On August 31, 2024 at the National Show Specialty banquet in Wilmington, Ohio, the American Chesapeake Club conferred its highest honor upon Karen Anderson of Monrovia, Maryland. Two separate nominations for Karen were submitted to the club’s Lifetime Achievement Award committee.
In December of 1968, Karen was looking for a new puppy after the death of her Doberman Pinscher. She had been told about the beautiful brown dogs and went to visit with someone that had four available. On that day, one single boy went right up to her and ended up jumping into her lap, and he went home with her that day. That was the start of a love affair with the breed that has now lasted 56 years.
Karen became a member of the American Chesapeake Club in 1969 and has been a member ever since. Karen has held a multitude of roles within the organization over the years, and has always given back.
Some of her volunteer positions are the following:
Karen’s breeding program has had a huge effect on the breed, both in the United States and internationally, and has helped to touch so many throughout the breed for decades, and its effect is still being felt today.
Karen bred the first CH Chesapeake bitch to go high in trial in obedience. She is the breeder of 9 Chesapeake’s with tracking titles
She has bred 6 Best of Breed winners at the National Show Specialty, including the only three-time winner, CH Chestnut Hills Stone E’s Tug. Tug also won Best of Breed at the Canadian National Specialty
Karen has bred over 86 Champions and has owned over 44 champions herself. (Chessiebook.org)
Submitted by Brian Newman
Karen Anderson and husband Ron embarked on a drive in 1968 to see a litter of Chesapeake Bay Retriever pups in Davidsonville, Maryland.
Ron’s grandfather had owned a Chesapeake and a neighbor’s Chessie had followed Ron around on his paper route. But Karen had not seen a Chessie, apart from photos, until that day when a huge dog came bounding across the yard. Karen tried to get back in the car but Ron wouldn’t let her. They paid a deposit and soon came home with their first Chessie.
That short drive launched what became Chestnut Hills kennel on Karen and Ron’s small farm in Monrovia, Md. Chestnut Hills has earned a record-setting six Best of Breed awards at the American Chesapeake Club’s national specialties. These ACC BOB national specialty wins span a remarkable three decades in the 55-year history of Chestnut Hills.
There was three-time BOB winner CH Chestnut Hills Stone E’s Tug (1985, 1990 and 1991), two-time BOB winner CH Chestnut Hills Charisma (1995 and 1997) and BOB winner GCH Chestnut Hills Windjammer SH WD (2015). Add to this the three Best of Opposite national specialty wins. There was BOS winner CH Cub’s Lady Belle CD TD (1975), BOS winner CH Chestnut Hills Kele’s Kode (2005) and BOS winner CH Chestnut Hills Watermark (2009). Add to this the Chestnut Hills bred dogs and bitches that took Best of Winners and Winners, the many class wins, the sweepstakes wins and Tug’s Best of Breed award at the Chesapeake Bay Retriever Club of Canada’s specialty in 1991. Tug remains to this day the breed’s top AKC stud dog.
Karen says she aims to breed a good family dog “that can do what it is bred to do.” In short, a conformationally correct Chesapeake bred to the standard, that wants to please and is a good gundog.
Karen breeds puppies that like to work. She’s put nine tracking titles and numerous obedience titles on her dogs. Those include CH Chestnut Hills Lady Rose CD TD, an all-breed High in Trial winner. After Windjammer was awarded Best of Breed at the 2015 American Chesapeake Club National Specialty, Karen wasn’t content to rest on her laurels. She sent him to Kathy Luthy in Florida for advanced field training and he earned his senior hunter title.
As I sat at ringside during many a dog show in the Maryland area in the 1990s, I marveled at the consistency of Karen’s breeding program. Without looking in the show catalog, I could scan the show ring and pick out the Chestnut Hills dogs and bitches: a classic type with proper structure, ease of movement, great coats, good bone, and beautiful heads and necks. Karen explains her breeding philosophy this way: “I want the whole package.”
Karen helped introduce “the whole package” to an international audience through a long collaboration with Christine Mayhew in England and her Arnac Bay kennel. Mayhew imported 10 Chestnut Hills dogs and two pups sired by the Anderson’s dogs. This enduring friendship elevated the profile of the Chesapeake Bay Retriever internationally and in the United Kingdom where Chrissy’s dogs now are frequent winners at Crufts.
Karen joined the American Chesapeake Club in the late 1960s and has filled numerous positions throughout the years. Karen served on the ACC board in the 1980s. She has chaired or co-chaired two national specialties. She served as a regional director. Karen was the longtime obedience chairperson for the ACC Bulletin. She co-chaired Chessie “fun days” and held many training days at her home and nearby. Karen twice judged sweepstakes at the national specialty. She also judged a Chesapeake Bay Retriever club specialty in England in 1986.
Karen currently serves as an ACC breed mentor, and her Chestnut Hills dogs are still winning Best of Breed in the show ring in 2024.
Karen mentored many along the way, including myself. She gave me my first handling lesson at her home after I got a beautiful, deadgrass Tug pup. At the time, I didn’t know that my world was about to open up and where it would take me. I went from wanting a companion dog to showing, to breeding, to hunting, to AKC hunt tests and AKC hunt test judging. It’s Karen’s friendship and mentoring that encouraged this journey. I know there are many others who followed a similar path begun with the joy of owning a Chestnut Hills pup.
Most importantly, Karen has achieved this for more than 50 years in service to our beloved breed, the Chesapeake Bay Retriever. For this, we ask you to consider Karen Anderson for the 2024 American Chesapeake Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Respectfully Yours, Mary Pemberton
Cosponsors: Mary Pemberton and Dyane Baldwin