History of Breeding Wildwood Chesapeakes In Alaska

Fortymile Rusty Roundhouse W.D. "Rusty" Silverdarts Goldene Nox "Gypsy"   Wildwood Kennels was established in Alaska in 1963  Member of the Amercian Chesapeake Club

Rusty won his working dog title at the first American Chesapeake Club, Chessie days in Alaska, in the early 70’s. This breeding produced consistently good dogs with dual show and field abilities. Many of these pups went on to found other kennels or were retained by Wildwood to continue a long line of great working dogs. These include Ch. Wildwood’s Midnight Sundance W.D., Ch. Wildwood’s Fireweed W.D.X., and Ch. Wildwood’s Prince Baronof W.D. C.D. This combination of dogs has played an important part in the line breeding program here at Wildwood Kennels as I have never strayed too far from this winning combination. This pairing of dogs will often turn up ten or more times in my fifth generation back and up to 25 times in my sixth and seventh generations back. It is not hard to see why these dogs still have a strong influence on my present breedings.

My original female.Gypsy, Silverdarts Golden Nox, while she did not have quite as famous a background, was also line bred and doubles on Can. F.T. Ch. Conroy’s Golden Arrow and Can. F.T. Ch. Midnapore’s Copper Mtn. Chum. She proved to be a great outcross to Rusty and gave me a great combination of Chesapeakes. My breedings are now six and seven generations from my original dogs, and I continue to selectively breed these reliable old bloodlines. These bloodlines were heavily linebred at the time I started breeding them and included just about every great Chesapeake of early Field Trials, many of which were shown to their bench championships as well. The strong depth of their genetics were what made them so influential and so able to stamp their type on their successive generations. I have always based my breeding program on dogs with the best field and hunting ability, preferring those with the most drive and who love to work. That I like a very good looking dog I think should speak for itself as one has only to look at my generations of dogs who with very few times out are able to easily get their Bench Championships.

The First Generation
Ch.Wildwood's Midnight Sundance W.D.	Ch.wildwood's Fireweed WDX***	Ch. Wildwood’s Prince Baronof W.D. C.D.

Rusty in background, Filcka in foreground. Fortymile Rusty Roundhouse with grandaughter Wildwood's Flicka

These related dogs have a strong influence on anything they are bred to. Over the years I have selectively bred for their best qualities while selecting against the faults that would be best not to continue with. These combinations of bloodlines trace quickly back to many of the original very well known foundation dogs of the breed. Fortymile Rusty Roundhouse was a grandson of Fld. Ch. Nelgards Baron on his Dam’s side. On his Sire’s side he is a double great grandson to Baron. Nelgards Baron’s Dam was Fld. Ch. Tiger of Clipper City who is out of Fld. Ch. Chesacroft Baron, sired by Bench and Fld. Ch. Sodak’s Gypsy Prince. On his Dam’s side he is great grandson to Dual Ch. Mount Joy’s Mallard, sired by Fld. Nelgard’s King Tut and Ch. Sasnakra Sassy C.D.

To understand a time frame on these early dogs I have taken information from an article rewritten by A. A. Bliss in a 1968 ACC Bulletin, and he states as follows:

“Sodak’s Gypsy Prince was bred by the late Joseph Schuster in Albertville, Minnesota, and was imported to the east at the time of the first retriever trial in 1932. Prince was the first and only (at that time) Chesapeake to win both Bench and Field Trial Championships. He was an exceptional stud dog and introduced a speed and style that became the foundation of the modern field trial Chesapeake.”

To get a reference of time, this puts my first generation of puppies only 7 generations away from Dual AFC Ch. Sodak’s Gypsy Prince, one of the foundation dogs of the modern Chesapeakes. While there were many other related and famous Field and Bench dogs used and line bred upon in this same pedigree, I refer to Sodak’s Gypsy Prince as there was enough history about him to have a date at which he was running in Field Trials in 1932 and so living at about this time. While this may seem to the unstudied to be too many generations away to be influential, by carefully line breeding these dogs have been able to carry forward and increase the original working qualities in this famous old line of Chesapeakes. It remains and has always been the responsibility of the breeder to attain and maintain the purity of the gene pairs that determine desirable attributes of the breed.

I remain both amazed and astounded at times with the ability, intelligence, and trainability I have been able to reproduce in these dogs. While I in no way would ever take any credit for their fine working and hunting abilities, as these qualities were already there when I began to breed these dogs, I do feel I have been able to influence consistency of both physical and mental attributes. I have increased the purity of the gene pairs that determine the desirable qualities of the breed. It is through careful selective line breedings that genetic influence becomes fixed, influential and able to be carried forwards in the line. I have always felt that these dogs should remain both physically and mentally useful. They should have great physical courage and be awe-inspiring in any work they may be asked to perform. It is with this in mind that I continue to breed Chesapeakes who will be able to carry forward their unique and wonderful characteristics into the future.

Sue Brown