The Llewellin Setter

By Arnold Burges

 

The dogs from which those now bearing the above name are descended made their first appearance at English field trials in 1871, when Dan and Dick, litter brothers, were brought out by Mr. Thomas Statter, of Stand Hall, Manchester , and won at Shrewsbury .  In saying this I do not mean that Dan and Dick were of unknown pedigree, for this was not the case, as will presently appear, but only that these two, with their sister Dora, are accepted as the first specimens of this now celebrated strain.

          To Mr. Statter and Mr. Barclay Field the honor of founding this strain belongs.  It originated in the union of Field’s Duke and Statter’s Rhoebe.  Duke, a noted trial winner, was descended from Sir F. Graham’s celebrated kennel, and Rhoebe was a nearly pure Gordon.  Later Mr. Statter bred Rhoebe to dogs of Mr. Laverack’s breed, producing progeny of blood similar to Dan, Dick, and Dora, as the Laveracks were originally from the same strain as Sir F. Graham’s dogs, and had also a cross of Gordon from Lord Lovat’s kennel, to which it has been proved Mr. Laverack resorted, notwithstanding repeated assertions that his breed was free from all crosses.

          Shortly after the Shrewsberry meeting of 1871, Mr. Llewellin bought Dan, Dick and Dora from Mr. Statter.  It is proper to remark in this place that Mr. Llewellin has never claimed any credit as being even in part an originator of the breed; but he does claim that he has developed and improved his branch of it into dogs of greater excellence than any others, and has given to them the fixed attributes which distinguished a true breed.  Recognition of this, and also because he alone has preserved the strain in its original line, both Mr. Statter and Mr. Field having introduced other crosses, has led all fair-minded men to concede Mr. Llewellin’s right to consider the breed now his own.

          From its first introduction to the public this strain rapidly rose to be sensational.  Its representatives swept the field trials of their prizes, and from this fact soon came to be known as the “field-trial breed”.  The honor thus gained was, however, coveted by other breeders for their dogs, and this name was unscrupulously appropriated for all such as were even in part of the same blood.  This led to a definition of the field-trial strain, which was declared to be “the blood of Duke and Rhoebe, or of one or both of these crossed with the Laveracks”.  As illustrations of these various combinations I will cite Dan, who was of the Duke-Rhoebe blood alone; Rob Roy, by the Laverack Fred, out of Rhoebe; and Druid, by the Laverack Prince out of Dora, sister to Dan.  It has been claimed that the above limitation will not hold good, as it includes three different combinations, and such variety is not admissible in any breed.  This theory would be tenable but for the kindred origin of the Duke and Laverack blood; but this kinship being recognized (as it is by those who have investigated the Laverack history without prejudice, and who are not imposed upon by Mr. Laverack’s preposterous table of pedigrees), it is evident there is no blood in any one of these combinations not present in the others, and consequently there is no inconsistency in claiming that all belong to the same breed.

          The first field-trial setter brought to his country was Dart, by Prince out of Dora, imported in 1874, by Mr. L.H. Smith of Strathroy , Ontario , she being quickly followed by her dam Dora, imported by Mr. Luther Adams of Boston , who also brought out Rock, by Mr. Smith’s Leicester , and by the writer’s Rob Roy and Queen Mab.  The success of Mr. Smith’s pups in their first field trial, backed by the reputation of the breed abroad, at once established it in the esteem of our sportsmen, and led to further importations by the above gentlemen and others, and to great demand for the dogs in all parts of the country.

          These dogs continued to be known as “field-trial setters” till early in 1878, when Mr. Smith wrote to myself and others prominently engaged in breeding them, and proposed to change the name to Llewellin setters, in recognition of what that gentleman had done for their improvement.  So far as I know all promptly concurred; in any event, the name was adopted not only by breeders but by the public, and its propriety was unquestioned till of late, when attempts were made to show it was misapplied and Mr. Llewellin not entitled to the honor it implied.  I do not propose to discuss this matter, but I do not go too far in asserting that most American sportsmen still use the name and refuse to recognize the dogs by any other.

          The characteristics of the Llewellin setters are great beauty of physical form, joined to courage, intelligence, and field qualities of higher order than those possessed by any other breed.  Their colors are blue and lemon beltons, black and white, dark lemon and white (called orange and white), black, white, and tan, and a few, liver and white, or liver, white, and tan.  The above claim to superiority over other breeds is no outgrowth of the writer’s partiality, but has been demonstrated in both England and this country by the fact that these dogs have won more prizes at field trials than the representatives of all other breeds combined.  This is a matter of record.  (The Century, a popular quarterly, Vol. 31, issue #1, November 1885)