Lewellyn

Overview of Lewellyns

Description

Appearance

Related to the English Setter, the Llewellin's silky coat is mostly white with black and usually brown specks. Its coat is of a medium length and as it gets older is fur begins to curl near the shoulder and neck. Smaller than most breeds of Setter, the Llewellyn is generally 21-25 inches (56-60cm) tall and 33-37 inches (86-70cm) long.

Temperament

This breed of dog is very affectionate and loves to play. They enjoy human company and get along well with children and adults as well with other dogs and cats. Not naturally aggressive, Llewellin Setters are extreamly intelligent. Energetic, this breed will require some exercise daily. The best quality is their strong bonding with their owner and family and have a strong willingness to please their master and Natural instincts to point and retrieve without much training. They will "back" (Honor other dogs pointing)and point the other dogs out in the field.

Health

Llewellin Setters can be healthy dogs when looked after. Some bloodlines like the imported Dashing Bondhu line that was personally developed by Mr. Llewellin for 50 years is reported completely clean of any genentic faults. Other strains may have

• Hip dysplasia
• Progressive retinal atrophy
• Epilepsy
• Entropion
• Hypothyroidism
• Hyperosteodystrophy
• Bloat
• Osteosarcoma
• Von Willebrand's disease
• Patent ductus ateriosus

History

The name Llewellin Setter is given to a certain breed of Setters bred by R.L. Purcell Llewellin to be perfect for foot hunting and early field trials. The breed was very successfully advertised even though losing to Joe, Jr. in the great match race between the Cambell (George M. Cambell of Springhill, Tennessee) native English Setter strain and the blue blooded Llewellin Setter Gladstone of an American strain of Llewellin Setter.

Because of the major change in American field trials to big, wide running field trials their field trail performance begin to decline against the bigger running pointers after 1914 when pointer Commanche Frank won the National Bird Dog Championship. But the obsession with the Llewellin breed as champion foot hunting bird dogs and excellent family companions occurs at the same time pointers began to dominate wide ranging field trials.

The Llewellin Setter breed is making a huge come back with the lose of large area's to hunt, leaving hunter's the need for a closer ranging hunting dog and family companion.

There are basically three lines of Llewellin Setters recognized today. They are the group of "American Llewellins" know as the Blizzard, Roycelle, Gladstone, Bomber, Tony'O, developed from lines of early English imports from the late 1800s and early 1900s that were mainly developed by American field trial breeder's. The second is the "Dashing Bondhu" line developed personally by R.L. Purcell Llewellyn himself for 50 years and with William Humphrey also in England for 38 more years in England and Fr. Brannon in Ireland for another 30 plus years. These were not imported to America until the 1960s and 80s. The breeding of these pure Dashing Bondhu's in America resulted in producing the most famous of all Llewellin Setter's known today. The famous "Henry Princeof Paws", aka "Hank" fame of the Outdoor Life Network 'OLN' Channel series known as "Hunting with Hank". Hank was just recently entered into the Bird Dog Foundation Hall of Fame.

References

National Llewellin Setter Association, www.nationallsa.com International Progressive Dog Breeders' Alliance, www.ipdba.8k.com Mountain View Llewellin Kennel, www.llewellinsetter.8k.com

Back to Breed List

Comments:

Comment