A highly intelligent breed, the Chesapeake Bay Retriever is arguably the most powerful of the sporting breeds. This American born and bred breed of retriever was specifically designed for working and retrieving in the cold, rough conditions of the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding areas. In 1807, a ship wrecked off the coast of Maryland. Among the rescued were two Newfoundland pups; one red male, later named Sailor, and a black female pup, later named Canton. Although there is no evidence to support that these two were ever bred together, both were crossed with local canines including Irish Water Spaniels and local hounds. Eventually through selective breeding, the Chesapeake Bay Retriever was born as it's own independent breed. Chesapeake's have a double coat, the upper layer being coarse and the undercoat being dense with natural oils that are meant to repel water, in a similar fashion to that of waterfowl. Chesapeake's are renowned for their ability to mark and remember where downed fowl have landed, a love for the water, being able to handle icy cold conditions, their deep barrel chests which aid in breaking through sheets of ice, their strength and intelligence, the ability to repel water based off of their coats, and a keen sense of  smell. Back in the breeds early years, when there was no shortage of waterfowl and men made a living off of hunting and selling the fowl that they killed for market, the Chesapeake breed was highly sought after as a retrieving companion. Often times they could be expected to retrieve up to 200 ducks in a days work and were also left to guard the hunter's boats while they sold the birds at the market.