KENAI
Chesapeake Bay Retriever

The breeds · gun dog · retrieving

AKC Sporting · UKC Gun Dog · FCI standard 263

Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

Waterfowl retriever developed along the Chesapeake Bay to hunt under the most adverse weather and water conditions, often breaking ice through many strenuous multiple retrieves; equally proficient on land and in the water.

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

11.6YRMedian lifespanmeasured on real dogs.
25 / 23INHeightdogs 24.5, bitches 22.5. An ideal from the standard, not a range.
55–80LBWeight, all linesbreed dogs 72.5 lb (65 to 80); breed bitches 62.5 lb (55 to 70).
2.5+ HRSExercise, every dayMore than 2 hours per day. The constraint most homes get wrong.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

dogs 24.5 in (23 to 26) · bitches 22.5 in (21 to 24)

Breed clubAKC breed standard, 1993

Center is the midpoint of the standard's range.

Weight

dogs 72.5 lb (65 to 80) · bitches 62.5 lb (55 to 70)

Breed clubAKC breed standard, 1993

Center is the midpoint of the standard's range.

Coat

Thick and short, nowhere over 1.5 in long, dense fine woolly undercoat; very short and straight on face and legs, tending to wave on shoulders, neck, back and loins; moderate feathering on rear and tail permissible; coat should resist water and be merely moist after a shake; colors brown, sedge or deadgrass

Breed clubAKC breed standard, 1993

Shedding

Shedding 3 of 5 (AKC breed page trait score)

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Heat tolerance

4 of 5 · Short dense double coat: thick and short, nowhere over 1.5 in, with a dense fine woolly undercoat and oil in the harsh outer coat

DerivedAKC breed standard, 1993

Derived (4 = short dense). The oily, insulating undercoat is built for cold; a handler should read 4 as 'short coat' not 'hot-weather dog'.

How long they live, and what they cost

Measured on real dogs, with the sample and the spread. Never a guess.

Median lifespan

11.6 years

StudiedMcMillan KM, 2024

Small sample: only 42 deaths, and the table prints no upper CI bound. Confidence lowered from measured to studied for that reason. Not among the 18 breeds in Teng et al. 2022.

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Exercise need

More than 2 hours per day

Breed clubThe Royal Kennel Club

RKC band mapped: more than 2 hours = 150.

Exercise need

More than 2 hours per day

Breed clubThe Royal Kennel Club

Energy

Highly intelligent, independent-thinking; quiet and sensible at home, active outdoors; the club stresses consistent training and boundaries from puppyhood

Breed clubAmerican Chesapeake Club

Parent-club description; no line comparison because the club models one line.

Grooming load

2 of 5 · Once a week (RKC grooming band); coat length short; sheds

Breed clubThe Royal Kennel Club

RKC band mapped: weekly brush = 2.

Grooming

Once a week

Breed clubThe Royal Kennel Club

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

Waterfowl retriever developed along the Chesapeake Bay to hunt under the most adverse weather and water conditions, often breaking ice through many strenuous multiple retrieves; equally proficient on land and in the water

Breed clubAKC breed standard, 1993

Primary game

Waterfowl

Breed clubAKC breed standard, 1993

The parent club: 'first and foremost, a dog for water work in harsh conditions' (acc_about).

Range

Close: a non-slip retriever works from the handler's side and goes out on command; test retrieves should not normally exceed 100 yards (Junior, Senior) or 150 yards (Master)

Breed clubAKC, 2025

Range here means retrieve distance, not a quartering search range.

Field trial standard

AKC retriever hunting tests score four abilities 0-10: marking (memory), style, perseverance/courage/hunting, and trainability (steadiness, control, response, delivery); dogs must perform equally well on land and in water; Senior and Master dogs run blind retrieves and honor another dog's retrieve

Breed clubAKC, 2025

Retriever rules are shared by every eligible retriever breed. The ACC also runs a Working Dog Certification program (acc_about navigation).

Water work

Central to the breed: the standard says love of water, coat and swimming conformation should be given primary consideration in selection and breeding, and describes wind, tide and long cold swims as its work

Breed clubAKC breed standard, 1993

Cold water

5 of 5 · Built for late-season water: developed to hunt waterfowl under the most adverse weather and water conditions, often breaking ice; the oil in the outer coat and woolly undercoat keeps cold water from the skin and the coat sheds water like a duck's feathers

DerivedAKC breed standard, 1993

Derived from the standard's coat and work description; the standard itself names ice work.

How common the problems are

Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock; the numbers are still the best there are.

Hip dysplasia

19.1% · 19.1% dysplastic of 16,760 OFA hip evaluations on record (all data through Oct 2026; OFA hip registry dates from 1974); 79.7% normal (15.3% excellent, 52.5% good, 11.8% fair); breed rank 56

MeasuredOrthopedic Foundation for Animals

Voluntary registry: Hou et al. 2013 (hou_2013) document that OFA submissions under-report affected dogs, so true prevalence is higher. Hou 2013 also found the Chesapeake had the highest within-breed genetic correlation between hip and elbow scores (about 0.52) of the breeds studied.

Elbow dysplasia

7% · 7.0% abnormal of 5,620 OFA elbow evaluations on record (grade 1 5.2%, grade 2 1.5%, grade 3 0.3%); breed rank 61

MeasuredOrthopedic Foundation for Animals

Same voluntary-registry caveat as hips.

Most common disorders

Conditions the parent club documents for the breed: hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, progressive retinal atrophy (prcd) and other hereditary eye disease, exercise-induced collapse, degenerative myelopathy, chondrodysplasia, chondrodystrophy/intervertebral disc disease, ectodermal dysplasia (skin fragility syndrome). The RKC and the UK club both describe degenerative myelopathy as high-prevalence in the breed.

Breed clubAmerican Chesapeake Club, 2016

Club list, not a prevalence study. The ACC's 2003 health survey (3,564 dogs) and its current update survey were not readable in this pass; no percentages are recorded. Fewer than three sources carry prevalence.

More

akc bands

AKC breed page trait scores (1-5): Energy Level 4; Mental Stimulation Needs 4; Trainability Level 5; Barking Level 3; Watchdog/Protective Nature 4; Good With Young Children 3; Openness To Strangers 3; Good With Other Dogs 3; Shedding Level 3; Coat Grooming Frequency 3; Drooling Level 2; Affectionate With Family 4; Playfulness Level 3; Adaptability Level 4.

Breed clubAKC

Fourteen AKC bands in one row; the selector reads each by name. Breed-club ratings: a tendency, never a measurement.

What to ask a breeder for

The health clearances the breed’s own club and registry name. Reference only: what to ask for, never a statement about any dog’s health.

No KENAI kennel lists the Chesapeake Bay Retriever yet. If you breed them, list your kennel free: it shows on this page and in the hunting dog breed finder, under every handler whose answers land on the breed.

Side by side

Or let the selector rank the Chesapeake Bay Retriever against your own answers.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 9 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called
Chessie, Chesapeake, CBR

Every breed, read the same way.

The breed index grows as entries clear the standard. Gun dogs first.

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