Llewellin setter vs Lavarack or what?
Christer Nilsson
What4s this talk about Llewellin Setters?
In Scandinavia we do not use that expression. Neither do we use "A Lavarack
Setter" . What is the difference between an ordnary ES and a Llewellyn
Setter or a Lavarack setter ?
I have owned 4 ES and never. All 4 have a mixed origin of Danish, Swedish
and Norwegian origin. Nowadays in Scandinavia the Norwegians ES are the
most frequent and if you want to have an ES in Scandinavia You probably go
to Norway tro look for an ES.
There is constantly an import from other countries, mainly US but also
Italy and France. None of these setters have been called Llewellin as far
as i can rembemeber.
In this newsgroup I have seen the term many times and I do not understand
what the US ES ownners really mean.
Can anyone explain........?
dar...@aol.com
In article <01bc0092$fc4d97a0$c3a8edc2@default>, Christer Nilsson
<christer...@GALLIVARE.MAIL.TELIA.COM> writes:
> What is the difference between an ordnary ES and a Llewellyn
>Setter or a Lavarack setter ?
I can tell you what a Llewellin setter is and I can tell you what a
Laverack used to be. Someone will fill in the rest.
The Laverack setter was a strain started by Edward Laverack who got a
brother and sister in 1825. He bred a very famous strain from these dogs
and did not introduce an outcross in 50 years yet the dogs were exported
to many destinations and won on the bench at a time when all show dogs
worked.
Purcel Llewellin got some of these Laveracks and crossed them to produce
what he called "The Field Trial setter". The progeny from just three
outcrosses were outstanding. Descendants from these crosses, and The
Laveracks, were given separate breed registration by The American Field
Dog Stud Book. Several other registries followed suit. Just one outcross
and the descendants are no longer Llewellins.
I believe the description "Llewellin" and "Laverack" are often misused
today to define certain types of English setters. The show setter is
sometimes called "Laverack" but I don't think it has much basis in fact.
The Laverack is extinct.
I was shown some old pedigrees and magazine articles about Scandinavian
setters and there was meant to be a lot of Laverack blood in them. The
Norwegian setters are certainly very good.
When the Kennel Club came to register breeds of dogs it did so mostly on
the basis of shape and colour. The Irish setter and Black-and-Tan setters
were easy enough but they had a problem with parti-coloured setters. Now
that was a problem in those days because there were red-and-white Irish
setters and tri-coloured Gordon setters (they had no problem with the
black-and-tan Gordons -- they were called b-and-tans!!) So, any setter
with white on it was called an English setter. So there you go! Confused?
You ought to be!
There is more. Certain prefixes are "protected" by the English KC. So,
although Bondhu, Dashing Bondhu, and Wind 'Em are associated with
Llewellin setters, British Llewellins seldom have these names! Also, the
English KC does not recognise the Llewellin as a breed (though it
recognises the Jack Russell which never was a breed! Don't get me going on
the KC.)
By now you are totally confused so I will stop. Anytime you want more
confusion, don't hesitate to call.
Derry