Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setter bloodlines

Frequently asked Questions and Answers

Q. What is the difference between a Llewellin Setter and an English Setter?
A. The Llewellin Setter was created before Setters were separated into different breeds. As many Setters were getting unique new breed recognition, in 1902 the Llewellin Setter was given unique breed status in FDSB, but because of jalousie of the much larger English Setter who lobbied, FDSB to change their unique breed status, to only a strain of English Setter. This was considered a grave injustice by Llewellin Setter owners of that time, who knew the Llewellin Setter was a uniquely bred traits and bloodlines.

In 1996, the International Progressive Dog Breeders' Alliance, aka 'IPDBA', corrected this injustice and recognized them as a unique Welsh breed completely separate from the English Setter breed. The breed is unique because a Llewellin Setter can ONLY carry three unique original bloodlines in it's ancestry. These bloodlines are from Sir. Edward Laverack, Sir Armstrong's Duke/Old Kate, and Sir Statter's Rhoebe. If any other bloodlines are found in the ancestry, it is NOT a Llewellin Setter. Though some English Setters may have some or all of these bloodlines back in their ancestry, they have allow many other bloodlines (out-crosses) unique to their ancestry, that are not allowed at all in the Llewellin Setter breed, making them completely unique from all Llewellin Setter's.

The English Setter breed has also been mainly used for big running horse back Field Trails and for Shows, who breed for different traits than the Llewellin Setter, who has remained a none show dog and a pleasure natural gun dog with a bonding nature and astrong willingness to please, that is magnified even more in Sir. Richard Llewellin's personal pure Dashing Bondhu strain of Llewellin Setters.

Please, check out our webpages, like Llewellin Setter History, Dashing Bondhu History, Sir. Richard Llewellin's Bio, William Humphrey's Bio, and much, much more.

Q. How large do your Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setter's get?
A. There are exceptions, but most of our males mature around 45-55 pounds, while our females mature around 35-45 pounds when they are mature, but we do sometimes get pups that will be a 5 pounds smaller and 5 pounds larger and their estimated adult weight will be marked on their diagram.

Q. How long is their life span?
A. Most of our Llewellin Setters live to 12-16 years with proper care and nutrition, but some have lived to 19-20 years.

Q. Do your pups really make wonderful house dogs, even in an non-hunting home.
A. Yes, Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters have been line-bred as gentleman's dogs for over 150 years, making them an excellent choice for a family companion, they are loyal, loving, and obedient pets and have a bonding nature and strong willingness to please. Many of our customers have ask us how we house trained their pups at only 6-8 weeks of age, because they never mad a mistake. The truth is, we don't, they are just born with a lot of sense and are naturally clean animals and don't want to mess in their homes. They also have a very strong instinct to please their owner's, making them easy to train for just about anything that is canine possible. Though they are natural bird dog's, they don't know they are suppose to be bird dogs and are perfectly happy in a non hunting home, pleasing their owner's daily. This is why we don't limit our puppy sales to hunting homes only and feel it very important to us that they remain sensible and well behaved family house dogs that will also make outstanding natural bird dogs. They should NEVER be bred to just be bird dogs, or hyper independent Field Trail dogs. We feel big running field trials have ruined many hunting breeds, resulting in an independent, hyper active, uncontrollable type of dogs, that require shock and tracking collars to train and hunt.

Q. Do these Setter retrieve waterfowl and doves.
A. Yes, they take to water very well and instinctively swim very well. All those we have tried on waterfowl and wing shooting doves and pigeons have done amazingly well. We do recommend if you want to hunt them on upland birds, to first train them well on locating, pointing, and retrieving birds before using them to retrieve waterfowl, dove, etc..

Q. Why is it that you specialize in only the pure Dashing Bondhu strain of Llewellin Setters when most other Llewellin kennel's are crossing many strains?
A. Each strain has been bred for different qualities, so when mixing the strains, you will have no idea which qualities the pups will have. Also, some strains have genetic inherited faults that will be carried recessively and will stay hidden by out crossing and spread throughout the breed. By breeding within one pure strain, the recessives would surfaced and have been removed from a bloodline long ago. This assures us that our pups are genetically sound and uniformed litter after litter. Example: if I was to put all quarters in a jar and reached in the jar, I could only pull out only quarters no matter how many times I reach in the jar, but if I added some pennies and dimes, I could then pull out some pennies, some dimes, and/or some quarters. Sometimes I would grab more dimes, or more pennies or more quarters and sometime I would be missing some of each. By keeping the line separate and pure, we know exactly what to expect when we make a breeding, time and time again and will get the same results time and time again. If the line is genetically clean of any problems, then as long as we keep them pure they will continue to produce the same quality pups over and over, each generation. The pure Dashing Bondhu pups are like clones over 99% of the time and is how and why we can provide a Life-Time Satisfaction Guarantee!

Q. Is there any differences between the 100% pure Humphrey bred pups and the 80+/-% Humphrey bred pups with Fr. Brannon bloodline, Advie. or the Belgium bloodline.
A. At first we thought there was some differences in the dogs from Fr. Brannon, because of a dog with "WindEm" as part of his name, but after years of research we traced all that dogs pedigree and found he was 100% Dashing Bondhu and back to Sir. Llewellin's Setters. After breeding, raising, training, and owning them both over 27 years, we found that they are genetically both the same and there is no differences. There simply has never been a better strain or breed of bird dog and family companion then Sir. Llewellin's pure bred Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters. Fr. Brannon was very close friend of the Humphrey's family and the two kennels were intertwined up until Humphrey's passing. Fr. Brannon kept his Dashing Bondhu bloodlines pure for 30 more years. Basically, we have Fr. Brannon's bloodlines in all our Setters with H/F GDC Henry PrinceOf Pause (aka OLN's Hank of "Hunting with Hank"), because his sire H/F IrishKing Bondhu Ashly was 50% Fr. Brannon's and 50% Humphrey and was bred to a 100% Humphrey female, resulting in Hank being 75% Humphrey and 25% Fr. Brannon. Hank is the main reason we have Fr. Brannon bloodlines in some of our Setters. So if you like OLN's Hank and OLN's Dash, and want them in your pups pedigree, they cannot be 100% Humphrey. All the belgium bloodline we have in our dogs also all go back to Humphrey kennel, making them 100% Humphrey. The Advie line was also added for genetic diversity after it was researched to be 100% from Fr. Brannon's Kennel.

Q. What is the differences between the "American Llewellin Setters", the "Welsh Llewellin Setters", the "Irish Llewellin Setters, and the "Russian Llewellin Setters"?
A. The American Llewellin's were developed by early American field trialier's here in America from late 1800's and very early1900 imports. Some of these imports came from Sir. Llewellin's early test breeding's and were also from other English breeders who tried similar crosses, that were likely not of the same high quality as Sir Llewellin's Setters. Many of their lines did not originate from Sir Llewellin's kennel and were not used in the development of his personal Dashing Bondhu strain. Sir Llewellin stated that his first test breeding were "outstanding some days and he wanted to shoot them on other days". The consistency was not experienced until he purchased undefeated FdCh Ch Armstrong's Dash II and bred him to his Field Champions, Champion dams. When he crossed Dash II with Countess Bear, they produced his first undefeated Setter Fd.Ch. Ch. Dashing Bondhu, the beginning of the pure Dashing Bondhu bloodline.

The Welsh and Irish Llewellin's bloodline lines we have are all 100% from Sir Llewellin's personal strain that he himself spent over 50 years developing and named them Dashing Bondhu. 'Bondhu' is Welsh for 'Heart of Oak". These were from Llewellin's best and remaining Dashing Bondhu's and were inherited by William Humphrey (England) in 1925 and bred by them for another 38 years making 41 foot hunting Field Champions in the process. These were imported to America in the 1960's. The Dashing Bondhu's were also shared with Humphrey's close friend, Fr. James Brannon (Ireland), who bred them there for 30 more years until 1984 and with the Humphrey's close friend Marie Therese a Goes (Belgium). Fr. Brannon shared his dogs with Derry Argue (Advie Kennel) in Scotland. They were imported to America in the late 1980's and 90's.

Like the American Llewellin's, the Russian Llewellin's were also developed from early imports from Mr. Llewellin and the Russian Llewellin's were not imported to America until the mid-1990's by Alford O. King, after the cold war ended. The Russian Llewellin's were very strictly bred, but were bred for modern shows, making them much larger, heavier bodied with heavy long coats, like the US Show Setters, but unlike the US show setters, the Russian Llewellins still maintain strong pointing and retrieving instincts and had to win both shows and field events to be used for breeding. Unfortunately, it is my opinion that their larger size, heavier coats, and low carriage, made them low on stamina and difficult to see in cover.

Q. I noticed that you are not OFA or CERF Hip Certifying your dogs. Why is that?
A. Kennels who need to hip certify their dogs, do so because they know their line have produced genetic inherited hip problems in the past. In over 27 years of breeding our pure Dashing Bondhu strain of Llewellin Setters, the many that were tested years ago did not test positive and ours have not produced one single pup with a genetic inherited hip problem. So it is a waste of funds and time to check a genetically proven clean bloodline for something that is not there. It can also be dangerous as many Vet like to anesthetize dogs to take x-rays.

Unfortunately, many kennels try to use OFA certification as a way to sell their pups, but we feel it is much better to purchase a pup from a kennel without any known genetic hip or other genetic health problems, then to purchase a pup from a kennel that needs to continually be checking their bloodlines for the problem. The truth is, even when both parents are checked and certified, it does not mean they are not carriers recessively and will not produce the problem in their pups they sell. Also, many of these kennels use the fact they OFA checked their dogs so they will not have to take responsibility after the sale for pups that do have hip and other genetic problems, because they use testing as an excuse why they should not be held responsible. The fact is OFA certification has been around for over almost 50 years, yet the genetic problems are increasing in most breeds and are even becoming a plaque in some, that were unheard of in many breeds years ago when line breeding was much more common way to breed. Line breeding of genetically clan bloodlines are very unlikely to get them unless someone out-crossed them on dogs with them or a very rare mutation is produced. If on the rare chance of a mutation, line breeding will surface them within the first two generation and the dogs who carry it can be removed without infecting the whole bloodline or breed. Unfortunately,it has become common place to breed dogs who have produced genetic problems with unrelated dogs to produce healthy offspring in stead of removing the dogs from breeding, which only hides the genetic problem, producing more carriers throughout the kennel and breed.

Q. Just in case, what kind of guarantee do you have for birth defects or genetic problems if it ever did arise?
A. 100% Satisfaction Replacement Guarantee on EVERY pup we sell. The only health issues that are not guaranteed, are those caused by injury or abuse done after the sale. Keep in mind, we maintain a 99+% satisfaction record and if the defect was serious enough to effect them physically as hunters, we would not ask them to be returned and would just give you another pup of equal value. We basically, only ask pups not hunting for the customers to be returned, because all but one of the less than 1% that have been returned have been easily trained and re-homed as started gun dogs to very satisfied homes. I guess the less than 1% pups just don't match up or bond well with their first owner and those who have not been happy with their first pup have all been very pleased with their replacement pup.

Q. How do your Setter's handle the heat of the deep south.
A. This was the first question I asked when I got them. Their coats are not as heavy as people think and the dogs acclimated to the south don't get as thick a coat. Also, their coats actually work as an insulator from the heat. All I know is ours have always handled the heat as well as the cold, better than any other breed of dog we have owned including top German Shorthair Pointers and English pointers. We have not received one complaint about handling the heat from a single customer and have placed pups in the deep South like, Southern FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, NV, AZ, AR, and CA. They also handle the cold as far North better than any dog we have seen and have placed them in AK, MN, upstate NY, VT, MA, CT, NH, RI, MN, ND, WI, PA, WV, WA, OR, as well as many placed in Canada, Russia and many other cold and hot places around the World.

Q. How do you handle hunting your Setters in briars, thickets, thistle, etc..
A. Surprisingly, their silky medium coats work as a natural barrier against thorns and thickets. With a little trimming before or after the first hunt to remove any trouble spots and a light spray of a cheap non-stick cooking spray on their under parts (when I remember), their coats are easily maintained. The dogs even love licking the cooking spray off their coats and remove any and all thistles from their coats during the drive home from our hunting grounds. If all things are equal and I could choose the coat I want on the perfect bird dog, I would choose the same coat on our dogs every time. It protects them from both the weather conditions and types of cover with minimal maintenance effort. Not to mention how beautiful they are coursing back and fourth across a field or woods in search of birds, beauty unequaled by any other breed of bird dog.

Q. Why do you have so many dogs and so many different colors and patterns, etc..
A. It is very important that every possible gene be saved to maintain a healthy breeding program. With the King Llewellin's and the Lord's help, we were able to save all known remaining lines of Sir Llewellin's personal pure Dashing Bondhu bloodlines including the pure Humphrey bloodline. When you consider how many English Setters there are, never mind how rare a pure Llewellin's Setter is, never mind the number of pure Dashing Bondhu there are today. Llewellin and Humphrey were known to have 600 dogs and the Kings maintained about 300 of them at one time. So we are very small with having less than 40 of them and are taking a big chance by only keeping so few. The bottom line is they can only be maintained in the pure form if we maintain a health number of diverse genes. Keep in mind that about 1/4 of our Setters are too young for breeding and another 1/4 are retired from breeding, that leaves about 20 dogs both studs and dams that are currently used for breeding to preserve the Dashing Bondhu pure strain.

Since 99% + of pure Dashing Bondhu bloodline reproduce are like clones as far as genetic health, temperament, abilities, and natural instincts the only real indication of diversity is in their color, patterns, and in the amount of ticking they each have. Also, because the white genome always has the propensity for producing deafness in animals, one should never attempt to produce whole litters of Belton (born without markings) pups, or worse whole litters of pups with little to no ticking. Also, it has been our experience when breeding generations of the dilute genome that causes the Chestnut (Liver) color in dogs, has the propensity for a weakening immune system, without regular infusions of non-dilute genes.

In laymen terms, if you don't want a diversity in genetic health, temperament, abilities, and natural instincts, you must keep the diversity in color, markings, and the amount of ticking to maintain a healthy strong breeding program in Llewellin Setters. This is why a pure White Setter or all Belton bloodline has never been developed, nor should be. If you breed two Beltons of the same color together over and over again for generations, you are just asking for problems.

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