RRRC/Hope Springs Rufsail Puppy Futurity winners - Chesapeake Bay Retriever Hunting Dog Pictures

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First time Chesapeake owner Bruce Piner of Fredericksburg, Va., had never tried any kind of retriever competition before he entered his new puppy in the Rappahannock River Retriever Club's puppy futurity. Piner was expecting to have fun, let his pup retrieve a few pigeons, and meet some people to train and possibly duck hunt with, having recently moved to the area from S.C.

But Teach, a brown, 12-week-old male Chesapeake Bay Retriever puppy, not only had fun retrieving pigeons, he earned the blue ribbon at the Hope Springs Rufsail Memorial Puppy Futurity held in Remington Va., April 10th. Judges Heather Hauser and Ginny Reed, both from Pennsylvania, had a talented group of pups and needed a run-off to pick the winner.
It was fitting that Teach, a son of Hope Springs Rufsail JH**WDX and Tugboat Woods Colt MH WDQ, won the event, named in honor of his late mother who died unexpectedly a few weeks before the event. Piner, an ex Marine, named Teach after an infamous pirate from the 17th century.

Teach was bred by Julie Reardon of Hope Springs Farm in Orlean, Va. Among the puppies he bested to earn his blue ribbon was his litter sister Hope Springs Tanganyika, an ash female owned by Reardon and Alan Sandifer of Mississippi. She was equally keen to retrieve, but a bit less willing to return with her pigeon, insisting on parading around and showing it off to the other puppies and making Reardon chase her down before she allowed herself to be caught. For her naughtiness she earned the special Thug puppy award.
The Thug award was given to the puppy that displayed the most creative disobedience. "It's for the puppy who shows talent, but knocks itself out of contention," explained one of the judges. "It's an award for a puppy that you can't give the first place ribbon to, but you'd still like to own it."
The second and third placed pups were large, black 4 month old Labrador Retrievers that traveled from N.C. for the event. The puppy futurity, a non-AKC event, was held during the club's AKC Hunting Test over Easter weekend.

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