The Llewellin Setter

The Llewellin descends directly from the longest existing breed of Setters in the world. The Laverack base of the breed goes back to the 1500's. Mr Richard Purcell Llewellin (1840-1925), based his strain upon Laverack's and concentrated on developing his ideal of the working setter by breeding a number of other strains with his own. The modern-day working setter is frequently referred to as the Llewellin-type.

By the early 1900's in the United States there were no lines of English Setters that did not have the Llewellin bred into them. The Llewellin blood proved to be so superior in competition that there were no strains of Native or English Setters left pure. The Llewellin was recognized as a breed on its own. All other strains were recognized as English Setters. From the beginning a Llewellin and English Setter bred together resulted in the registration of the pups as English Setters.

For many years the Llewellin was the dominate dog in competitions. The changes in the format of trials and the use of Pointers are the factors which resulted in the change of opinion of what Setters truly are.

Truly their sense of smell is the most important factor in their breeding. Their single-minded ability to find gamebirds is as good today as it was over one hundred years ago.

Bird hunting for centuries was for sport and food. For me that is what it has always been. Competition first began as a medium to make available the best of the best. Because of the change of direction of the Trials the wider running dogs became prevalent.

Today Llewellin's are a close working, intelligent gun dog with a calm, gentle nature. They are both an extraordinary hunter with a natural field ability as well as a companion.

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