Welcome to Sand Spring Chesapeakes:

We are located in south central Wisconsin in the small town of Cambria which is 1 hour northeast of Madison, 1 1/2 hours northwest of Milwaukee, 1 hour southwest of Appleton. We reside on our 70 acre hobby farm with our five Chesapeakes Gambler, Glory, Slammer, Gertie and Shank. Bones the cat and three “furangel’s” Norman and Nellie our foundation stock along with Guilty. We are surrounded by many lakes and marshes to hunt in as well as over 200 acres to train and hunt on.

John is a steel construction worker. JoAnn has been a Veterinary Technician for over 30 years.

 We are members of the American Chesapeake Club in which JoAnn is the Wisconsin Regional Director since September of 2015, Hunting Retriever Club and Ducks Unlimited. Fall of 2007 John and I became American Chesapeake Club rescue volunteers. When we aren’t working we are devoting all our time to our chessies. We compete in AKC & UKC hunt tests & limited AKC field trials, show in AKC & UKC Conformation. We also have competed in AKC & UKC dock jumping and lure coursing and titled our dogs in CGC, CGCA, CGCU, Trick Dog and Farm dog, we have also competed and titled in Elite Shed dog events. Our dogs have also received their Temperament Testing evaluations.  In the fall of 2013 JoAnn became a registered therapy dog handler with Alliance of Therapy Dogs, in the spring of 2017 we became R.E.A.D certified as well. I, along with my teammates Gambler, Glory, Gertie and Slammer are enjoying therapy visits, sharing that “chessie love”. As of May 2019 Gambler has completed 100 therapy visits for his AKC Therapy Dog Advanced title. Fall of 2019 JoAnn has become an AKC Farm Dog, CGC evaluator, temperament  and a tester/observer for Alliance Of Therapy Dogs. Since then JoAnn has become a Elite Shed Dog and AKC Fetch judge.

When we’re not at a event we are spending the weekend with our training group. We also enjoy hunting, fishing, and many more outside activities. John and I have spent our childhood growing up with chessies and now we want to raise them so we can give back to the breed all the joy, love and companionship they have given us over the years. 

 Our mission is to breed strong healthy Chesapeake Bay Retrievers that comply with breed standards and will be able to perform in both field and show as well as being wonderful family dogs. We raise our litters following the Puppy Culture protocols. 

In June of 2017 Sand Spring Chesapeakes became AKC Breeders of Merit. We are proud of this accomplishment. You can read all about our Journey HERE. We are also Bred with H.E.A.R.T. breeders. 

John & JoAnn