Sometime in the late 1980s, Jane Peabody bought a paperback copy of James A. Michener’s historical novel “Chesapeake.”
A chapter in the novel describes a canine competition, and one dog – a Chesapeake Bay Retriever – wins all the prizes.
The story of the dog, of a breed previously unknown to Peabody, sparked her interest. Before long, she brought home her first.
Later, after finding out there wasn’t a nearby rescue program for the breed, “silly me,” Peabody remembers, she “calls the club and volunteers to help.”
Twenty-two years and 1600 rescues later, Jane and Ron Peabody will close Chesapeake Safe Harbor, the rescue operation at their Bremen home, by Thanksgiving weekend.
“We are really, really slowing down,” Jane Peabody said. “This is a hard one, but we have to do this.”
Jane and Ron Peabody originally hail from Bath and Lewiston, respectively. Jane Peabody worked as a secretary for the city of Bath and, later, Bath Iron Works, while Ron Peabody retired from positions as a teacher and administrator in Bath schools and from a summer career as a homebuilder.
The couple moved to Bremen for the additional space for the dogs.
“They’re not an easy dog,” Jane Peabody said. The Maryland state dog, the Chesapeake Bay Retriever was bred in the 1800s “to take care of their owner’s property,” she said. “They weren’t bred to be a cuddlebug and a socialite.”
“They were brought up to do a job, which was retrieving, and taking care of the man’s things,” Peabody said. The owner “was usually a solitary person,” she said.
The resulting behavioral tendencies of the breed earned it a reputation as “a dog with an attitude.”
“They’re solitary dogs. They want to stay with their people,” Peabody said. “They’re hard-headed and stubborn.”
Animal shelters sometimes refuse Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, particularly older dogs. “You put a few years on them and they’re hard to adopt,” Peabody said.
“You’ve got to have a different mindset to train them,” Peabody said. “You’ve got to think what they’re thinking.”
Peabody has apparently mastered the challenge. She and her husband share their home with three “chessies,” shorthand for the breed.
Peabody sometimes shows her dogs – Denali, 11, Thunder Bay, 4 and Cloudy, 1 – and the two eldest are American Kennel Club confirmation champions and junior hunters.
Another of her dogs won an international championship in the Dominican Republic. She trained three generations of therapy dogs to visit and work with the residents of area nursing homes.
Chesapeake Safe Harbor has capacity for 26 dogs and has, at times, been full, although an average population was closer to a dozen, Jane Peabody said.
The rescue shelter’s mission statement focuses on dogs in the Northeast, but eventually that informally expanded to include “any friendly dog that could get a ride,” Peabody said. The dogs came from every state in the continental U.S. and Alaska.
“The economy has brought us a lot over the last three years,” Peabody said. She estimates the annual cost of keeping a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, including veterinary bills for the breed’s unique medical needs, at $1500.
The dogs’ owners often can’t afford it or “have to go into a smaller living arrangement and there’s just no place for a big dog,” Peabody said.
The people who adopt the dogs, too, come from “all over,” Peabody said, including multiple Canadian provinces, although the majority of the rescue shelter’s clientele hails from the Northeast.
Individuals, couples and families considering adoption often travel to Maine for the weekend. They meet the dogs Saturday, spend the night at Moody’s Cabins in neighboring Waldoboro and often leave with a dog Sunday, Peabody said.
Nine years ago, Chesapeake Safe Harbor incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, allowing the organization to accept tax-deductible donations.
“It’s a lot of work, raising money,” Peabody said. A boarding business partially subsidized the rescue operation, but the nonprofit still relied on grants and donations, increasingly harder to come by in the recession.
The organization’s newsletter, its Facebook page and articles in The Lincoln County News have brought in timely donations “from all across the country” over the years, Peabody said.
The story of Homer, a big, friendly but blind Chesapeake, resonated with readers who sent donations for his eye surgery. A posting on Facebook brought in a much-needed washing machine.
A Lincoln County News subscriber in Colorado read about “one girl that couldn’t get around well” and bought her a set of Eddie’s Wheels – a sort of canine wheelchair.
“When people read something like that, they take it to heart,” Peabody said. “It’s amazing… just amazing.”
Jane and Ron Peabody hope to maintain Chesapeake Safe Harbor’s status as a nonprofit and, eventually, transfer it to someone in Massachusetts who hopes to continue the rescue effort.
Meanwhile, Jane Peabody refers anyone looking to adopt or place a rescue to the American Chesapeake Club, Chesapeake Bay Retriever Relief & Rescue and other organizations.
After nearly a quarter-century of 24/7 dedication to the rescue effort, Peabody looks forward to working in her gardens and orchard, with her chessies and her two horses (also rescue animals). She’ll continue to train and compete with the dogs and looks forward to being able to leave without making arrangements for a kennel full of demanding rescue dogs.
The couple isn’t going anywhere, though. “We like it here,” she said. “We’re going to be right here.”
For more information about Chesapeake Safe Harbor, like it on Facebook or visit www.chesapeakesafeharbor.com.