Llewellin Setters Breeders Blog

Certain inhabitants of the Countries of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, (collectively the United Kingdom today) can be associated with the development of a very high percentage of all of our modern sporting dogs. The English Pointer, English Setter, Irish Setter, Gordon Setter, Springer Spaniel, Beagle, Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever and numerous other breeds can be traced back to breeders and breeding programs in the British Isles. Why is this? Could it be that these people have so much more passion for dogs than the inhabitants of other countries?

Well, there is certainly no shortage of dogs and dog enthusiasts in the British Isles today. But then that’s about the same situation in the USA as well as the rest of Europe. The French, for example, would not want to be left out!

One needs to take a look at a number of factors involved to have a true understanding of what took place in the past and to some extent continues today with regards to dogs and the British. Some of the vital factors include, in no special order:

The Islands location geographically.

The effects of the gulf stream on the climate and thereby the flora, fauna and vegetation.

The existence and location of the major mountain ranges; especially in the Pennines, Lake District, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

The ancient rock formations including limestone and grit stone.

Subsurface conditions and escarpments and perhaps as important as anything else the vast areas of Heather Moors which exists uniquely in the Isles because of the coming together of all of the conditions needed for their formation and continuance.

The Heather Moors are able to support a large and diverse population of wildlife including rabbits, foxes, Hawks, Owls,
Falcons, and many other small animal and bird species; the most important among them–from a sportsmen’s point of view–is the Red Grouse. Water is retained on Moors, generating bogs and often clear pools especially in grit stone areas. Young Grouse flourish in the spring on the new shoots of the heather and later on the vast crop of insects drawn by the bountiful flowers of the heather, a vast carpet of purple.

The moors are not very interesting to humans as areas for farming with the one exception of sheep grazing. Here large acreage per sheep is needed and winters are very severe because of the altitude and exposure of this treeless landscape. Moors have therefore been left alone by generations to pretty much take care of themselves. Unlike the wooded areas which were long ago decimated, mostly for ship building.

The British Isles have had in position a Monarchy for hundreds of years, and back in history beyond that had a feudal system. Monarchs always seek to provide for their own future and security by ensuring that those who provide help and support in times of need are well rewarded and will still be around when their next needs come along. So they create Peerages. That is to say Lords of various rank. Of course the relatives of the Monarch are high on the list along with local strongmen who have rustled up armies in times of crisis or have actually done great deeds on the battle field. You could be rewarded for plundering the enemies riches or developing wealth by industrial power.

The Industrial Revolution starting in the 1800’s created vast wealth in England from wool, coal, steel, shipbuilding, and the manufacturing of every conceivable type of product. At the same time the colonial empire was being built especially in the reign of Queen Victoria and from all of this emerged numerous men of fame and fortune recognized by the elite and able to build and acquire vast estates throughout the land.

The Crown government often footed the bill for the construction of elaborate estates which always came complete with large landholdings. Hence the creation over time of the “Landowners” The landholdings almost always included the surrounding moorlands since they had very low perceived value and were thrown into the deal so to speak. By the early 1900’s all the land in England either belonged to the Church, the Crown, or the wealthy upper classes. The “Landed Gentry” so to say. Unlike the situation in the USA the game on such lands belonged to the landowners. Therefore the common man would be always “poaching” if he went in search of game since he owned no land and would never have permission to go on the land of the Lords and wealthy. So we see that from this, in effect, the Grouse of the British Isles was the inheritance of the upper classes. They invented and enforced the golden rule. “Those who have the gold make the rules.”

Since medieval times the Monarchs placed very high priority on the field sports as a means of passing time. In particular, falconry was a passion. The Lords throughout the land were often held accountable for a good days sport for the Monarch, consequently they trained and kept birds of prey along with the staff and buildings (Mews) needed to support the birds. They themselves became engrossed in the sport and the Falcon became almost a unit of currency. Birds were sold, traded and gifted at the highest levels; often between the Monarchs of various European countries for example. The prey most favored for flying falcons at included cranes and water fowl and ultimately the Red Grouse.

This was very convenient since those participating owned most of the Grouse by way of their landownership. Kings made a great show of turning up to fly falcons at the Lords Grouse sometimes with parties numbering in the hundreds.
Now the real show in Falconry is getting the released bird to fly to a high altitude (called Stooping up) so that when it makes its attack it can fly extremely fast in a steep dive. It was not too long therefore before the pointing dog became a fixture in the Falconry field. By this means the bird could be located, the Falcon released, knowing with experience that a pointed dog meant game, so the bird could circle gaining altitude all the while watching the dog. When the Falcon was high enough the game was kicked out and Bingo. The desired action was achieved.

These men of leisure were always on the look out for new ways to pass the time and amuse themselves while being very competitive. It can be seen therefore that the development of the black powder shotgun was of great interest since the birds could now be taken on the wing with many of the challenges of flying Falcons without the cost, frustration and heartbreak of Falconry where valuable birds often simply decided to leave town and were lost.

So, in the late 1800’s we entered into the beginning of the wing shooting passion which seemed to completely capture the minds, spirits, and pocket books of the Landed Gentlemen. The sport developed like a runaway locomotive. Guns were developed with great ingenuity and every aspect of the growing sport received the close attention of the wealthy. The right gun, the right dress, the right dog, and every minute detail was studied and became in short order the accepted social order for this class of person.

The opening day of Grouse season which became solidified in time as the 12th of August (The glorious 12th,) was the most important day of most social calendars. Huge numbers of gunners would travel out of cities such as London, often on special trains with servants, retainers, dogs, children, etc. to honor invitations to participate in Grouse shooting. In the beginning the shooting was all done over dogs. You will notice I avoid the use of the word “Hunting”. In England hunting is something you do on horse back with a pack of hounds chasing a fox mostly. The attraction with Grouse is not in hunting them; the dog took care of that. The attraction is in shooting them flying. In time the tougher the shot the better the sport became an axiom.

“Going North, Kings Cross Station”
Painted by George Earl. 1893.

The dogs put to use in the start up period were those used for Falconry. Why not? They had them and the game for the dog was about the same. Just a lot more of it with the gun involved. Pointers of all types were used along with flushing dogs and no doubt the retrievers started to come into play since the Falcon was not there to mark the grouse down. Now it had to be found.

It was natural that shooting moors would start to be rated by this new influx of shooters. How many birds did you shoot? Would have been the first question asked by friends. The host therefore would feel pressure to make the shoot productive by any means he could. His stature as a Gentleman hosting influential guests was at stake. Therefore evolved the custom of the great houses having large kennels and attempting to breed dogs superior to those of the other hosts. Here then is the root of the English success in developing and breeding strains and new breeds of sporting dogs particularly bird dogs. It was the domain of the wealthy although over time ordinary citizens became involved as servants in the kennels and training areas and later on independently as breeders. The clients always remained basically the same however.

The English Pointer, English Setter and Irish Setter were strong favorites and many variations on these well known breeds appeared from the kennels of the well heeled. One which has endured from that period, and is well known, is the Gordon Setter from the Kennels of the Duke of Gordon, a Scottish Nobleman. It is really a paradox that the same gentlemen who were able to so benefit the heritage of the bird dogs of their time were also completely responsible also for the demise of these same dogs.

This came about because the passion for wing shooting was being measured and still is measured in the number of birds killed. The British make a great point of telling us how many “brace” (a brace being two birds) of birds were killed on a given occasion. Therefore one bird is described as “half a brace” They also came to deride the shooting of birds over dogs since every bird was in fact a going away bird which came to be regarded as a very easy shot. On a recent trip to an English shoot I was asked by an aristocrat if I was “one of those American arseholers” i.e. A guy who shot every bird going away over dogs!

The passion and the fashion evolved into Pass shooting whereby the birds are driven over guns waiting in hiding. This is much more challenging to the shooters and the action very fast and furious giving rise to the matched pair of guns concept. In this manner huge bags of birds can be killed in short order and the only dog desirable is one to pick up afterwards. So the retrievers got their day and the wonderful pointing dogs developed at such cost were retired. The game keepers and similar men kept a few for “rough shooting” after the drives but most great houses dispersed their kennels.

From this point on the pointers remaining were used more for showing on the bench and to some extent for field trials. The field trials in England however are not much of a trial for a dog and more resemble elitist picnics in the writer’s experience.

The Llewellin Setter was a dog doomed to obscurity in its very country of origin because the British never regarded it as a breed of dog. They said it was a strain of the English Setter and would only be registered as an English Setter. They call it casually “The Field Trial Strain” which means nothing. All of the Llewellins in England are now lost and interbred resorting I suppose to what they were before Mr. Llewellin came along. Today the Llewellin Setter is an American Dog strictly.

We can be forever in debt to The Field Dog Stud Book which is the only registration body to recognize the Llewellin as a separate dog and has kept records since 1902. In addition they have now strengthened the position of the Llewellin by introducing mandatory DNA profiling. All the best blood lines for this dog can be found in the US. There are no locked away rare and special lines of Llewellin dogs to be found in far off places. There are examples in the US today of every blood line developed by Richard Llewellin and his successor William Humphrey.

“Coming South” Perth Station
Painted by George Earl

KHS Dec 05