volunteers who gave up their day to help out with a breed they had no connection with – thank you all. Lastly, but not least, thank you to Bob Mayhew, who very kindly donated and made the lunch for judges and helpers, served from the tailgate of a pickup which was obviously designed for the job!
Christine Mayhew bobmayhewqhorses@aol.com
Copy deadline for each BNW is 6 pm on the Friday before each weekend’s issue. All queries regarding content should be addressed strictly to the author above.
22 March 2026
With the Club show next weekend, there will be a fun child’s handling class for any children with a biddable dog (their own or someone else’s) so they can have their own short time in the ring. Please join in on the day. The show starts at 09.30 am BUT we will all have to remember that the clocks go forward that morning!
The training and working test weekend at Cowdray was well on its way on Friday afternoon, with training starting early with a complimentary session with Jason Mayhew. Chesapeakes and their owners had travelled from far and wide, with several making 4+ hour journeys from the North of England.
The sun shone down as dogs were set exercises on the outstanding grounds which now (after an obvious amount of work) includes a perfect pond for water retrieves, the previous setting being very overgrown and cluttered.
The venue, in Cowdray Park, is well known for its beauty, with amazing views across the lush countryside and historic centuries old trees gracing us with their presence.
Eight handlers and dogs worked on simple water retrieves and on teaching a dog to take a line on land with two placed dummies in a line, one further than the other, retrieving the first and sending back for the second.
More handlers were able to make the Saturday, increasing the numbers to twelve. This second day’s training saw instructors Anna Mayhew and Andrew Durrant in the morning and Jason in the afternoon, with work adding to distances, obedience and heel work. Some problems that individual handlers had identified in their own dogs were discussed and worked on.
Tests were set with one of the judges for the test which was to be held on the following day, news of which, along with results, will be in next week’s BNW. Watch this space.
Christine Mayhew
bobmayhewqhorses@aol.com
Copy deadline for each BNW is 6 pm on the Friday before each weekend’s issue. All queries regarding content should be addressed strictly to the author above.
15 March 2026
The Club’s spring working test is to be held this coming weekend at grounds on Cowdray Estate, Midhurst, West Sussex (see the Events page for full details). For those who haven’t entered, you are very welcome to come and spectate, with or without your dog. Dogs, however, must kept on a lead under control, and must not attend in any circumstances if they are a bitch in season.
As mentioned in a previous BNW, there will be an opportunity to purchase one of Karen Glanvill’s amazing handmade mugs with a Chesapeake featured on the front, with funds going to Chesapeake Rescue.
As per normal there will also be a raffle and we already have some great items donated for this. Please bring cash!
An amusing (for us) story from Kay Camoccio who, like us all, I’m sure, is fed up with the constant rain. Kay, struggling through the mud, fell in a clay patch of mud whilst having three dog leads and a scarf around her neck. Kay says,
I physically got stuck. I had to sway from side to side to release the suction on my butt. Then I really had trouble releasing my wellies, thankfully still attached to my feet. Finally able to stand up, I took one step and landed back from whence I came. I had to rip chunks of grass to wipe my hands. The scarf and leads were dripping. Steve, my husband, was out, so I really needed to strip off in the garden and be hosed but our garden is overlooked.
I had to wash/dry the dogs off first, then stand in the kitchen, strip and hand wash everything before putting all in the washing machine. By this time it was a race as the clay was drying and falling on the floor in clumps. If only it had been videoed, I’m sure I would be an Internet hit. At times like that I think why don’t I do a road walk. But who wants to walk around the streets and our local beach is so full of sewage.
Kay and Steve live in Kent. Do we all know how clean the beaches are in our own areas?
Everything seems to happen at the same time and with Crufts, the Club Working Test, and two weeks later the Club Shows, March has been a busy time. I hope that we can spread everything out more in future years.
The Club Show, again, can be a good one for spectators so please put it in your diary and try to visit at the Kennel Club Building, Stoneleigh Park, Warks. Again, all details elsewhere on the website. A great sight to see is the wildfowling class held in the morning with many of the competitors wearing their camouflage attire complete with accessories. Once again this year it has been sponsored by our local gun wholesaler, Bisley Sports, and has some super prizes.
Included this week are some more photos of a few more winners at Crufts. Please let me have your photos if you won a class and would like them included in Breed News.
Christine Mayhew
bobmayhewqhorses@aol.com
Copy deadline for each BNW is 6pm on the Friday before each weekend’s issue. All queries regarding content should be addressed strictly to the author above.
8 March 2026
Crufts, as most will know, is the largest dog show in the world, this year having over 24,000 dogs at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham over four days, 5-8 March.
This amazing annual event showcases a wide variety of competitions and demonstrations including breed classes, agility, heelwork to music, obedience championship and flyball, demonstrating the best of British dog breeding, training and handling.
The entry this year had nearly 18,700 dogs participating in breed competitions over the four days of the event with more than 200 pedigree breeds competing for the coveted Best in Show title. Of this number there were 56 Chesapeake Bay Retrievers taking part in the Breed Judging and Gamekeepers’ Classes, and another handful representing the breed in the Discover Dogs area where the general public visit to see and find out about all the different breeds.
Debbie Herring does a great job organising volunteers for the Discover Dogs stand and in decorating the stand itself. Tragically Debbie took a tumble last week whilst taking her dogs for a walk and managed to dislocate and fracture her shoulder, which obviously put her out of action for the event and whilst she managed to attend on the Sunday, suitably trussed up in medical dressings, the input she normally makes was severely curtailed.
Those volunteers who manned the stand this year were Laura and Sharon on the Thursday with Hemi and Tasha; Vroni and Togo (missing Debbie) on the Friday; Richard and Rhian on the Saturday with Roly and Otto; Jo with Quince and Lena with Zena and Aruba on the Sunday. This is a time consuming and tiring day so a huge thank you to all mentioned for taking on this job on behalf of our breed.
Our breed certainly make an impact in the Gamekeeper classes at Crufts, with brown dogs being present in various categories, the Oakmarsh team really making their presence felt. Mary and Des Murray made the trip from Ireland and won the BASC AV retriever class, taking the impressive Agria Insurance Trophy with Yeats who was imported as a puppy from Germany.
A total of 56 dogs were entered in the Chesapeake breed classes under very experienced gundog judge, Richard Bott. Eight of the 56 entries had travelled from Europe to compete and made this a truly international entry. It was one of these eight who took the top award of Best of Breed, a lovely young male from Czechoslovakia: Fair Filippo od Hostalky, whose dam, Daisy, won the bitch CC at Crufts in 2024. Owned and handled by Gabriela Kucharova this lad won the dog CC, thereby starting his journey for his UK championship. The reserve dog CC was won by Tilly Thomas and Richard Playle’s homebred working wildfowling dog, Roly (Riptide Gentlemans Relish), very ably handled by Gemma McCartney.
Onto the female classes and the best bitch and CC went to Mayhew and McCartney’s BBs Chesapeake Breeding Dory for Arnac, imported from Switzerland and at her first Crufts, winning through from the junior bitch class. Caroline Huber, whose mother bred Dory, had flown in the day before and was thrilled to see Dory do so well. Reserve CC went to last year’s best of breed winner, Sh Ch Arnac Bay Hebe, handled by Emily Evans, and owned by Mayhew and Middleton. Best puppy was Janet Morris’s homebred Penrose Water Pistol and best veteran was Hebe.
While many are proud to qualify their dogs for Crufts and rightly so, it takes a lot more effort and training to qualify for the field trial classes at Crufts. After many, many years of no qualifiers in our breed, this year we had a Chesapeake enter, namely Irish Show Champion Riverruns Everybody’s Friend, owned and bred by Mary and Des Murray. This lovely bitch earned her field trial award in Ireland having been trained and run by Mary and is often winning or in the top awards at our UK Chesapeake working tests.
For those who wish to see all the results from Crufts, they are on the Fosse Data website under Results – Crufts – Gundogs – Chesapeake Bay Retrievers.
If I have missed out any significant news, please let me know.
More pictures next week.
Christine Mayhew
bobmayhewqhorses@aol.com
Copy deadline for each BNW is 6 pm on the Friday before each weekend’s issue. All queries regarding content should be addressed strictly to the author above.
