We rescued Rosie, our light deadgrass Chesapeake Bay Retriever, in 2002. She has many issues and took years to settle in. Rosie has high prey drive. She gets along with horses and our cats but cannot be left unsupervised with other dogs or poultry. Adult men have been bitten by her in the past, but our patient mail carrier has figured her out--doggie biscuits get him in and out without drama. She is an excellent watch dog and will bark to let us know someone is approaching. The loud motorcycles on Zayante are the bane of Rosie's existence. She loves children though and is the first to greet the kids who come visit.
	Although increasingly arthritic, Rosie still enjoys a game of fetch and spends a good part of the day trenching the soft soil on our acreage. She prefers to be outdoors during the day and in at night. Rosie greets us and invited guests with a Chessie "Roo roo roo." We sometimes have to convince people, this is just talking and not a growl.
When her bowl is empty in the morning, she acts like Snoopy and kicks it around the deck, "ringing" it until we come out to serve her. Rosie loves paddock cleaning time. Throw some manure her way and she'll do back flips trying to catch it mid-air. Yuck! Rosie's favorite critter friend is Gypsy, our tortie feral cat, found on our property when when we moved in (June 2000).