Bauer Brought Black Labs to WA State

Eddie Bauer was born with a rifle in one hand and a dog in the other. Though he’s best known for outfitting hunters, anglers, alpinists, and Air Force pilots, for winning shooting, fishing, tennis, and golf competitions, and for founding a hundred-year-old outdoor brand, Eddie would insist that his personal legacy is all about man’s best friend. It turns out that dog lovers in Washington have Eddie to thank for introducing Black Labrador retrievers to the state.

TRAINING PAYS OFF

Though it may be a stretch to claim that he was born with a dog in one hand, it’s true that Eddie’s early life was shaped by his relationships with working dogs. After moving from the family’s home on Orcas Island when he was three, Eddie spent happy hours fishing the shores of Lake Washington alongside his black water spaniel, Topsy.

When he was 11, Eddie bought a Chesapeake-bull terrier cross named Speed at Seattle’s Pike Place Market and set about training him to dive into deep water to retrieve birds that he shot on the wing. He started by placing a morsel of meat in a bowl of water—just deep enough that Speed would have to dip his nose below the surface.

The two progressed to deeper and deeper water until, eventually, they took a rowboat 50 yards from shore where Eddie tossed a treat overboard. Speed watched the morsel sink below the surface, leapt overboard, and came up with the meat in his mouth.

It wasn’t long before the training paid off.

Only a year later, Eddie and his ten-year-old friend, Dick Bond, were exploring a small island in search of birds when Dick slipped and fell into the water. Neither boy could swim, and while Eddie frantically looked for a way to save his friend, Speed dove into the water, took hold of the boy’s red sweater and dragged him to the surface. Boy’s best friend indeed.

A NEW BREED ON THE SCENE

In 1930, after 30 years of hunting and fishing with field dogs, Eddie’s friend told him a story about a retriever he’d seen on Canada’s Vancouver Island. The pup had jumped unflinchingly into the surf from a 10-foot bluff before retrieving to his owner’s hand.

Eddie had heard of the hearty breed on previous hunting trips in Alberta, so he drove to Vancouver Island, paid the owner $65, and came home with Washington’s first black Labrador retriever, Blackie. Eddie never worked with a different breed again.

Though he was by no means the only black Labrador Eddie would own, he was certainly Eddie’s favorite. Eddie described him as “the greatest of all the great dogs I have ever known, one I have loved above all others.”

_{“Blackie” was part of the family}

By 1946, however, the crush of work from the wartime production years began to take its toll. That year he lost not only his longtime hunting buddy, but also Blackie’s last son, Bolo. Eddie finally decided in 1948 to hang up his guns and find homes for his remaining dogs.

WANAPUM KENNELS

Ten years later, a friend of Eddie’s son asked Eddie for a lesson in shotgun shooting. Though it had been 20 years since he’d fired at a clay pigeon, Eddie broke 49 of 50 birds that day. As he got back into competitive shooting at the Seattle Gun Club, Eddie’s circle of friends broadened and one of those friends gave him an 18-month-old Labrador retriever named Terry.

Though Terry suffered from hip dysplasia which kept him from competing, he came from championship lines and was an excellent hunting dog. Eddie was again hooked by the dog’s intelligence, strength, and character, and in 1960 he formed Wanapum Kennels to breed the retrievers. Wanapum Kennels quickly became known as a premier kennel for Labrador retrievers, and in 1970 a female named Dart gave birth to a pup known as Wanapum Dart’s Dandy.

Throughout their careers, Eddie and Stine Bauer both reached the pinnacle of their sports, winning shooting, golfing, tennis, and fishing championships. It’s only appropriate that they would breed a champion Labrador. Wanapum Dart’s Dandy became the first American Labrador to win the Triple Crown and was later inducted into the Retriever Hall of Fame.

Eddie and his son sold their shares in Eddie Bauer, Inc. in 1968, but Eddie approached his “retirement project” with the same passion with which he built and grew his company. Eddie was named Retriever Breeder of the Year in 1974, and he maintained the Kennel until his death in 1986.

As a testament to the kennel’s success, the bloodlines of Wanapum’s champions can be found in the pedigrees of Labrador retrievers across North America.