Thread: Llewellin Setter breed

An interesting read if you like English Setters


The
Dashing Bondhu Bloodline
by Michael J. Bloodgood
Most history of the Llewellin Setter breed, has always been written about the development of the American Llewellin Setter strains and not about the strain that continued to be developed in England by Mr. Richard Purcell Llewellin, Esq. himself and by William Humphrey and several of the greatest Setter breeders in England and Ireland at the time who helped develop the Dashing Bondhu strain of Llewellin's Setters.
Their existence had been a well kept secret for nearly 100 years being only known by just an elite group of professional people around the world. Even so, they demanded almost double what other Llewellin Setters demanded which should had been a clue and were always considered the best by those who owned them.


So we thought it was long over due that someone let the public know their great history, set the record straight, and write on their personal development and accomplishments of these great English and Irish gentlemen and their personal great strain they developed and perfected over most of their lives, known as the "Dashing Bondhu" strain of Llewellin's Setter.
"This is a work in progress" and will be refining and edited as more information becomes available to me. Please excuse the unedited roughness at times and lengthiness of this draft that might also repeat info as it is collected from other sources and added until we have formed their true history.



The Dashing Bondhu bloodlines are Mr. Richard Purcell Llewellin, Esq. (1840-1925) personal bloodlines that he personally created and in their words, developed and perfected them himself for over 50 years. He even personally named them his "Dashing Bondhu" Setters and they remained his personal bloodline until his death in 1925.
Ironically, the truth is, Mr. Llewellin had very little to do with the development of the "American strains" of "Llewellin Setters" and DID NOT want his name used on them. That is right, let me state it again to be clear, "Mr. Llewellin DID NOT want his personal name "Llewellin" used on the dogs he and others had sent to America".
Many thought that Mr. Llewellin did not want his name credited for them because he was a humble man, which was somewhat true, but the facts are that he didn't want his name used on the American Llewellin strains and felt they were only a cross of other strains and not his personal strain that he had developed and deserved credit for. In fact he knew that several English breeder's were crossing the Laverack, Duke, and Rhoebe Setters long before he ever did. It was not his idea to do so and many of those dogs imported were from these other English breeder's and were registered in the US as Llewellin Setters and used to develop the "American Llewellin strains", which Mr. Llewellin had NO part in breeding, raising, or selecting them in any way. In fact even the few dogs he did send to America early on, were his test breeding in search for the best Field Setter.


The only real part Mr. Llewellin had to do with the American strains was in making a few crosses using his personal outstanding Laverack Field Champion Setters with Mr. Barclay Field's "Duke" and Mr. Thomas Statter's "Rhoebe" Setters himself, and offered their offspring to North American sportsmen. These early "test breedings" of Mr. Llewellin were first imported to North America by Mr. L. H. Smith and their development was continued in North America, but not by Mr. Llewellin who was seeking more consistent field setters than those produced in that manner.
This is why many early American writers and American Field trialer's recognized the fact that Mr. Llewellin had very little to do with the early American Llewellin imports, so much so that they proclaimed the Llewellin Setter an "American breed" because American breeder's had a major roll in their development, not Mr. Llewellin. In fact many of the dogs used in their development never did come from Mr. Llewellin, but from other English breeder's who continued to make those crosses of the three strains to sell to the States.



Some feel a better name choice might have been the "Field Setter" as Mr. Llewellin wanted or "American Field Setter" and to leave Mr. Llewellin's personal name available for Mr. Llewellin to use as he seen fit. Of course this is now all in the past and the dogs are called and registered what they are today, but one has to wonder if Mr. Llewellin wanted to reserve his personal name for his own personal strain now known as his Dashing Bondhu's. No strain or dog deserved more to be called "Llewellin's Setter" then the pure Dashing Bondhu Setter he developed for over 50 years of his life.
The American Llewellin Setter lines were basically named after and developed from famous individual dog's that were imported from England and then line bred so the same dog would show up in a pedigree numerous times, in hopes of forming a line of dogs resembling the original dog it was named after.
The first recognized American lines were known as the Blizzard line with American breeder's later developing lines like Gladstone, Tony'O, Roycelle, Bomber, just to name a few of the many now recognized strains of today that Mr. Llewellin had little or nothing to do with their development as he discontinued using those bloodlines that they originally came from even before the 1900's.
Keep in mind that Mr. Llewellin, started sending Setters from these test breedings, very early on to America and many other locations around the world, as most English breeders considered the Duke and Rhoebe Setter "scrub Setters" and not high class enough for English gentlemen. But they soon dominated the field trails where ever they were and it became common knowledge that they were not what he considered his best Setters nor did they completely satisfy him. He proclaimed his first Setters "were outstanding some days, but on other days he wanted to shoot them". So he continued searching for the very best Setter's for his own personal breeding program instead of breeding further down the generations and using the Setter's he had.



Mr. Llewellin was a man of great means and would have been considered a multimillionaire in today's standards. Though he was a well educated man and had a law degree, there is no record of him ever being employed or having a business and Setters were his life's passion. He was very well known in the Setter world and for paying and refusing, great sums of money in the Setter world to obtain or own the very best individual Field Setters that could be found.

Mr. Llewellin with his early Wind'em Setters. They were later replaced by the Dashing Bondhu's. Mr. Llewellin later on Training Count
I am NOT insinuating that Mr. Llewellin's early exports were culls or undesirables to most people, even though it is reported that Mr. Llewellin said that the ones he sent were his culls. Quite the contrary, Mr. Llewellin (photos above) early culling process was well known and had a reputation to only allow exceptional specimens to reach maturity and leave his kennel. But common sense tells us that he would have kept the better specimens for himself no matter what the price he was offered. I don't think anyone would try to dispute that fact.
Many of the early American breeder's seem to over look the fact about their early dogs and that the ones that they had received were just the beginning of Llewellin's personal "pursuit of excellence" and that he had not yet found the right cross to satisfy himself and to develop his own personal strain of superior "Field Setter's" as he called them. It was not until 1878 that he started what became, known as his personal program of the "Dashing" line and then soon named his "Dashing Bondhu" line and caused him to discontinue all other breedings he had made.
You may be asking yourself, what made the "Dashing Bondhu" lines so unique and superior over all the other early Llewellin and English Setters that were sent to America and developed by American breeders and else where?


William Humphrey
In Mr. Humphrey's own words from his personal manuscript explains it best, to quote him "This brings us to the 2nd MOST IMPORTANT EVENT of the Llewellin Setter history in ENGLAND, the introduction of John Armstrong's Field Trial Champion "Armstrong's Dash II". He was bred by Edward Armstrong and was black, white and tan (still the most common color in Dashing Bondhu's today), whelped in 1874 and was by "Laverack's Blue Prince" and out of Armstrong's old "Kate", who was by "FdCh Ch. Laverack's Dash II" out of "FdCh. Barclay Field's Kate", sister to "FdCh. Barclay Field's Duke". The late Mr. George Brewis purchased the great "Fd.Ch. Ch. Armstrong's Dash II" from John Armstrong in 1876 and sold him to Mr. Llewellin after his last appearance at field trials in 1878 for the highest price ever paid for any setter at the time. Mr. Llewellin valued this dog so highly, and was determined to have him at whatever cost. This dog, and his "FdCh. Ch. Countess Bear" and other "Countess bred" Fd.Ch. bitches were what Llewellin claimed as his "Dashing" bloodline."
"FdCh. Ch. Armstrong's Dash II"Mr. Llewellin purchased him in 1878 for the highest price ever paid for any setter at the time.


"FdCh.Ch. Armstrong's Dash III"Full brother to "FdCh. Ch. Armstrong's Dash II". Once Mr. Llewellin knew the greatness of Dash II, he purchased a full brother and full sister of him, both FdCh. Ch.. These were also used in the Dashing Bondhu early development and not used in the American strains.
"FdCh. Ch. Countess Bear" (Laverack's)Was bred to "FdCh. Ch. Armstrong's Dash II" to produce the great "FdCh. Dashing Bondhu" the beginning of Llewellin's personal "Dashing Bondhu" strain.
"FdCh.Ch. Countess" (Laverack's)Mother of "Fd.Ch.Ch. Countess Bear" and many other outstanding dams used in the Dashing Bondhu development.
Pedigree for Field Ch. Ch. Armstrong's Dash II, Born 1874
+--- Rock (Laverack's)
+--- Sting (Laverack's)
| +--- Cora (Blair's)
+--- FD CH CH Dash II. aka Old Blue Dash (Laverack's)
| | +--- Fred I (Laverack's)
| +--- Cora II (Laverack's)
| +--- Cora (Laverack's)
+--- FD CH CH Pride Of the Border (Laverack's)
| | +--- Regent (laverack's)
| | +--- Rock II (Laverack's)
| | | +--- Jet (Laverack's)
| +--- Belle II (Laverack's)
| | +--- Regent (laverack's)
| +--- Cora (Blair's)
| +--- Jet (Laverack's)
+--- FD CH CH Blue Prince (Laverack's)
| | +--- Rock (Laverack's)
| | +--- Sting (Laverack's)
| | | +--- Cora (Blair's)
| | +--- FD CH Dash II (Laverack's)
| | | | +--- Fred I (Laverack's)
| | | +--- Cora II (Laverack's)
| | | +--- Cora (Laverack's)
| +--- FD CH Nellie (Laverack's)
| | +--- Old Rock (Laverack's)
| | +--- Fred I (Laverack's)
| | | +--- Moll II (Laverack's)
| +--- Moll III (Laverack's)
| | +--- Rock II (Laverack's)
| +--- Belle II (Laverack's)
| +--- Cora (Blair's)
|
Fd.Ch. Ch. Armstrong's Dash II (aka Fd.Ch.Ch. Dash II)
| +--- Pilot (Laverack's)
| +--- Rock (Laverack's)
| | +--- Moll III (Laverack's)
| +--- Sting (Laverack's)
| | | +--- Regent (laverack's)
| | +--- Cora (Blair's)
| | +--- Jet (Laverack's)
| +--- FD CH CH Dash II (Laverack's)
| | | +--- Old Rock (Laverack's)
| | | +--- Fred I (Laverack's)
| | | | +--- Moll II (Laverack's)
| | +--- Cora II (Laverack's)
| | | +--- Dash (Laverack's)
| | +--- Cora (Laverack's)
| | +--- Belle (Laverack's)
+--- FD CH Armstrong's Old Kate
| +--- *Hoosier Ben
| +--- *Dart
| | +--- *Dolly Furness
| +--- *Duke (Sir F Graham's)
| | | +--- *Tam O'Shanter
| | +--- *Bess
| | +--- *Rhoda
+--*FD CH Armstrong's Kate (Littermate of Armstrong's Duke)
|
| +--- *Rollo
| |
+--- *Slut (Corbet's)
|
+--- *Beaudessert Breeding Line
* Non-show stock and VERY disliked by the English Setter show establishment. They were known as Scrub Setters by them. Later Mr. Laverack dedicated his book "The Setter" to Mr. Llewellin for finding the cross "that saved the Setter from losing their natural hunting instincts."
Before the addition of the great "Fd.Ch.Ch.Armstrong's Dash II" in 1878, Mr. Llewellin had introduced the "Duke" bloodline by siring "Duke" on "Laverack" females with good, but mixed results, but "Fd.Ch.Ch. Armstrong's Dash II", introduced the same bloodline by using Laverack sires bred to "Fd.Ch. Armstrongs Kate" (Duke's full sister), who produced Fd Ch Armstrong's Old "Kate" who was again bred to a Laverack sire "Fd Ch Laverack's Blue Prince" to produce "Fd Ch Dash II", beginning of the Dashing family, who Llewellin soon realized were far superior over all his earlier attempts of crossing these bloodlines.

Mr. Llewellin then bred "Fd Ch Armstrong's Dash II" to Fd Ch Ch Countess Bear (pure Laverack) who produced the great Field Champion Champion "Dashing Bondhu" Bondhu is Welsh for "Heart of Oak", the beginning of the Dashing Bondhu family. Mr. Llewellin called all offspring using Fd Ch Armstrong's Dash II bred to all Countess dams as the Bondhu line, while calling offspring of Fd Ch Armstrong's Dash II bred to his other outstanding females as Dashing only. Of course with "Fd Ch Dashing Bondhu" being sired by "Fd Ch Armstrong's Dash II" it makes all Bondhu's of the Dashing family as well. So in reality, all Bondhu's have Dashing and are Dashing Bondhu, but not all Dashing's were Bondhu and were just called Dashing at the time.



Keep in mind that breeding history has shown that it is not uncommon when crossing bloodlines to find superior results of offspring out of females of say line "A" bred with males of line "B", over offspring produced from breeding males of line "A" bred with females of line "B". Mr. Llewellin clearly found this was the case with breeding "Fd Ch Barclay Field's Kate" (Duke's litter mate sister) to Fd Ch Laverack males instead of breeding "Fd Ch Barclay Field's Duke" (Kate's litter mate brother) to Fd Ch Laverack females. Mr. Llewellin was clearly not satisfied with his breeding program prior to 1878 of that bloodline that had "Fd Ch Barclay Field's Duke", "Statter's Rhoebe", and did not have "Fd Ch Barclay Field's Kate" in their pedigrees. History shows us that Mr. Llewellin did not start breeding forward (down generations) until he purchased "Fd.Ch. Armstrong's Dash II" and continued the pure Dashing Bondhu line until his death in 1925 having made dozens of Field and Dual Champions.
Historical quote of the "Dashing" Bloodlines
"Kate, the sister of Duke (sire of Dan), was also crossed with the Laverack, She is the ancestor of the dogs whose names have the prefix "Dashing," as "Dashing Bondhu," "Dashing Berwyn," (J.C. Higgins, The Century Company, Vol. 31, Issue #1, Nov. 1885)


Though I agree the earlier imported Llewellin Setters were great field dogs compared to what was available at that time, which was proven in the American field trails, they were known not to be consistent in the field. According to Mr. Llewellin, they would do exceptional field work some days but were an embarrassment on other days. They were also known to be hard headed, hyper, and not easy to train, more common traits found in some American Llewellin and many English Setters today.
Unlike the American Llewellin's, the Dashing Bondhu bloodlines were bred as English gentlemen foot hunting gun dogs for nearly 100 years before being imported to the United States and have been bred in the US for another 50 years in the same manner.
I personally, have yet to see any line of any breed surpass the natural born scenting abilities, pointing, backing, retrieving, natural hunting instincts, high intelligence level, and most of all, the strong willingness to please as the pure Dashing Bondhu bloodlines. They are also the most genetically sound bloodlines found in any breed. This is why after 35 years of professionally training, owning, and breeding hundreds of bird and hunting dogs of almost all verities and strains, we are dedicated to preserving these pure Dashing Bondhu bloodlines of Llewellin Setters here at Mountain View Kennel.
Humphrey holding his Golden Eagle with one hand



The following quotations are from Mr. William Humphrey manuscripts "Sporting Press, 1876: "Armstrong's Dash II" is rather more than three quarters Laverack blood, whilst his grand dam, "Kate" was own sister to Mr. Barclay Field's "Duke". Since I (Humphrey) have been cognizant of this fact, as there used to be a mystery about "Kate", the reason why I (Humphrey) have mentioned these facts about this dog's breeding is that the grossest injustice had been done to Mr. Llewellin by Mr. A F Hochwalt, author of "Pointers and Setters of America". How any man, much less a person of so high a press reporting standard as Mr. Hochwalt, can level such gross, unfounded charges against any person? No writer could have written with a more jealous, bitter, poisoned pen. Not only are his statements utterly untrue, but so are many other references in his book equally so. As I (Humphrey) have pointed out, that at the time when this dog's correct breeding was given 1876 the dog was neither owned nor bred from by Mr. Llewellin."
""Armstrong's Dash II" was owned by the late Mr. George Brewis, one of the finest sportsmen in this (England) or any other country. Mr. Brewis' "Armstrong's Daisy" is sister to "Armstrong's Dash II" and was a field trial winner, and when bred to the Laverack dog "Tam O'Shanter" was the dam of champion "Sir Alister"". They were also the parents of "Platt's Wild Rose", bench and field trial winner.



"Armstrong's Dash III" was whelped in 1876 and is brother to "Armstrong's Dash II". He was also owned by Mr. Llewellin, who later sold him to America. He was a field trial winner in both countries. He is the sire of Lord Downe's "Sam III", who was out of Hollin's "Silk II" who was a field trial winner. He is also the sire of Hartley's "Phyllis". The first breeding that Mr. Llewellin made with "Armstrong's Dash II" was with his "Countess Bear".
From this breeding came his field trial champion "Dashing Bondhu", the first of Llewellin's "Bondhu" family who was an outstanding field trial producing sire. His "Dashing Beauty" was sister to this dog, and was a field trial winner, the same year, a further son of "Dash II" and his "Countess Moll", "Dashing Monarch", he was a field trial winner in America.
In 1881 Mr. Llewellin again won the Kennel Club Derby with his "Dashing Ditto"' a daughter of "Dash II" out of his "Rifle". She was a daughter of "Dan" and "Nellie". In the following year he again established a record for the winning of the Kennel Club Derby Stake by having four puppies left in for the final, namely "Rebel Wind'em", "Sidney Bondhu", "Star Bondhu" and "Sable Bondhu". He withdrew the three former and allowed "Sable Bondhu" to meet the winning pointer for the best of both breeds. "Sable Bondhu" was declared the winner, with "Star Bondhu", "Sidney Bondhu", "Sable Bondhu" and "Rebel Wind'em" as dividing first and second setter Kennel Club Derby. These "Bondhu" puppies were by his field champion "Dashing Bondhu" and out of his champion "Novel;", daughter of "Dan" and "Nellie".
In the following year 1883 Llewellin again won this Blue Ribbon Stake for the fourth time, three years in succession. This time the winner was "Dashing Clinker", son of "Dash II" and his "Countess Rose", a daughter of "Count Wind'em", and his "Norna". A further daughter of this breeding, "Dashing Novice" was second at the National. The last dog that he exhibited on the show bench was "Pet Bondhu" 1882.



The following is some of the achievements of the Llewellin setters, which were personally bred by Mr. Llewellin: dual champion "Count Wind'em", field trial champion "Dashing Bondhu", American field trial champion Adam's "Drake" and field trial champion "Daphne D". He also owned field trial champion "Dan". field trial champion "Armstrong's Dash II", dual champion "Countess", field trial champion "Sam" and champion "Prince", whilst he bred and owned champion "Remus", champion "Novel", champion "Phantom", champion "Princess", champion "Puzzle", also "Laurel", "Countess Moll", "Nora", "Norna", "Stafford", "Pride of the South", "Paris", "Gladstone", "Count Noble", "Leicester", "Lincoln", Bergundthal's "Rake" and "Druid".
Famous writer Mr. L. H. Smith, who had several personal visits and field outings with Mr. Llewellin and his dogs, recalled one outing in 1894 stating "I was very favorably impressed with one young dog "Dashing Bondhu II". He was almost a duplicate of old Dan....It struck me as being remarkable that , after continuous breeding in the same strain, a dog should come so much like that famous sire. There was also a lat of six, all of one litter and about 18 months old. Excepting one, which was larger than the rest, they where a very even lot." He continues in another writing "I was at Mr. Llewellin's place in May, 1894, and saw his dogs run on partridges, and in August I shot over them on the grouse mores in whales. His dogs are in no way inferior to the dogs I first saw with him in 1873." It was very evident that Mr. Llewellin had the very best and continue to maintain superior field Setters over the years, but the author did not know, that the Dashing Bondhu Setters were not decendents of old Dan except for having the same Laverack blood.



When the official registration of the dogs began in England, Mr. Llewellin realized the importance of "Armstrong's Dash II" was to his breeding program and wanted to make sure these lines that he personally developed would be recognized and kept separately from all of the other earlier Llewellin lines that were being developed by others. This is why he started to use the name Dashing in honor of the great "Armstrong's Dash II" and "Bondhu" (in Welsh "heart of oak") in honor of the phenomenal field champion and producer "Dashing Bondhu" who was out of "Armstrong's Dash II" and the great field champion "Countess Bear". It was in their honor that Mr. Llewellin started to call their decedents "Dashing Bondhu" giving them a unique name reserved only for his personal line.
It is interesting to note that the importance of keeping the "Dashing Bondhu" lines as pure and separated from other Llewellin English Setter lines was not only realized by Llewellin and other English and Irish breeders at the time, but was also recognized by the early European Registry. They considered the Dashing Bondhu line so different, unique, and worth preserving pure that the "European rule" mandated that when a component of the Dashing Bondhu (aka Scinn Amach and Horsford) is mated with any other component, the offspring cannot carry the name Dashing Bondhu. This gave Llewellins personal Dashing Bondhu bloodline a distinction from all other English Setter lines in England, long before, but much in the same way that FDSB later made a broader distinction for Llewellin Setter lines from other English Setter lines here in the states in 1902.


These are the same practices we use here at Mountain View Kennel. In stead of exploiting the dogs to promote our kennel name like many kennels do when they find a great line of dogs, we continue to honor Mr. Llewellin, as Mr. Humphrey did and continue to use "Dashing and Bondhu" as part of our dogs names. All of our Llewellin Setter's have "Dashing Bondhu" or "Bondhu" as part of their name.
Examples: Dashing Blaze Bondhu, Dashing Bondhu Ringo, Dashing Bondhu Hank, Dashing Bondhu Princess, Dashing Bondhu Chess, Dashing Bondhu CountOrtho, Dashing Bondhu Freckles, Dashing Bondhu Babe, Dashing Bondhu Henrietta, Dashing Missy Bondhu, Dashing Bondhu Belgium, Dashing Bondhu Tonette, etc.. We only switch the names around, because so many names were already taken with Dashing first and Bondhu third, so we now use Bondhu in the second position allowing us the liberty to repeat names used long ago. Example, "Dashing John Bondhu" would be a completely different dog from "Dashing Bondhu John", but at one glance of our dogs names, you can tell they are of purest Dashing Bondhu bloodlines.


The only dogs that don't have both Dashing Bondhu in their registered name, are dogs we purchased as adults that had already registered names that could not be changed, like Irish Bondhu Chess, Hank's Champ Bondhu, IrishKing Ashly Bondhu, IrishKing Bondhu Lady, and IrishKing Bliss Bondhu.
Misinformation
It has been stated on some websites that claim to be authorities on Llewellin Setters, yet are just one man's opinion without any foot notes or references given, that on Mr. Llewellin's passing in 1925, "Mr. Humphrey purchased only 12 dogs from Mr. Llewellin's kennel keeper and he purchased 30-40 Setters from America. I assume this was written to some how mislead the public that the American Llewellin strains had a major roll in the development of even Humphrey's program or that Llewellin's remaining dogs were not of higher quality, or not of pure descent.


Quite the contrary was true, Mr. Humphrey's own unedited personal manuscript clearly states that "Llewellin's kennel keeper was instructed to give him (Mr. William Humphrey) ALL his last remaining dogs". In fact, the facts have been completely turned around, it was that he inherited about 40 of Llewellin's remaining dogs and purchased only a few dogs back from America over many years and to our knowledge, all were dogs originally produced by Mr. Humphrey or Mr. Llewellin himself and he was simply importing their own dogs back to England. Also, Mr. Humphrey stated that he "Sold all of the Llewellin Setters that he had been breeding for many years, so he could continue Mr. Llewellin's pure Dashing Bondhu's the same way Mr. Llewellin wanted", thus giving Mr. Llewellin all the credit for them even to his death. He NEVER added any American bloodlines, nothing but 100% pure Dashing Bondhu.
They were not importing American lines to breed to their dogs as this would NOT be the way Mr. Llewellin would have wanted them bred. He was quoted many times as saying he kept Mr. Llewellin's Dashing Bondhu's pure and bred the way Llewellin wanted. Also, if he would have outcrossed them in anyway, they would not of been able to be registered as Dashing Bondhu in their name, because of the unque Kennel Club mandated rule's would have not allowed it. I hope this put and end to these lies.


Why would Llewellin and Humphrey need to buy back dogs from time to time? Keep in mind that distemper vaccines had not yet been developed, so Llewellin and Humphrey would many times place dogs with other kennels outside of the UK, knowing that if distemper caused major loses in there area, they could purchase their dogs back, even if it meant spending twice what they received for them. So when you read that they imported some Setters back from the States, it must be acknowledged that they were simply getting dogs they had sold to the states in the first place and because of some dogs being lost to distemper, they needed to purchase some of of them back, many times paying twice what they received.
I don't know how this rumor started, but the Dashing Bondhu line was never the "result of Mr. Humphrey combining his Llewellins from Mr. Llewellin's stock with American Llewellins". This would have been an impossible feat since Mr. Llewellin had himself created the Dashing Bondhu line in 1878, some 52 years before his death and entrusting them to Mr. Humphrey in 1925.
The truth of the matter is, Mr. Humphrey was so highly a respected friend of Mr. Llewellin as well as other top Llewellin Setters breeders like Mr. H. C. Heartly who without question had the finest kennel of both Llewellin Dashing Bondhu's in the world and Mr. Laws Turner who also had Llewellin's Dashing Bondhu setters. Both of these famous Setter breeders entrusted Mr. Humphrey with ALL their remaining Dashing Bondhu Setters on their passing as well.


It was only their pure Dashing Bondhu Setters from all these great men that Mr. Humphrey fancied for 38 years and with the help of his grandson Chris Sorenson, and close friend Fr. Brannon of Ireland, continued breeding, preserving, improving, developing, and some would say perfecting the "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines and in Humphrey's words, quote "following in Llewellin's foot steps in every way possible".
Mr. Humphrey personally finished 41 Field Champions (over one a year) in the process until his own passing in 1963. Many feel that Mr. Humphrey not only preserved Mr. Llewellin's outstanding pure "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines but with the addition of Mr. Heartly's and Mr. Turner's great Dashing Bondhu Setters, contributing greatly in refining and furthering their development. This was the reason why Mr. Humphrey was labeled "the King of the Bondhu's" and inspired the book "King of the Bondhu's". His Llewellin Setters were considered the greatest natural field Setters in the world and still are by many of us today.
In fact, we are proud to say that Mountain View Kennel is the largest kennel of pure Humphrey bred Llewellin Setters in the world today!
Dashing Swan Bondhu, bred by Mr. Humphrey in the early 1960's. Note the similarity to our dogs today, even his high held head and tail.


Dashing Bondhu's
Come to America !
Here is the break down of breeder's who had a part in their development prior to and after their importation to America.
Persons Name Country Time Frame Name used in Pedigrees
Edward Laverack (Creator of the English Setter Breed & Friend of Mr. Llewellin) England Mid- late 1800's Laverack's (His best Field Champions were used by Llewellin to create the Dashing Bondhu Llewellin's Setters)
Edward Armstrong (Breeder of FdCh Armstrong's Dash II) England 1870's Armstrong's (Beginning of the Dashing bloodline)
Richard Purcell Llewellin, Esq. (Creator of the Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters) England 1870 - 1925 Dashing Bondhu (100% Llewellin's Setters)
William Humphrey, Esq. (Close Friend of R. Llewellin) England 1925 - 1963 Horsford & Dashing Bondhu
Cris Sorenson (Humphrey's Grandson) England 1963-67 Dashing Bondhu
Father Brannon (Close Friend of W. Humphrey) Ireland 1950's-1988 Scinn Amach, Machad, & Cloncurragh (99% Humphrey)
Trevor Wostenholm (Friend of both Humphrey & Fr. Brannon) South Africa N/A Dashing Bondhu (some pure, some out-crossed with Blizzard)
Derry Argue (Breeder of Eng. Pointers & Setters) Scotland Sold Out of Setters in 2006 Advie & Machad (some pure, most were outcrossed with American bloodlines) Advie Indy only pure one left.
Marie Therese a Goes (Close Friend of W. Humphrey) Belgium - 1994 Dashing Bondhu (some pure, but most were out-crossed with Wind'em her main breeding program)
Dr. Everett E. Bickers Indiana, USA 1960's Bicker's (Main imports from Fr. Brannon's, later crossed his with American)
Dr. Stephenson North Arkansas, USA 1960's-80's Dashing Bondhu (imported from Cris Sorenson, Grandson of Humphrey)

Dick & Gaylon Biggs Northern Arkansas, USA 1960'-90's Bigg's (imported Dashing Bondhu from Cris Sorenson, Count, Scinn Amach, Glenowlen, Assrah.)
Mr. Grant Texas, USA 1960'-80's Dashing Bondhu (From Dr. Stephenson, Dick Biggs)
Mr. Hunt Texas, USA 1960'-80's Dashing Bondhu (From Dr. Stephenson, Dick Biggs)
Bill Hanzlicek Kansas, USA 1970's-90's Dashing Bondhu (From Dr. Stephenson, Dick Biggs)
Glen Roark Indiana, USA 1970's-90's Dashing Bondhu & Roark's (From Dr. Bickers, Dick Biggs & Imported from Chris Sorenson & Started crossing them with Wind'em and then Am. lines)
Al & Drenda Kingof King's Llewellin Kennel Top Llewellin Setter Breeder of purest bloodlines of all bloodlines, American and Bondhu bloodlines. Al's Health Issues and his passing on Oct. 14th, 2011 have forced the sale of all their top American Llewellin's and most of their top Bondhu's. Arkansas, USA 1960's-Present Alfred O. King Sr. 1945-2011 Dashing Bondhu (Dr. Stephenson, Biggs, Grant, Hunt, & Hanzlicek), IrishKing (Dr. Bickers), ScottKing (advie) & BelgiumKing(Marie Therese a Goes) (Kept many pure, and also crossed some with Am lines.)


Michael & Marie Bloodgood of Mountain View Llewellin Kennel (Purchased all their pure Dashing Bondhu's from Al & Drenda King and are Breeder's of ONLY the purest Dashing Bondhu's Llewellin's Setters from England, Ireland, & Belgium imports without any American bloodlines added) The largest kennel of pure 100% Humphrey bred Llewellin Setters. Kentucky, USA 1996-Present Dashing Bondhu (Pure Humphrey), Irish Bondhu (80+% Humphrey) Belgium Bondhu (100% Humphrey with Belgium origins) NO American Bloodlines!
Of course the first Dashing Bondhu's imported to North America were directly from Mr. Llewellin himself, but these early imports were few and far between and all were likely out-crossed to help in the developing of the American Llewellin Setters. Of course Mr. Llewellin was critical of his strain being crossed with the American strains and was viciously attacked by American breeder's and writer's for that. Unfortunately, it was not until after Mr. Llewellin's death that many realized that Llewellin was right and started to breed his strain (Dashing Bondhu) pure.


William Humphrey exported pure Dashing Bondhu's through the 1950's and early 60's and unfortunately still many were quickly out-crossed with the American Llewellin bloodlines once again. It was not until the mid-1960's, after Humphrey's death when the Dashing Bondhu's were being imported from Humphrey's grand son, Cris Sorenson, by Dr. Stephenson , Dick Biggs and Dr. Everett E. Bickers who imported the majority of these pure lines into the US. These breeders bred from the dominant William Humphrey's Dashing Bondhu line descending directly back to R.L. Purcell Llewellin himself.
Wm. Humphrey's grandson, Chris Sorenson was the last known owner of the original Humphrey/Llewellin Dashing Bondhu's Kennel in England. Sadly, he no longer has any of them today and now has an animal transport service there.
Alfred & Drenda King got their Dashing Bondhu's from these and other fine gentlemen in the 1960's and 70's and they were kept 100% Humphrey Dashing Bondhu until Al introduced the great "IrishKing Bondhu Ashly" in the 1989 from Dr. Everett E. Bickers. Ashly was bred to several hundred Llewellin Setters, many of the pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu's with phenomenal success, producing many outstanding "Natural" foot hunting bird dogs, with exceptional ability like "Hank" aka Henry PrinceOf Pause, fame of OLN's #1 sporting show, "Hunting with Hank". Some call the line the "Hank" line, but it's the Ashly (Irish Bondhu) line through and through. In fact, OLN's "Dash" (Hank's son) is a DOUBLE Bred Ashly (out of a son and daughter of Ashly).


We, Mike & Marie Bloodgood of Mountain View Kennel plan to continue to breed back to the pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu's for many generations to come.
We, also intend to maintain the lines from Humphrey's dear friend for many years, Father Bannon from Ireland, Machad, Scinn Amach [pure Dashing Bondhu] & Cloncurragh (Wind’em 90+% Dashing Bondhu] Kennel names, by using the IrishKing Bondhu Ashly bloodlines and breeding them with the pure Humphrey's that the King's proved equally successful and are now the largest kennel of pure 100% Humphrey bred Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters.
Another line that Ashly carries in his pedigree includes Setters from South Africa owned by Trevor Wostenholm who got outstanding pure Dashing Bondhu's directly from Wm. Humphrey's and Fr. Brannon. Only down side is that he might have added a cross of the Blizzard imported from the USA to Africa a long, long time ago, but no one seems to know for a fact. But even if true, that would put it back about 8 generations in any of the IrishKing lines today and would be of little consequence today as it would be 10 or more generations back in our Setter pups we offer. At ten generations the pup would have .07% influence, which is less than 1/10th of 1% and most likely would no longer even be any genes left in our pups today. See chart of influence below...



Generations Number of Dogs in Pedigree % of influence of each dog in gen.
1st 2 50.00%
2nd 6 25.00%
3rd 14 12.50%
4th 30 6.25%
5th 62 3.13%
6th 126 1.57%
7th 254 .54%
8th 510 .27%
9th 1,022 .14%
10th 2,046 .07%
11th 4,094 .04%
12th 8,190 .02%
13th 16,382 .01%
14th 32,706 .005%
15th 65,474 .003%
Last but not least, the pure Dashing Bondhu's imported from Belgium from Madam Marie Therese a Goes, who also was a very dear friend of Wm. Humphrey's and Fr. Brannon who gave her all their Wind'em's and many of their outstanding pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu's. Fortunately, we were able to obtain some pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu's bloodlines that she had later in years that have been bred to pure Humphrey's and IrishKings now without any of the Wind'em blood she had. We are not sure if she too was finally getting out of the Wind'em's because of all their genetic problems, or she was preserving a line of pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu's to continue using as an out-cross, but what ever the reason, we have preserved only the pure Humphrey Belgium line in our program through Dashing Bondhu Janie, Dashing Bondhu Bell, and Dashing Bondhu Silk and their offspring.
The aging Mr. Humphrey and his grandson Chris Sorenson exported several outstanding "Dashing Bondhu's" to America in the 1960's. Most were imported by Dr. Stephenson. It is these imports that are the direct ancestors of our pure "Humphrey Dashing Bondhu" Llewellin Setter's here at Mountain View Kennel. In fact, because of spreading out the generations 8-10 years apart, several of our Llewellin Setters are still only a few generations removed from the original 1960's English imports, that came directly from Humphrey and his grandson Chris Sorenson, who no longer has any.


When we tried several Llewellin Setter bloodlines in search of the best we came across our first pure "Dashing Bondhu" dog and we named her "Dashing Blaze Bondhu" (1996-2007). We purchased her from King Llewellin Setter Kennel as a puppy. In over 35 years of owning and training some of the best bird dogs in the world, inluding some National Champions, Blaze was without a doubt the most natural and most outstanding bird dog we had ever been blessed to hunt over. Blaze was a complete born natural and never broke a point, never missed a retrieve, and backed every dog she ever hunted with, naturally. She would not only honor their points, but also their retrieves as well, a common trait in all our Dashing Bondhu's. Even though she was only 4 months of age when her first quail season started, she pointed and retrieved over two hundred native wild Kentucky quail her first season. She continued year after year to prove she was the most outstanding and was never hunted on any game bird preserves, just plain ole' privately owned Kentucky and Georgia farm land with wild covey's of native Bob-white quail and a few Woodcock, that she naturally pointed and retrieved equally well.
Blaze was pure 100% Humphrey "Dashing Bondhu" breeding, meaning all the dogs in her pedigree traced back to Humphrey's and Llewellin's personal kennel. She was produced by Al & Drenda King and was out of Dashing Ringold Bondhu and Dashing Whitette Bondhu that also proved to be a phenomenal breeding of the most natural bird dog pups I have ever seen or could imagine. This was a true testaments to Llewellin's, Humphrey's, and the King's outstanding breeding programs.


It has taken us several years to secure the Dashing Bondhu dogs we have today, especially those that are pure Humphrey bred, like our Dashing Blaze Bondhu was. They are our Dashing Bondhu Ringo, Dashing Bondhu CountOrtho, Dashing Bondhu Rosie, Dashing Bondhu Silk, and their offspring so far. Though it was the King's who had allowed the last pure Humphrey bloodlines to almost become extinct, it would have been impossible for us to have saved them from extinction without Al and Drenda's help, dedication and friendship.
We feel hands down that the pure "Dashing Bondhu" Llewellin Setter's are the most natural hunters, pointers, backers, retrievers, with the greatest scenting ability, and are of the highest intelligence, and most important of all maintain a strong willingness to please their master. In fact I have yet to find a better pointer of all pointing breeds, a better retriever of all retrieving breeds, or any dog breed smarter or easier to train, or as loyal a companion as a pure "Dashing Bondhu" Llewellin Setter .
Probably credited to the higher amount of Laverick blood, they are also one of the most if not the most beautiful of all the Llewellin Setter strains developed, while still maintaining a medium frame and medium coat required in good field setters.


The development of the Dashing Bondhu's that we have today were no easy feat and their natural greatness should be of no surprise. Mr. Llewellin spent over 50 years developing them under the strictest selection and Mr. Humphrey spent another 38 years perfecting them in England as well as Fr. Brannon in Ireland, who also spent over 30 years breeding them and working with Humphrey. No other strain can claim this history nor can be called Llewellin's favorite personal strain nor are more deserving of the name "Llewellin Setter".
I guess we feel the same way Llewellin, Humphrey, and Fr. Brannon did, that these lines are simply the very best of the best bred Setters in the world. In fact, they are the only breed or line of dog that I have ever found that was in NO need of ANY improvements. All the pure Dashing Bondhu Setters we have owned or produced were and are totally genetically sound, without any genetic, health, or temperament problems. They are easily naturally bred, making wonderful mothers, raising nice healthy litters, generation after generation.
I take no credit for their superior development, I am only interested in using our many years of breeding experience and genetic knowledge to recognize the very best from the rest and to select the very best to preserve this amazing natural strain of true "Llewellin's" Setters.


Father Bannon
A rare photo of Fr. Brannon in 1974 with his Dashing Bondhu's in Ireland. Look at the similarity to our Irish bred Dashing Bondhu Llewellin's Setters today, like our IrishKing Lady Bondhu, IrishKing Ashly Bondhu, or even Dashing Bondhu Hank and Dashing Bondhu Chess!
It should be noted that Humphrey, had shared many of his Dashing Bondhu bloodlines with a Catholic Priest and very close friend, Father Bannon of Scinn Amach kennel in Ireland. Fr. Bannon's pedigrees were basically 95% of the same pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu bloodlines with only about 5% of his best old Wind'em, Clonclurragh, and Machad which are also believed to be at least 90+% of the Dashing bloodline. Resulting in Fr. Brannon's Scinn Amach kennel in Ireland averaging about 99.995% Dashing Bondhu (like Machad Ambassador) and when bred to 100% Humphrey females, the offspring are about 99.998% (like Irishking Bondhu Ashley) and then about 99.999% (like Henry Princeof Pause "HANK") and then 100% Dashing Bondhu in just three generations with pure Humphrey females.


I have recently found out from family friends of William Humphrey Jr. that Mr. Humphrey's and Fr. Brannon's friendship were much closer than originally thought. It seems it was not uncommon for them to switch homes with one another for a couple of months each summer and work, train, and evaluate each others Setters. This would mean that they had a much closer first hand knowledge of each other's Setters and breeding interaction between their kennels, making them virtually the same.
This is why we can say that all our Llewellin Setters are pure Dashing Bondhu today. Basically, they cannot be any purer Dashing Bondhu then that, but keep in mind that individual dogs still have different genes carried down for generations. So even though Llewellin, Humphrey, and Fr. Bannon's Setter's were of the same exact heritage, every dog carried different ancestry genes making them very useful for maintaining genetic health while still maintaining strong consistency in quality, health, and performance.
Fr. Brannon's Setters are believed to be the second purest "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines available in the world. These Irish bloodlines were imported to America in 1988 and proved to also be natural outstanding bird dogs.


The 1988 Irish imported "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines proved to be the perfect answer to keeping the Humphrey "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines as pure as possible, without breeding them too close. They made it possible to breed the great Humphrey's pure "Dashing Bondhu" imported English bloodlines of the 1960's with Fr. Brannon's "Dashing Bondhu" imported Irish bloodlines of 1988.
Hall of Fame "Henry PrinceOf Pause" aka "Hank" Star of OLN's "Hunting with Hank" Prints and DVD's are available at HWH website.
What would result by crossing these two outstanding "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines? Many OUTSTANDING bird dogs. Two perfect examples are Outdoor Life Network's famous "Hank" registered name Henry PrinceOf Pause , from OLN's TV series, "Hunting with Hank", and Hank's son Dash" registered name Hank’s Dashing Bondhu photo below left, who later stared in OLN's TV Series "Upland Days with Dash and Dez".

Hank's Dashing Bondhu aka "Dash" of OLN's "Upland Days with Dash" Prints and DVD's available at HWH website!
These two great dogs are not only all out of the SAME exact combination of pure "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines that we specialize in, but "Hank" is also the grand sire and great grand sire of our own outstanding stud "Dashing Bondhu Hank" and outstanding females "Dashing Bondhu Chess" ,"Dashing Bondhu Princess", "Dashing Missy Bondhu", and the DOUBLE Grand sire of our Dashing Bondhu Henrietta. We also own a direct son of "Dash" named " Hank's Bondhu Champ" which also makes him a grandson of "Hank" as well. "Hank" and "Dash" are perfect examples of what is produced when combining the Humphrey's "Dashing Bondhu" imports with Fr. Brannon's (Irish) "Dashing Bondhu" imports that we specialize in. If you have not been able to see these great representatives of the pure "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines in action when they were on the Out Door Life Network , you can order many of the high class productions of "Hunting with Hank" and "Upland Days with Dash and Dez" episodes on tape and DVD from HWH web site for a very reasonable price.


Basically, "Hank's" grand sire "Machad Ambassador" was imported from Scotland or Ireland and was 50% Fr. Brannon's and 50% Humphrey and he was quickly bred to a pure Humphrey female producing Hank's sire "Irishking Bondhu Ashley", who was 25% Fr. Bannon's Irish and 75% pure Humphrey's "Dashing Bondhu's" and "Hank's" dam "Dashing Janette Bondhu" was 100% Humphrey's English "Dashing Bondhu" breeding. This makes " Hank" 87.5% Humphrey and 12.5% Fr. Brannon's "Dashing Bondhu". "Hank's" son "Dash" was produce by breeding "Hank" to "Dashing Miss Bondhu" a female that was also 87.5% Humphrey and 12.5% Fr. Brannon's "Dashing Bondhu". Also, "Hank's Ringo Bondhu", who is 93.75% Humphrey and 6.25% Fr. Brannon and is the sire to several of our Setters and he was produced by breeding OLN's "Hank" to "Dashing Chess Bondhu" a pure Humphrey's "Dashing Bondhu" female who was also full litter mate sister to our great "Dashing Blaze Bondhu" and is why you will find "Dashing Chess Bondhu" in our pedigrees numerous times in an effort to preserve as much of that great litter of pure Humphrey "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines as possible in our breeding program. This makes the Setters out of them 96.87% Humphrey and only 3.13% Fr. Brannon. Remember Fr. Brannon's, are 95+% Humphrey bred also.


Unfortunately, not all kennels that had bred the pure Dashing Bondhu line named all their dogs using Dashing and/or Bondhu as parts of their names, so it needs to be noted that Horsford, Scinn Amach, Count, Otho, Awrose, Irish Bondhu, IrishKing Bondhu, ScottKing Bondhu, Hank's Bondhu, BelgiumKing and Tennessee Whiskey are also names used in pure "Dashing Bondhu" pedigrees.
Unfortunately, to confuse matters, some people have used Wind'em in names in pedigrees without any or very little Wind'em in them and the same has been done in regards to using the Bondhu name was used in Setters with little or no Bondhu in them. The only way to know for sure is to check pedigrees all the way back wnd is just what we have done with all our Setters before we purchased them.
Marie Thérèse à Goës


It should be noted that some dogs of pure Dashing Bondhu, before and after Mr. Humphrey's passing also went to his very close friend Marie Thérèse à Goës in Belgium.
The à Goës family traces back to olden times in Longueville, east of Brussels. Very similar family history to Mr. Humphrey's heritage in England, long being associated with Falconry and of family history serving the Royal families in Belgian as Falconers.
Marie visited England quite often when she was a young woman, especially right after World War II. She visited and stayed with the Humphrey family at Lake Cottage many times and enjoyed talking and hunting falcons with Mr. Humphrey and his Setters. She also was a friend of Ronald Stevens a very well known and important English falconer of his time who wrote many excellent books on falconry.
Marie had acquired some special skills in Falconry which made her very popular in the falconry world. She found away to temporarily glue flight feathers back into a falcon wing when lost while hunting.
She became close friends the Humphrey family and Mr. Humphrey shared his knowledge of falconry and the Llewellin Setter and they often hunted together around the British Isles. Humphrey shared some of his early Llewellin Setters bloodlines with her before he had inherited the pure Dashing Bondhu's, these had Wind'em in them and upon his death she also received some pure Dashing Bondhu and these dogs were taken to Belgium to be added to her kennel which Marie Thérèse named, “D’Hurlain Pré.” In French that means “The Meadows of Hurlain” the area next to her home.



Unlike William Humphrey and Fr. Brannon, Marie Thérèse heavily out-crossed most of the Dashing Bondhu Setters she purchased with her "Wind'em" (90+% Bondhu) bloodlines that she had obtained from them many years earlier. It was reported that Mr. Llewellin and Mr. Humphrey had discarded the Wind'em line from their programs because of many genetic problems they posses. Marie Thérèse used the Dashing Bondhu bloodlines from Mr. Humphrey as an out-crosses in an effort to stop the genetic problems from surfacing in her Wind'em program and it worked with some success, except they still cannot be line bred without problems today and adding them to US kennels could have devastating consequences in the breeds future.


Unfortunately, outcrossing only keeps genetic problems from surfacing and did not get rid of them and the Wind'em bloodlines still carry many problems recessively today and out-crossing must be continued or the recessive genetic problems will surface once again. It's no wonder that breeder's working with the Wind'em bloodlines from Belgium today are very strong opponents against line or inbreeding of any kind, even though Mr. laverack, Mr. Llewellin, Mr. Humphrey, and Fr. Brannon were great advocates for line and in-breeding their strain and would have NEVER agreed with them. In fact, the only way one can make sure their line is clean of all genetic faults is through line and inbreeding.
The Wind'em's also must have genetic testing like hip certification on their dogs. Which should always be a red flag to buyer's, that the dogs are likely carrying genetic problems recessively and their bloodlines need constant testing or why the need to test all their dogs. They also fail to mention that the certification does not mean the dogs are not carriers and that they are likely to pass it on to their offspring of their bloodlines are known carriers.


The worst part about this is that many Llewellin breeder's who don't know what they are actually doing, think adding new blood and mixing bloodlines and adding the more recent imported Wind'em bloodline to their Llewellin Setters, unwittingly are adding the genetic faults to their kennel and the Llewellin breed and even the English Setter breed. This is the problem with the idea that continued outcrossing makes better dogs, it actually collects all the genetic faults and adds them to their program. Eventually, they will surface as we see in many breeds today, that were line-bred years ago without genetic problems, but today is almost impossible to find any clean lines. This is already happening in many Llewellin Kennels today.
Marie Thérèse à Goës passed away at age 84. She never married and was a devoted to her dogs and to falconry. Selling most of her Wind'em Llewellin Setters to Italian aristocrats and can be credited for many of the Llewellin Setters found in Italy today. Marie Thérèse was President of the English Setter Club of Belgium. She had a strong dislike for American breeders, feeling that they screwed up every breed of dog they had ever bred, so she only sold a few of her setters to US kennels with strong instructions to only breed them to dogs not related to one another.


I don't mean her any disrespect, but it's my personal opinion that as a dog breeder, Marie Thérèse à Goës was clue less and is probably responsible for continuing the most genetically faulted strain of Llewellin Setter ever developed. They were clearly the culls of Mr. Llewellin and Mr. Humphrey and are the main source of many genetic problems found in the Llewellin Setter breed today.
Fortunately, we have been able to locate a pure Dashing Bondhu's line imported from Marie Thérèse à Goës kennel in Belgium that she kept pure without any Wind'em added. They were originally imported from Mr. Humphrey, in later years probably to use for a new out-crosses when ever she needed them for her Wind'em's. They are pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu bloodlines. Though it is also possible that she too was fazing out of the faulty Wind'em's and switching over to the pure Dashing Bondhu's like those before her, it's not clear, but very few were left pure and only one pure Dashing Bondhu male is all we have been able to find and preserve in our program.


They were imported from Belgium to the USA in more recent years. Our Dashing Bondhu Bel, Dashing Bondhu Janie, and Dashing Bondhu Silk have this rare pure Dashing Bondhu bloodline in their pedigrees. They are 100% pure Dashing Bondhu without ANY Wind'em blood what so ever and are as fine a dog as anyone could ask for and are proven genetically sound without any recessive problems.
Mr. Trevor Wostenholms
Last but not least, Mr. Humphrey also sent several of his pure Dashing Bondhu's to South Africa to the kennel of Mr. Trevor Wostenholms. Little is know about them, except that they were exceptional dogs and he kept the Dashing Bondhu name on his dogs, but sometimes crossed them with American Blizzard lines he imported from the US, so we do not have any of his bloodlines in our kennel.
It is unfortunately, that in most registries including FDSB here in the United States, the "Dashing Bondhu" name is not reserved for just Llewellin Setters of pure or high percentage "Dashing Bondhu" breeding and a breeder can use it as part of a name even if the dog has no "Dashing Bondhu" in their pedigree. So buyer's beware and read all pedigrees at least five generations back very carefully in order to expose the impostors. This is why we show 5 generations on all our dogs we use for breeding showing you 6 generations of every pup we offer. We actually check all our dogs all the way back at least ten or more generations until we find that every vine is checked back to Setters of pure Dashing Bondhu origins. Many pedigrees of Setters will have some Bondhu names when little to none is actually in the dogs true background. They know the Bondhu name is special and try to capitalize by using it.
We were once considering a dog that had a five generation pedigree of all dogs names having Dashing Bondhu in them. We were surprised to find out in a tenth generation that he was actually 25% American Llewellin with Blizzard, Gladstone, and Bomber dogs on his dam's side. Needless to say, we passed on him.


Derry Argue
Derry Argue's, Advie kennel in Scotland is also one that comes to mind. Many people think the Advie bloodline are pure Dashing Bondhu, unfortunately, 99% of the Advie pedigrees trace back far enough showing American lines and/or much of the Wind'em line. This is why we do not have any Advie bloodlines in our kennel. Also, it should be noted that Derry Argue has always favored his English Pointer's over his Setters and has discontinued his Setter breeding program in recent years.
Interesting enough, Derry Argue is thought to be the breeder of Machad Ambassador, meaning he produced him. Machad Ambassador was IrisKing's Bondhu Ashly's (OLN Hank's sire) sire, but he was 50% Fr. Brannon and 50% Humphrey in breeding without any Adive Setters in his pedigree. As far as we know, "Advie Indy" is the only "Advie" bred dog that was pure Dashing Bondhu, mainly from Fr. Brannon's bloodlines. His bloodline would only be allowed in our kennel, if he was bred to a pure Dashing Bondhu female. All the other Advie dogs we have researched, have had some American out-crosses and would not be allowed in our program.


It is not clear if Machad Ambassador was ever trained or owned by Derry Argue as an adult, or if he was pick of the litter by Fr. Brannon for stud service and trained and owned by Brannon as his name indicates. We hope to someday solve this mystery. Derry Argue is an interesting chap to say the least and is not always forth coming with information, especially when speaking to Americans. he too has a dislike for American breeder's.
Warning!
There are also a few Setters of VERY questionable pedigree within the Llewellin Setter world, meaning their authenticity is very much in question. I know of some English Setter kennels in America became Llewellin Setter kennels in what seemed over night without even changing their dogs. Because of FDSB poor litter registration policies for many years, actually allowing breeders to hand write (manufacture) individual puppy papers when ever they wanted them for dogs without actually registering their litter and even allowing some to do this for generations back. This allowed dog traders to go many generations back, after dogs and owner's may have passed away, so no one would be able to prove their dogs were fakes. In my opinion, it seemed that FDSB policies back then were if no one could prove them wrong, they were OK. This opened the door for people to profit by purchasing English Setters litters and registering them as Llewellin Setter litters that could be sold for two-five times what English Setters sold for.


Unfortunately, some breeder had taken advatage of FDSB easy registration policies in the past, allowing breeder's to simply hand write papers at will for almost 100 years. In fact, I'm sorry to say, the "Straight Creek" (Bob Baily's) lines are highly questionable pedigrees and have been totally banned from registration in IPDBA. It is very doubtful that any of dogs with them can be trusted as pure Llewellin Setters, never mind of the pure Bondhu/Count bloodlines as they advertise. This unfortunately includes many FDSB pedigrees with ANY dogs with Straight Creek in their name or, Dashing Iron Cody, Dashing Iron Buster, Count Toby, and ALL their many decendents of many names being commonly used in FDSB Llewellin Setter kennels today. In fact, IPDBA has been turning away 2 out of 3 FDSB transfer applications because the Straight Creek was found in their FDSB pedigrees.
When we met the Straight Creek owner Bob Baily many years ago, he told me to my face when I asked him if he knew of any Llewellin Setters around, he responded "that Llewellin Setters were extinct" and that he had good English Setters (field trail type) for sale, but a few years later, his kennel changed from an English Setter Kennel to a Llewellin Setter Kennel using the same dogs and he started to advertise that he had been breeding his Llewellin Setter strain for 35+ years. Funny, that his neighbors and even close friends tell the same story as we do. Seems it has been very profitable to purchase whole litters of English Setter pups out the the local papers for $100-$200 each and sell them for $500.00 each as Llewellin Setter pups.

The Lord only knows how many were done this way. Even a Llewellin Setter he named Roadside, was named that because he was found on the roadside. So buyer MUST beware and so must the breed. It my opinion that the sadist part of this is that FDSB forced out the majority of breeders who kept the strains pure and are left with a bunch of kennel hybridizing strains and with known false pedigrees today.
Even the most oldest and noted Llewellin experts of our time will not accept setters with "Straight Creek" pedigrees. The King's removed it from their kennel once they learned of the problem. This is why Straight Creek bloodlines are NOT allowed to transfer over to IPDBA registry, but continue in many kennel boasting as breeding 'Bondhu" bloodlines. They are no more of Bondhu breeding than my foot. Some how they got around the new DNA ordeal by telling FDSB they were no longer in business, but all the while they continued to advertise their dogs in the Pointer Journal. What good is DNA now anyway? Anyone can prove the parents of a dog, but no one can prove their dogs pedigrees are legit.
In fact, I have seen stated on Llewellin Setter websites that their dogs are DNA'ed proven to be "pure Llewellin Setters". I didn't know to laugh or cry at such a stupid statement. Another dumb and false statement is that only FDSB registered Llewellin Setters are Llewellin Setters. WRONG again, a Llewellin Setter is a Llewellin Setter no matter where it is registered or registered at ALL. Actually, FDSB only recognizes the Llewellin Setter as a strain within the English Setter breed and not a BREED at all and has encouraged crossing of them with English Setters. IPDBA recognizes them as a BREED, completely unique and separate from the English Setter breed and does not encourage crossing ANY breeds. So one could argue that IPDBA is the true Llewellin Setter breed registry. Even the people who are credited with saving the Llewellin Setter from extinction and wrote the History of the Llewellin Setter, totally agrees with everything I have stated here and have registered ALL their Setters with IPDBA and has NOTHING to do with FDSB.


NO one can prove a Setter is a Pure Llewellin Setter with DNA testing, simply because there are no DNA samples of dogs even just a few generations back, never mind all the way back to the Setters that Mr. Llewellin owned. DNA parenting, ONLY proves the dog is out of the parents and cannot prove the parents purity or even if they are out of their parents without their parents DNA and so on. DNA cannot even seperate English Setters from Llewellin Setters. So don't believe everything you read without doing your own research.
At Mountain View Kennel, we will use ONLY the absolute BEST "IPDBA" registered Llewellin Setters that are PROVEN Natural with the most highly trusted pedigrees. So if you don't see certain kennel names in our pedigrees that you may see advertising their dogs are of the old Count, Otho and/or Bondhu bloodlines, there is a very good reason why they are not in ours.
By the way, the original Count and Otho were pure Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters. There really are no such bloodlines as Count, Otho or even Hank bloodlines, they were pure Dashing Bondhu's. Also, one cannot bring back a bloodline, the dogs either have them in their pedigrees or don't. I guess if you make up your pedigrees with Count or Otho in them, you might think you are bringing them back, but of course you are not.


When Mr. Humphrey's Dashing Bondhu's were imported to North America in the 1960's, most American and Canadian breeders simply out crossed most of them with their "American Llewellin" blood lines and even with many English Setters to improve their programs or to be used as an out-cross to hide genetic problems. This practice continues today in most kennels. In fact the pure Llewellin Setter breed was seriously endangered for many years and it was not until the 1990's when they once again started to find great popularity.
Much of the Llewellin Setter's rebirth in the 1990's can be accredited to hunters having smaller area's available to hunt. This required hunters to find dogs that handle better and hunt closer. The big running Field trial in FDSB has ruined most foot hunting breeds. Not to mention FDSB's many attempts to consolidate the two breeds and end the recognition of Llewellin Setters, would have put an end to the breed, if not for the King's fighting them for years. Also, the internet helped educate the hunters and the public of the Llewellin Setter's great hunting abilities as well as how they make wonderful loving pets that the whole family can enjoy all year long. But I think all would agree that OLN #1 sporting show "Hunting with Hank" showed the world a living example of what a pure Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setter, can and will do for their master, resulting in promoting all Llewellin Setter's in a good light.


I find it interesting how many Llewellin Setters have Bondhu used in their name, many without the bloodline in their background, so they are using it to exploit the name and mislead the public. I just found a female on a webpage with Bondhu in her name and she had no Bondhu in her 5 generation pedigree. The other odd thing is that Dashing is the line of FdCh. Armstrong's Dash II who changed the direction of Llewellin's personal breeding program, Bondhu was just a good son of his and not a new line, so I think it shows that many who use Bondhu in their dogs names, don't understand or know the history of the bloodline and are just trying to exploit it. So please beware of fakes.

Alfred O. King, Sr.
March 21, 1945 - October 14, 2011
King Llewellin Kennel
Our good friends Al and Drenda King need to be given FULL credit for keeping ALL the Llewellin Setter strains as pure as possible since the 1950's. Including the Humphrey's and Fr. Brannon's pure Dashing Bondhu lines since the late 1960's and for producing "Henry PrinceOf Pause", aka "Hank" and his son "Hank's Dashing Bondhu", aka "Dash". The King's kept the Humphrey line 100% pure for over 30 years and only added Fr. Brannon's imports and kept them pure for another 25+ years.
If not for them, there would have been no "Hunting with Hank" or "Upland Days with Dash" on OLN, because without them there would not of been "Hank" or "Dash". Only with the King's help, we have been able to build a strong breeding program of purest Dashing Bondhu bloodlines found in the world, making them available again today in the purest form and only 4-5 generations away from the original Humphrey and Fr. Brannon imports.


Unfortunately, most people didn't realize that there is so much difference in bloodlines and how rare Hank's bloodlines in the pure form actually are today. Many people who watched OLN, later purchased FDSB "Llewellin Setters", to only find out they were NOTHING like Hank or Dash. Some pedigrees may appear to have a bunch of Dashing Bondhu descendants, but when looking back in their pedigrees, out crosses of Wind'em, and American bloodlines are very evident and these dogs like in Europe, should not be named, considered, or referred to as Dashing Bondhu or Bondhu. Even one outcross of another bloodline introduce way back, could introduce genetic or other inherited problems and diferences not found in pure Dashing Bondhu bloodlines.

The Humphrey Llewellin's (Horsford Dashing, Horsford Count & Countess, Dashing Bondhu's) dogs were known to be bold but easy to handle, "a true gentleman's dog". They are superior natural foot hunting dogs. Because they were imported much later on, they were not influenced by the big running FDSB American Field trails, requiring horses to keep up with them, shock collars to control them or tacking collars to locate them. Dogs that require pro training and high tech equipment, produce pups that also require it. They destroyed many dog breeds and many strains within breeds, including some Llewellin Setter strains in my opinion. This is continuing today. If their Setters are as good as they say, then why not give the same Life-Time guarantees we do?
Another thing to keep in mind, is that most historians feel about the early American Llewellin and English Setter's today, is that they suffer from much paper hanging (switching of papers) and many believe that some breeders added some Pointer blood to make their dogs hunt farther and wider so they could compete in the big running field trails judged from horse back. That also added independents and no willingness to please their owner's.

I am sorry to say, that it seems the longer that they were bred here in the USA, the much better chance of having been influenced by the big running trails, false pedigrees attached to them or dogs with incorrect pedigrees would be introduced. Having dogs DNA'ed today will never undo what was done in the past and is why these later imports and keeping their strain pure is so very important. There is NO good reason to out-cross them with other strains, execept to improve the another strain, but that still makes no sense, since the outcross will never be equal to the pure strain and the best way to improve one's keenel, would be to simply stop breeding other strains and just bred pure Dashig Bondhu's.
Even the North American Llewellin Breeders' Assoc. 'NALBA' is running horse back trials today. This made the Straight Creek (big running "English Setters") now registered as FDSB Llewellin Setters dominate. They could not win in the regular FDSB trails against other breeds, but can dominate Field trails limited to true Llewellin Setters that are foot hunting dogs. Unfortunately, many Llewellin Kennels are adding the Straight Creek blood in the dogs and making the same mistakes that many American breeder's have in the past and they will ruin their Setters as foot hunting bird dogs and loving, loyal pets. I have already seen websites that will not offer their Llewellin Setters to pet homes. It is just as important to the breed that they be man's best friends as outstanding bird dogs in the field, the both go hand in hand for a true gentlemen's pleasure bird dog.


That is what the American Field trail breeder's do is ruin breeds for anything but Field Trails. They are and have done as much damage to the breed as the AKC show breeder's did. Many English Setters today cannot be kept around small children and are so full of genetic problems, it is almost impossible to find a healthy one that can live past 5.
The Dashing Bondhu Llewellin's Setters are recognized for being less high strong and very highly intelligent, thinking before they act, with outstanding scenting, natural strong pointing and 2nd to no other breed retrieving abilities, making them the best choice for foot hunting upland game birds as well as wonderful life long family companions and loyal pets. They are the perfect example of "Mans best friend", because of their strong willingness to please.
I have been totally shocked to watch programs on TV where a pointer is hunted with a retriever who walks behind the hunter to just retrieve downed birds that the pointer locates and points. This shows where the direction and caliber of the other pointing breeds are headed when they need help in hunting upland game birds and also shows the poor searching ability of the retriever. What is amazing is how fast they have changed. It was only a few years ago when FDSB bowed to the anti-hunting and animal right's groups and no longer allows shoot to kill field trials.

This means the Field Champions today have never been tested as a hunting dog, pointing, retrieving to hand, and backing. Also, even so called Grouse trails have been conducted using pen raised quail and have seen dogs who could not smell past 5 feet away from a bird become Field Champions, because 99% of all Field trails are put on pen raised birds.
I have also owned top retrievers and can tell you first hand, as waterfowl retrievers they are tops in their field, but for retrieving upland game birds, our Llewellin Setter's are second to none and can and do make excellent retriever's of waterfowl as well. In fact in England, mixed bags of waterfowl, grouse and pheasants are very common. In America, many of our Dashing Bondhu's are being used to retrieve waterfowl, dove, and pigeon as well as pointing and retrieving all types of upland game birds for shooters.


We must also keep in mind that the selection was very different in America and even within each kennel. They each have their own style, appearance, and temperament and is what makes them each recognized as a unique line. Everyone has different tastes, hence different lines were developed. In fact at one point the American lines became so recognizably different from Mr. Llewellin's own personal dogs that some American writers claimed them as an "American breed" and believe it or not, they even questioned if Mr. Llewellin's last dogs (Dashing Bondhu's) should be considered Llewellin Setters or not?
There is no doubt that Mr. Llewellin's Setter's were superior to all other bird dogs right from the start and the addition of Fd Ch Armstrong's Dash II at great expense to his breeding program in 1878 was the missing link Mr. Llewellin was looking for. He discarded all his previous breedings, meaning the Dashing Bondhu are completely separate from all other strains. There is no "Rhoebe" blood in any pure Dashing Bondhu and you will not find "Duke" in their pedigree, as only his littermate sister 'Kate" was used. So all you will find is the best "Laverack" Setters and "Kate" in Dashing Bondhu pedigrees, without any "Duke" or "Rhoebe" as used in the American lines. So there are major differences between the American lines and the pure Dashing Bondhu line right from it's beginnings.


Because of the Dashing Bondhu's greatness, Llewellin's personal Dashing Bondhu pure lines were continued by William Humphrey who was regarded one of the world's best dog breeders of his time. Also, Humphrey's grandson Chris Sorenson and the great Irish breeder Father Bannon for 30 plus more years. The Humphrey Dashing Bondhu's were imported by Dr. Stephenson to the USA and were then preserved by Al & Drenda King for 33+ years, and by Mike & Marie Bloodgood since 1996 at Mountain View Llewellin Kennel. Their pedigrees have not been influenced by dozens of breeder's like many of the American Llewellin Setters. The number of pure Dashing Bondhu breeder's in the past 140 years can be counted on one hand. Our only regret is that we did not find these great natural Setters earlier in our lives and that we didn't start attempting to preserve them sooner, when many more were still available.


"FdCh. Ch. Armstrong's Dash II" around 1874 Hank's Ringo Bondhu 2008
A perfect example how similar the Dashing Bondhu's are today compared with the original "FdCh. Ch. Armstrong's Dash II" and Hank's Ringo Bondhu, 134 years later and just as good if not better bird dogs today as well. Can there be any doubt that Hank's Ringo Bondhu is pure Dashing Bondhu? By the way, Hank's Ringo Bondhu, is out of OLN's "Hank" and Dashing Chess Bondhu (our Blaze's littermate) and is the sire of our Hank, Chess, Henrietta, Missy, and Odetta as well as the Great Grand sire of our Freckles, Babe, and some others. I believe Hank's Ringo Bondhu, will go down as one of the top studs of our life time. Not just because of his great sire, but because of is outstanding dam and all the great pups he has sired.


As you can see the Dashing Bondhu's are the cream of the crop, Mr. Llewellin's personal strain, developed and perfected by him and close friend William Humphrey and they have been, are, and always will be considered a great asset to any breeding, hunting program, or pet home. You can see many kennels advertising their Setters having some Bondhu, Dashing Bondhu, Hank, or Count blood in their dogs. They brag about having a little of these bloodlines in their Setters and know their reputation is the BEST in the world. Our point is, if a little Dashing Bondhu is worth bragging about, think what they would say if they owned a pure bred Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setter. Bottom line, if you can find any better bred pure Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters out of proven Gun Dog Certified hunting parents anywhere else in the world than at Mountain View Kennel, buy them!
Praise the Lord, with the help of the good Lord, we have over many years of hard work and sacrifice, been able to finally say we have preserved and saved the pure Humphrey Llewellin Setter strain (100% Mr. Llewellin's personal Dashing Bondhu Setters) from extinction and we are now the largest kennel of pure Humphrey bred Llewellin Setters in the world!

F*ck dude, there's no way I am reading all that, and I don't even have a job

you gotta love setters Dougie to take that on for sure.I edited for slightly easier reading

Edit LOTS more. You could hide a recipe for pavlova in there and still no one wold know.

Yeah, more american setter vitriol... I turned off half way through too

Originally Posted by kiwijames

Edit LOTS more. You could hide a recipe for pavlova in there and still no one wold know.

I like that pavlova ,good humor.
yes its long winded but one can skip parts also. I dont know that it had barbs in it and thought the author gave quite a reasonable explination,

I dont know if any American ever competed or are able to compete in the UK open stakes but it would be very interesting to see if they could "even" be competitive given their form of field trialing

Derry Argue from the Advie kennels stopped breeding setters because they were found to be not 100% Llewellins

personnally ,I like the Ryman setter

I find it funny that the yanks cling to a strain of dogs whose claim to fame was nearly 100 years ago, time to move on.

Thats interesting Uplander as he used to market them as pure?

Originally Posted by upnorth uplander

Derry Argue from the Advie kennels stopped breeding setters because they were found to be not 100% Llewellins

that's interesting Z as I was trying to find out why he stopped breeding .I know Derry has had ill health of recent times and I wondered if it was due to cutting his work load -where did you read that? .Derry is a funny chap , if you've ever spoken to John Hall Gunsmith in South Head you get a glimpse of Derry except Derry may even now be worse with age LOL

Anyone know if any yanks ever competed in the English open stakes?

it may only be a rumour El B, but I heard it from an English Setter breeder in NZ.
i did read your entire write up El B , very interesting if your into Setters

Good effort Z , it was a big article but interesting I thought "if you enjoy" setters for sure LOL . I would certainly like to know if that info is true but I don't doubt it .