A number of years ago i had a nice light deadgrass bitch named Tugboat's Tough Enough (Hickory). She was a daughter of the good Western field trial dog Dakota Kid and Cur-sans Caroway Zenith. I had bred her to bench oriented sires for her first two litters. But several of the pups from those breedings worked so well that i decided to breed her to a field dog. A friend told me that he had trained with an exceptional young dog and that i should consider him. The dog's name was Gambler's Dilwyn Stacked Deck. In the years since Decks has earned a Dual Championship, an Amateur Field Championship, a Master Hunter and record of being the best living sire of field Chesapeakes. But then he was a dog with 11 Derby points and a lot of promise.

The Decks puppies were exceptional almost from the first days of life. Tremendously coordinated and alert they were out of the box and running around days ahead of the average pups .On their first few walks outdoors their hunting instinct was obvious. I've since said that taking a litter of Decks puppies for a walk is like walking a bunch of rabbits, because instead of following you along like most puppies, they are bounding off in as many different directions as there are puppies, hitting cover and looking for anything they can find.

One of Hickory's puppies by Decks was especially appealing. A brown female, she was the quickest and the birdiest, and the most affectionate. But she had a problem. Her dam had severed her ear when delivering her. I didn't want to sell a one eared dog. in truth, i didn't want to sell her at all. I named her Tugboat's A Tad Short since she was minus an ear and called her Taddy. Taddy is an old Eastern Shore word that is basically baby talk for "thank you". Taddy was a high energy puppy who lived to retrieve. She remains incredibly birdy and chases everything that flies. I did not breed her until she was around 4 years old. At that time i became interested in the cross of Woody on the Decks bitches. Woody and Decks are very different dogs but since they are first cousins, their sires being brothers, such a mating doubles up on the Chipewa Chief/Fireweed's Jasmine breeding that was so successful.Taddy had two litters by Woody and i was very impressed with them. They had the Decks intensity but also got some of Woody's good looks and his less precocious but mellower/calmer temperament. This will probably be Taddy's last litter . Colt, being Woody's son, continues the pattern of line breeding to Chip/Jassy.