Llewellin Setters Breeders Blog

To the new owner the question of how to train and when to commence training are issues we are often questioned on. Of course we must split the training issue into two parts.

Part I. Yard Work

This would be the training you would expect to do even if you had no intentions of ever hunting with the dog. However, yard work is very necessary as a foundation for field work also, so it is the mandatory first phase.

Part II. Development of the finished bird dog. This is a process also of several steps which are best accomplished in logical sequence without hurry or pressure on the dog. The question of whether any of these steps are best done by the owner or placed into the hands of a professional will be discussed. (Read on …)

Male or Female?

It is a fact that enquiries for female pups occur at a ratio of at least 2 to 1 versus males, sometimes much higher. Why is this, we often ask? We are given a number of reasons, many of which make little or no sense and in fact quite often after discussion of the pros and cons a client will change direction.

Some examples from these discussions follow:

“I have read that females are just better hunters”. Okay, let’s see if there are verifiable facts to back this up. One thing easy to do is to go to the published records of the Field Dog Stud Book and see if over the years more females have won major field trial events than Males. The answer is a definite NO. In the National Championships over a period of 88 years it has been won 60 times by a male and 28 times by a female. This is not of statistical significance since we did not look at how many males versus females were entered. We suspect many more males were in competition. (Read on …)

Very few subjects are more controversial or problematic to both the breeder and the client than that of how and when to decide on which puppy you will take into your life. There has been much written on this subject and almost all of what has been read by the writer seems very questionable or totally non applicable, at least to the Llewellin breed. Let’s start with what age should the pup be?

In the State of Pennsylvania at least, the state law prohibits the sale of pups under 7 weeks old. This is a good law–there is no good reason to take the pup away from it’s siblings before this time and plenty of good reasons to allow it more time with them. (Read on …)

We can anticipate that when you go to collect your pup and take him home, riding for the very first time in a car, he will be sick. This event will be worse if he had a square meal just a short time before the ride.With most pups this reaction will go away in a short time and he will get to look forward to and enjoy riding. After all he is to be our constant hunting companion so car riding is a must part of his education.

There are however some dogs where the problem continues for an extended period. Worse than that, such dogs develop almost a phobia to riding because the experience is so unpleasant for them. These dogs will often salivate and foam at the mouth to the extent that they will be dehydrated and they are quite clearly distressed. (Read on …)

There is much discussion by Setter owners, and would be owners, on the topic of Setter tail carriage. In particular, how the tail will or does appear when the dog is on point.

This is of much more interest in the United States than in Europe. The reason for this is that the field trial community, especially the horse back trial enthusiasts in America, have selectively bred both Pointers and Setters over the past 100 years to be “High at both ends” meaning the dog should point its birds with the head held high and the tail at or close to vertical, the so called, “twelve o’clock”, position.

This is the appearance we have all become most accustomed to seeing in gun dog magazines and sporting artwork of more recent origin. The reason for the high tail being preferred is connected to increased visibility of the dog on point at long ranges associated with horse back trialing. (Read on …)