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Personal Thought's The following statements are personal thoughts and personal opinions of Mike and/or Marie Bloodgood We hope this information will help you and set the record straight where needed. Nothing here is intended to offend anyone and is all truthful to the best of our knowledge. It is with a sadden heart that I report the loss of our dear friend Drenda King on 12/31/21. Our deepest sympathy and prays are with the King family and friends. Drenda and Al King were not only dedicated to preserving the Llewellin Setter's purity and quality but are responsible for preserving the Llewellin Setter distinction in FDSB and for full breed recognition in IPDBA. In fact, every know Llewellin Setter today carries their dogs in their ancestry. If you own a Llewellin Setter today in either registry, they would not exist today without them.                                                                 Drenda Kay King   DECEMBER 31 1946 - DECEMBER 31 2021 Drenda Kay King, 75, of Enola, Arkansas passed away at home in her sleep on December 31st, 2021.  She was born on December 31st, 1946, in Iraan, Texas to the late William Robert Loftin, and Jessie Jewel Loftin. In 1948, her family moved to Arkansas, eventually settling in Augusta where she graduated from high school. In 1963, she married Alfred O. King of Cotton Plant where she began her family – having two sons, Alfred O’Neal King, Jr., and William Paul King. She was a mother full of love, not only for her sons but for many nieces and nephews.  Drenda and Alfred shared a life-long passion for raising and preserving the heritage of the Llewellin Setter Bird Dog. Drenda was preceded in death by her parents; along with her husband, Alfred; and sister, Florence Marie Boehm.   Those remaining to cherish her memory are two sons, O’Neal King of Enola, and Bill (Kim) King of Greenbriar; two brothers, Steve, and Bill Loftin; one sister, Helen Loftin; five grandsons, Kent, Paul, Brandon, Eli, and Logan King; along with a host of other family and friends. Drenda’s funeral service will be held at 11:00 am on January 8th at Fowler Funeral Home, Brinkley with visitation one hour prior.  Burial to follow at Cotton Plant Cemetery. Alford O'Neal King Sr. and Drenda Ray King Is Line and Inbreeding, Good or Bad? By Michael J. Bloodgood The best way to understand line and inbreeding, is to look at how wild animal species have been reproducing successfully for tens of thousands if not millions or billions of years. This includes wolves, coyotes, fox, and other wild canine species that have been line and heavily inbreeding since they became into existence. Contrary to what many believe, Genetic defects are not the result of close line or inbreeding, they actually start as a genetic mutation within an animal's DNA (genes). A mutation can either be carried as a dominant or as a recessive and can either be good or bad for the animal's breed/species. A dominant mutation will manifest itself right away, in the animal who carries it and if bad for the species, it is removed immediately through natural selection of the fittest. The recessive mutations are hidden and require that the mutation to be present in both parents to manifest. In-breeding surfaces these recessive mutations within the 2nd generation and is also removed through natural selection of the fittest, so they don't spread or continue in the species, it's the natural proven way to maintain a healthy species now for tens of thousands of years if not longer. In captivity, it is up to the breeder to take natures place, so every individual animal should be fully tested and only the very best specimens in health, confirmation, temperament, abilities should be used for breeding. The higher the standards are in testing and selection, the better the breeding program and offspring will be. Up until about 40-50 years ago all dogs were line and inbred and documented for over 500 hundred years just like nature intended animals to breed, resulting in very few inherited genetic disorders. The problem started with breeders valuing registration papers and their dogs pedigrees more then the evaluation and selection of the individual dog's health or natural abilities to be used for breeding. How many times has someone said that the dog was not very good, but had good dogs in their pedigree, so they bred them, disregarding that the dog may have a bad mutation and is why they are no good. They are basically sticking their heads in the sand and when the natural recessive mutations happened, they simply bred them to unrelated mates to avoid any from surfacing, but resulting in secretly spreading the recessives throughout their program and breed, until no non-carrier's are left. By that time all dogs in the breed are carriers of several recessive disorders, resulting in a program or even a breed to be able to produce a healthy litter. This has and is happening in many dog breeds today and many more will soon follow if they don't start returning to line and inbreeding and strick culling, as nature (God) intended. As these genetic disorders started multiplying throughout the dog world, Veterinarian Colleges told breeders to avoid in-breeding by using a calculation called coefficient of inbreeding (Col), or inbreeding coefficient. This calculates the probability that two copies of a gene variant have been inherited from an ancestor common to both mother and the father. Unfortunately, this has made breeders think that close breeding should be avoided to avoid recessive disorders, mean while spreading them throughout their program and breed. Line and inbreeding actually protects the breed/species from recessive mutations spreading. The sooner a mutation is manifested the sooner it can be removed and are no longer a threat to their program or breed. A perfect example of this is our 100% pure Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters, who have been line and inbred for over 150 years by the world's top Setter breeders and continue to amaze. We continue to make sure no mutations arise in them by breeding new breeders to their first offspring. If the breeding produces high quality healthy litter, the parent will be used in the program and if they are found to carry a hidden mutation they can be immediately removed from the breeding program and put a complete stop to the spread of a bad mutation within the second generation of a breeding program or in the breed.  Line and inbreeding will also double up the good genes, so just like in the wild, selection is always the key. If all bad genes have been removed, line and inbreeding will increase the good gene traits to become more dominant and prevalent in the offspring, not only improving them, but also making their offspring more consistent or more clone like. For example, pups from a father and daughter breeding can prove the father and daughter are genetically free from any bad mutations and it will intensify the good genes they do have. Resulting in producing more outstanding, one in a life-time type dogs. It also makes them stronger reproducers of the same. If you check out our pedigrees, you will find that many of our studs and dams have been bred this way, assuring us and our customers that they are genetically free from harmful mutations. Interesting enough, geneticists have found that a full brother and sister, only share an average of 50% of the same genes. We actually have seen customers who accidentally bred full litter-mates and all produced large health litters of pups. I am not saying one should breed that close on purpose, but it shows that in-breeding it self, does not cause problems when no recessive mutations are present. A good healthy line-breeding program, will breed a half sister and brother out of an outstanding common parent and an outstanding parent to their outstanding offspring to increase the outstanding qualities in the line and to make sure there are no genetic faults in the line. I know some breeders will say, "but they now have DNA testing for over 100 recessive mutations", so it is no longer necessary to in or line breed". The truth is, even if we believe DNA Testing for mutations is highly accurate and it is far from it, it is very limited to ONLY locating a "specific previously categorize mutation sequence" that originated from a mutation in an individual canine within that individual breed. This means, that testing for a mutation that were found in a certain breed, won't be the same mutation found in another breed or even within it's own breed today, because there might be multiple origins for the same disorder. Here is an example, testing for a gene sequence that causes hip dysplasia in Boxers, will have nothing to do with canines from other breeds like Setters, with the same disorder. So testing for 150 past genetic sequences found in other breeds, will produce useless results and even if there was a sequence found in your breed, it will not find any of the newer mutations until it has spread throughout the breed and a DNA sequence has been found categorized to test in the future. Geneticist have found that one in twenty puppies born, will have a NEW mutation in their DNA, which means that new mutations are happening in about 5% of all puppies born in every breed each year. Even if geneticists were given DNA samples of every pup born, they cannot possibly locate and categorize each and every mutation sequence in every breed fast enough. Maintaining high standards, testing all individuals, and in/line breeding, is the key for producing healthy canines far into the future, just like nature (God) intended. Contrary to popular belief, breeding completely unrelated (out-crossing) canines within it's breed or with other breeds, will only continue to spread genetic disorders throughout their breeding program and their breed. Front Dew Claws The reason front dew claws are removed from many bird dogs, is because in many breeds, their front dew claws have become poorly developed and have no function anymore. They just hang out dangling getting caught and torn on grasses, thorns, and brush, that can cause soreness' and even infection, losing valuable time in the field and causing the dog unnecessary pain. They are easily removed from most bird dog breeds with just a snip of a toe nail clipper at a few days old. We did this for many generations while breeding German Shorthair Pointers. We attempted to clip off the front dew claws in our first two litters of pure Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters and all the pups had problems healing and required antibiotics. Many required more clipping to remove the extended bones and were left with large scars on them. This also upset their mothers and was a bad experience for all involved.  So we investigated further and realized that unlike many other breeds today, the pure Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters front dew claws are VERY highly developed with very strong muscles, ligaments, and bones forming an intricate working thumb. We have found that they should not be removed by simply clipping them off. Removing them is like removing a functioning thumb from a person and to do so properly, would require surgery to remove the whole structure, not just the front dew claw.  Their front dew claw structure actually continues up along the side and inside of their front legs and does not dangle freely, like in other bird dog breeds. Because it is so developed, removing it may be like removing a big toe and may interfere with their balance. In fact it has now been proven that dogs do use them when turning sharply, pulling them after braking through the ice, climbing over logs, etc. and dogs without them are much more likely to have lower leg injuries. As puppies their front dew claw may look a little large, loose, and dangly, but as they continue to develop, they will become leaner, stronger and they will hold it tightly up against their front foot out of the way of trouble. They will even use it to climb over things, like over fallen trees, rock walls, and rough terrain while hunting and will even pull them out after falling through the ice. So unlike other bird dog breeds, these actually have a function and are an asset to them in the field and woods and may even save their life.  All the Dashing Bondhu Setters we purchased had them and but for those first two litters of pups, all of our Setters and pups have them and we have never had a single problem or heard of a single problem from all our customers. It's very interesting to think that they may be the last breed or line of dogs who still have functioning front dew claws, or should I say thumbs. I think that it is amazing that Llewellin and Humphrey must have bred these dogs down to the development of their front dew claws being better developed. We have not had any Llewellin Setter pups born with rare dew claws on their hind feet. BTW, All our Setters have front dew claws and we hunt all our Setters and have never had any problems with their dew claws hunted under the worst grasses and cover conditions. The Functionality of Canine Dew Claws The Function of Dewclaws 101 Front dewclaws are typically removed by some at 3-5 days of age, because they are believed to be a non-functional digit that poses an unnecessary risk for being injured. In standing, the front dewclaw may not appear to be functional because it doesn't come in contact with the ground. However, observing the dewclaw when the dog is in motion tells a different story. Five tendons attach to the dewclaw and play an important role when the dog is in motion. For example: - When a dog’s lead leg is on the ground during the gallop or canter, the dewclaw is on the ground to stabilize the carpus - When a dog turns, the dewclaw digs into the ground to support the structures of the limb and prevent torque If a dog does not have dewclaws, there is a higher potential for the carpal ligaments to stretch and tear which could result in laxity and arthritis over time (OUCH!). This can then result in more stress being generated through the dog's carpus, elbow, shoulder, and spine as it tries to compensate for the lack of digit. On the other hand, the rear dewclaws do not have associated tendons and are considered non-functional (though they may be required for some breed standards to be present). In speaking with many vets, you would be surprised at how few dewclaw injuries they see. So- given the front dewclaws' functional use, why are we so quick to remove them? In dogs, the most common injuries seen by many rehab providers and vets occur in the shoulder complex, yet we don’t see shoulders being removed. Food for thought! Here are some cool videos proving the functionality of dewclaws in dogs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp2xHj_NJn4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4XflsMEk-k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv6qVSb_0z0 Delayed Closures Umbilical There is an area in the abdominal wall where the great vessels of the umbilical cord exit the body of the fetus to derive nutrition and oxygen from the placenta. After birth, these vessels close and shrink some. There is left behind a small area in the mid line where the vessels formerly escaped the body. The nature of this structure is a linear slit in the middling, lined with normal connective tissue. There are other structures on the 'middling' that undergo similar development after birth.  In the heart, there is a hole between the upper chambers that allows the fetus to bypass the lungs, which, of course, cannot contribute any oxygen to the blood before birth. Oxygen is obtained through the umbilical cord from the placenta, where the mother's blood stream exchanges oxygen and carbon dioxide with the baby's circulation. When there are delayed closures in the heart, it may be possible to hear a murmur at 4 or 5 weeks that is no longer audible by 6 or 8 weeks. This is normal development. These holes, like the umbilicus, must be present in the fetus and close over a period of time after birth. Omentum is a kind of slippery thin sheet of tissue which is present in the abdomen. It provides several services to the abdominal organs. It has blood vessels traveling through it to the intestine. Its surfaces produce serious fluid which lubricates the abdominal organs and makes it possible for them to slide against each other without rubbing. It carries lymph nodes for the abdomen, and is a major depot for fat storage. It partially contains the abdominal organs - especially the small intestine - and supports them in a kind of "plastic bag". As the puppy puts on weight, it is possible for a bit of this thin slippery tissue to protrude through the umbilical slit. As the normal process of closing of the umbilicus proceeds, it is possible for this bit of tissue/fat to be entrapped. The danger here is whether it is solely Omentum that is escaping, or if the defect is large enough for a loop of small intestine to escape the abdomen as well. It is recommended to "reduce" the tissue escaping at least once daily, by turning the puppy on its back and gently massaging the protrusion and slide the contents back up into the abdomen. This lowers the risk of a loop of intestine becoming strangulated in the protruding tissue. If the it is a closure defect, the normal process of closing will continue, even if at some point a small amount of momentum may get entrapped in a bubble outside the essentially closed body wall. This may be viewed by some people as a hernia, and a serious problem, but if the dog has a small bubble, or 'outsy belly button', and has been there since it was a baby, and the pup/dog is healthy and well and it is pretty obvious that the bubble does not contain any intestine, the pup/dog is just fine and should be of no concern. While the puppy is younger, it may not be clear. The very tiny holes the size of a pinkie tip with a small bubble do not require surgery. Only larger thumb size holes should be checked closely to be sure that no intestine becomes strangulated in the process of closure.  NOTE: no delayed closure can ever close completely simply because there is something sticking through it. If there were no momentum sliding out, they would continue to close normally. What they sometimes do, is they close tightly around the momentum, trapping it outside in an absolutely firm unchanging bubble and is perfectly all right and according to specialists it should not effect the selection process for breeding stock as it's not genetic. "True" umbilical hernias will make no progress in closing, ever and will grow bigger as the pup grows bigger. They are usually large and must always be surgically repaired when the pup is at least 4 months old. These can be quite serious.  Fortunately, they are very rare and not very likely, (not one true hernia produced in over 22 years of breeding the pure Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters,) but with all things, anything is possible as a non inherited birth defect. These are easily spotted and if a pup would have a "true hernia", it will be included in their description and only offered to a non breeding home and we send or post and price reduced for their future surgery (if not already done). I have never seen a female with a delayed closure and trapped momentum bubble show any sign of problem in carrying a litter or whelping, even a very large litter. I have never seen one of these females produce puppies with hernias either.  The catch is, you must know which you have. Most veterinarians don't draw these kinds of conclusions or try to differentiate the two different conditions and many will automatically recommend unnecessary surgery. Breeders with years of experience know the difference intuitively. Indeed, since "true" hernias are relatively rare, most have never seen one, unless they bred a line that produced them in the past. In any case, the experienced breeder knows better if the line they are breeding will produce "true" hernias or are just having delayed closures and should know best how to differentiate between the two. So it is very common if your pup turns out to have a small pinkie tip size hole, just follow the recommended procedure above and it should not become any bigger and as the pup grows it will become inconsequential. Unfortunately, it can take 6 months to a year before some will completely close. In the unlikely event one would not completely close and would require fixing later on, it can easily be fixed when they are spayed or neutered for a little extra. Of course we do stand behind every pup we sell and ONLY after 1 year of age we will refund the buyer $150. the cost of what our vet charges for fixing one if it is required to fix it without a spay and $50. extra if done during a spay. Do not let a vet operate on a puppy, just follow the recommendations above and wait until at least 1 year old and reevaluate them then, we have only had one that did not close completely by one year of age and even that one did eventually clos, so we feel you should wait until your pup turns one year old, to make sure it won't close on it's own. Our VET Dr. Green DVM of 25 years, agrees there is no reason to operate on a them under one year old. We know our dogs better than anyone, including your Vet and will NOT give any refunds on surgeries performed under one year of age. Unfortunately, with raising fat rollie pollie puppies, we increase the number of "delayed closures" and they are just that. We hardly ever got these until after feeding high quality foods. The choice we have is to raise thin or slender pups, or to educate our customers. Since we want to make sure our pups are getting the best start possible to live a long healthy life, we are going with the later. We once had a pup with a large, silver dollar size opening, so we assumed it was a true hernia. We asked our Vet and he said he would not operate until 4 months old, so we made the appointment to get the surgery done as soon as the pup was old enough. We did not advertise the pup for sale. When the day came to get the surgery I went to get the pup and could not find any problem, it had closed completely and disappeared. We posted the pup for sale and he sold quickly. That was the worst one we have ever produced and it even closed on it's own, even sooner than many others. Reference: http://www.showdogsupersite.com/kenlclub/breedvet/umbilical.html Non-Descended Testicle About one in six hundred pups will have a delay in a testicle descending. For some reason like the delayed closure, but much much rarer a testicle will not descend on the normal time line and even more rarer may take up to one year to descend even if it cannot be found. Many Vets will insist they operate as soon as possible, because a non-descended testicle may mean the testicle has migrated into the abdominal area, which can increase the chance for cancer in that testicle and will scare the owner to operate on a young pup. They neglect to tell the owner that it is VERY RARE for a non-descended testicle to migrate and that even if it did, it will only increased the chance for cancer over the whole life-span of the dog and not likely at all during their first year of life. Our VET Dr. Green DVM of 25 years, agrees that there is simply NO good reason to operate on a pup, especially when we know that all will eventually drop on their own. We believe they get caught up on some tissue and many can be massaged and loosen to drop, or assisted down, but even if not able to massage it down, all but one case in 22 years have dropped on their own. If you have waited until one year and it is deemed necessary to remove by surgery, we will refund $150. for it, ONLY if you wait until one year old or older. That is what our Vet recommends and he would charge. Setting the record straight about the King's and FDSB! It seems a lot of people would like to spread misinformation about the Kings and what happened with them and Field Dog Stud Book registry. Field Dog Stud Book (FDSB) is a "Field Trail" registry and the Llewellin Setter was actually given a separate BREED recognition in 1902, unfortunately, under the current owner, it has been changed to just STRAIN distinction within the "English Setter" breed. Llewellin’s dominated FDSB field Trails for over 50 years until the rules were changed toward a bigger running, farther ranging dogs using horse back judged trails, that favored the more far ranging English Pointers and caused some English Setters to be bred for them and/or crossing them were made. If you don't believe me, just look  at pictures of the English Setters that won these early big running trails and you can see the Pointer's distinctive brow and forehead. The same was done later on with other breeds like German Short-haired Pointers. All the DNA parent testing today will never remove all these crosses made in the past. Some GSP's were clearly just English Pointers with docked tails.   Fortunately, most Llewellin Setter breeders especially the King's did not change the breed to win those types of trails, so they no longer supported FDSB Field Trails. Since FDSB was the only registry at that time to recognize them as a separate strain, they continued registering their Llewellin Setters with them, but because FDSB was basically a Field Trail registry, a riff between FDSB and King's grew. The current owner of FDSB stated in written letters and emails that "the Llewellin’s were no longer making FDSB enough money to support their distinction", because at that time FDSB made most of their money from the Field Trail entree fees and not from registration fees. One of the reasons for that was, because they did not mandate litter registration. They allowed hand written applications for each pup in the litter, saving both time and money for the breeders, but opening the door to false registrations.   Also, the much larger group of English Setter breeder's, who were big supporter's of FDSB trails, wanted the distinction removed, so over the past 30 years the present owner of FDSB has complained about the lack of support at their Field Trails and tried to eliminate the “Llewellin” distinction, attempting to register them all as “English Setters”, over and over again without notice.  Every time FDSB attempted to do this, Al & Drenda King would send out thousands of letters (before internet) at their expense to all their former customers to form a mailing campaign and a petition to save the "Llewellin"distinction and every time, the King's efforts worked. I personally received these letters every time from the King's, so it is VERY clear to anyone who had Llewellins back then, if it was not for the King's the "Llewellin" distinction would have been long gone long ago,  if not them being a thorn in the side of the FDSB owner. Keep in mind, the much larger amount of English Setter owners and breeders who supported FDSB Field Trails, were jealous, because Setters with the “Llewellin” distinction were demanding 2-4 times more than their Field Trail Champion bred English Setters were and still are today. So basically, the owner of FDSB was not happy with the Llewellin Setter breeders, especially not with the King's personally and I personally believe it became a personal agenda to ruin the King's by the owner of FDSB. Example: FDSB owner had approved the Russian and other imported Setters that the King's imported as "Llewellin Setters", but after several years later and after receiving all the registration income, the owner then without notice or a hearing allowed, he revoked the approval. Most breeder's who bring in a new bloodlines, cross them with all their dogs they currently own. My personal opinion is that the owner of FDSB thought he could ruin the distinction, by allowing the new imports in and then later recanting their approval, he could eliminate the Llewellin breed in this manner. I believe this was done to get Al to breed all his Llewellin's with them and then all Al’s dogs would then be revoked, so they would be "English Setters" and he could then eliminate the "Llewellin" distinction once and for all. Fortunately, the King's were purest when it comes to breeding dogs and kept each strain they kept for breeding pure to their strain, so even though FDSB revoked the imported new strain years later, only those strains were effected and not the rest of the Llewellin Setters strains they owned.    When DNA parenting became reasonable, registries like AKC, used it as a tool to eliminate dishonest dog breeder’s. Unfortunately, without understanding DNA and that one in 20 canines produce mutations, many honest breeder's were falsely accused of falsifying papers. It’s my personal opinion that the FDSB owner and some jealous breeder's used it as way to get back at the King’s. When FDSB asked DNA from "IrishKing's Bondhu Ashley" he was all done breeding and hunting living out his last days loose on their farm. When FDSB asked for them to get his DNAed at the King's expense, the King's didn't question why, they simply did it and gave FDSB permission to use it.  If someone would of falsified papers in a registry, would they give the registry DNA from a dog with one foot in the grave? No way, all they would have to say is he died and his remains are mixed with many others. Never mind, if you knew Al at all, you would know he was a purest and had gone through great expense, sacrifice and time to get a dog of a certain pure strain, over and over again. It took us with the King's help, three years to save the pure Humphrey Dashing Bondhu bloodlines from extinction.   Anyway, the way I see it, FDSB owner, had tried several years to ruin the King’s breeding program and/or their reputation by approving imported dogs and taking the approval away years later.  They had checked hundreds of the King’s pups without any DNA problems found, but they finally found a three year old male Blue Belton that had transferred ownership three times "on record" that did not match it’s sire on his papers, without any proof that the dog was the original pup purchased from the King’s as a puppy, if it wasn't personal then why did FDSB made the DNA discrepancy PUBLIC. Everyone knows, a dogs papers may not follow the dog they were meant for. In fact, Dog Dealer's, aka Dog Jockey's, are known to buy and sell papers and keep papers to put on a non-registered dogs. The dog may have changed hands 3 times on record, but could have changed hands 12 or more times without filling in the transfer info. Many seller's sign and date them, and leave the buyer's info blank. They also can sell a dog and the buyer says, he does not care about the papers, so now the buyer has a set of papers he can use to sell another Blue Belton with, sometimes making the dog appear younger than he is demanding a very high price. This is common practice among Dog Jockey's/dealer's.  Example: The Kenton National's every Labor day weekend in Kenton, Ohio, has 50 acres of flea market as well as 10 acres of Dog Traders Row. Over 50,000 people attend it annually. We have seen dozens of Dog Jockey's with boxes full of registration papers, for all kinds of hunting dogs. Mostly for Coon Hounds and Beagles, but also many bird dogs and both the dogs and papers are sold, auctioned, traded, etc.. Since FDSB had no litter registration required for over 100 years, their papers have become the Dog Jockey's choice for bird dogs. All they need to do is keep some old FDSB papers and they can manufacture papers at will. FDSB registry was always considered a JOKE among AKC Breeder's, only good for entering your dog in their field trails. Just like NSTRA papers are today, just my opinion. The DNA test only proves that the papers did not match the dog tested. It NEVER proved the King’s did anything WRONG! In fact, when the dogs DNA was tested against all their studs in use the year of the date of birth (all done at the King's expense), not one matched, proving the dog never originally came from the King’s, but the FDSB owner never made that part public. He only made public the fact that he found a dog with the King’s papers that the DNA did not match the sire on the papers. Nor, did FDSB's owner allow the King's a public hearing to appeal (as in FDSB By-Laws)! That's right, it was the OWNER of FDSB who violated the By-Laws, NOT the King's, by refusing the King's a public hearing.   We had been good friends with the Kings for a number of years and received many letters about FDSB trying to eliminate the “Llewellin” distinction and the King's told us how the FDSB owner was basically railroading them and knew that we had helped start an international dog registry (IPDBA) several years ago (1996) with 11 founders from around the world and asked how hard it was to start one. The King's were thinking of starting a “Field Setter Stud Book” registry. When FDSB owner found out that they were planning to start their own registry, he publicly banned the King’s for "2 years" from registering their dogs, even though they had NO evidence they had done anything wrong. The King's stated FDSB by-laws stating that they not only had to prove the dog was from their kennel, that FDSB would have to prove they "purposely falsified a dog’s papers" according to their own By-Laws. When the King’s ask for a hearing as stated in the by-laws, the owner said there will be no hearing and his decision was "FINAL". I have personally read all these emails and letters between them and that is the God's honest TRUTH. If you want to register your dogs with a registry that is owned by ONE man, NO Board of Directors, who doesn't follow his own BY-LAWS, be my guest, but NO WAY I WILL! FACTS 1. FDSB owner attempted to remove the "Llewellin" distinction many times. . 2. The King's mailing champagnes saved the "Llewellin" distinction, but resulted in them becoming a personal target by FDSB owner. 3. FDSB approved several imported Setters as "Llewellin Setters" for several years and then revoked them in an attempt to hurt or discredit the King's and/or the Llewellin Distinction. 4. FDSB, DNA'd hundreds of Llewellin Setters before finding the dog and made it public without ANY evidence the dog was the same dog purchased from the King's. 5. FDSB, banned the King's for 2 years, without any proof or following their own by-laws and also made that PUBLIC to personally HURT THEM. 6. FDSB, would not give the King's a hearing to appeal, in accordance with FDSB own by-laws. 7. FDSB owner and members, spread false statements about the King's and IPDBA registry, despite IPDBA not ever registering the dogs with the DNA problems or the imported dogs as 'Llewellins". 8. FDSB owner has worked to block recognition of IPDBA registered dogs, in other dog registries, again without ANY evidence, simply because IPDBA registered the King's dogs. BTW, IPDBA has registered the "Llewellin Setter" as a unique BREED, since 1996 and has BANNED many bloodlines for false registrations and known genetic inherited disorders, that are still being spread throughout FDSB's Llewellin Setters today!  9. I dare anyone to find one Llewellin Setter bred in the US without any of King's bred dogs in them. I also dare anyone to find anyone in FDSB breeding within a pure strain today, like the King's did for over 50+ years and we have for the last 25+. All FDSB Setters are now all crossed up strains and now full of genetic deformities, with NO line-breeding to check their bloodlines for them, or for any new mutations of them. The same reasons why so many breeds are suffering from years of out-crossing bloodlines within their breed today, spreading and introducing inherited mutations without any test breeding generation after generation. Picking a pup is like a roll of the dice now in FDSB. It's my opinion that the reasons are simple, FDSB has always been a FIELD TRAIL and PROFIT based registry, and NOT a BREEDERS base registry. FDSB continue to allow known false pedigreed dogs and dogs with known genetic disorders to be used within the Llewellin breed as well as other breeds.  A perfect example of this was there continued attempts of removing the Llewellin distinction for many years, because they were not attending FIELD TRIAL where FDSB made most of the MONEY. FDSB owner finally found away to make MONEY off the Llewellin's by forcing all breeder's to continue to parent DNA test each and EVERY pup/dog through them at twice the price it costs and also pushing out breeder's who did not attend FIELD TRIALS. FDSB PROFITS have soared the past 10 years within the Llewellin Setter breed in FDSB, yet IPDBA has NOT increased prices for over 25 years of it's founding in 1996 and offered DNA testing info, micro-chip info, and tattoo equipment available directly at cost and without any profit to IPDBA.  IPDBA Litter Registration, Permanent Papers, and 5 generation Pedigree (at time of registration) are still ONLY $20. each. Yet, IPDBA breeder's get double what FDSB breeder's average for Llewellin Setters and many other breeds, simply because truly knowledgeable BREEDERS who want to raise the best, genetically sound, pups/dogs in the world, regardless the breed are registering their dogs with IPDBA exclusively.  They are SIMPLY THE BEST ANYWHERE! We deeply regret to have to report that our dear friend Alfred O. King Sr. passed away on October 14th, 2011. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him, both 2 and 4 legged family, friends, customers, and most of all the Llewellin Setter Breed. Al was one of a handful of true breeders who understood the art of breeding dogs. He is what I call a "purest breeder", one that learned all he could about, not only the BREED, but also about strain within their breed and kept them all as close to the original form as those who created them as possible. Our Friend Alfred O. King with "Hank" of "Hunting with Hank". We pray they are both together again and that it's the  Lord's will that we will all be together again. March 21, 1945 - October 14, 2011 Alfred was an "IPDBA Grand Master Breeder" and a living legend of our life-time who without a doubt had influenced the Llewellin Setter breed more than any other breeder in the world for the past 50+ years. Al loved the breed and he also loved people, giving the shirt off his back if someone asked. Without Al and wife Drenda, there would never of been "Hunting with Hank" or "Upland Days with Dash", because there would have been no "Hank" or "Dash" to make the great shows possible, nor the thousands other great pups and dogs that have been placed all around the world. It was these great dogs that brought the breeds popularity back to the top. In fact, pedigrees show that 99.9% of all Llewellin Setters in the US would not be here if not for Alfred O. King and his great breeding program. Not to mention Al's many fights with FDSB owner to keep the Llewellin Setters recognition in FDSB and having to pay the price for it. His King's Bomber's, King's Gladstone's, King's Roycelle's, King's Blizzards, IrishKings, ScottKings, BelgiumKings, and the many with Dashing Bondhu names, as well as the Russian Llewellin Setters, Russian Irish, Russian Gorden, that Al personally imported, are all here today because of Alfred O. King. They are all a testament of over 50 years of his and Drenda's passion and die hard dedication to the Llewellin Setter and in keeping all their bloodlines separate and each line as pure as could be. Alfred will leave his personal mark on 99% of EVERY Llewellin Setter in the breed for now and ever.  Even if there is 1%, they will never survive without the King's influence and sacrifice.  The fact is, that it would be impossible to find any quality, genetically sound Llewellin Setter breeding program today that was not owned by the King's who, produced, or had a major hand in their dogs. If all the Llewellin Setter's were removed that the King's had anything to do with, there would be NOTHING LEFT!! In fact, just like with William Humphrey, the large majority of the greatest Llewellin Setter breeder's of our time had entrusted Alfred O. King Sr. with their personal strains on their passing and he was the only breeder who continued their breeding programs throughout these many years. Marie and I have been truly blessed to have known the King's who have not only sold us the best bird dogs in the world but have been the best of  friends for a very long time and have entrusted us with their amazing Dashing Bondhu bloodlines for us to continue. In Fact, They offered us all their Llewellin Setters, all the Russian, all the American bloodlines and all the Dashing Bondhu bloodlines, but we felt it would be best if several people had them. I would like to tell a story about the kind of person Al King was. When we purchased our first Llewellin Setters from him in 1996, we had told a good friend of ours in Macon, Georgia about how amazing the dogs and the King's were. My good friend Carl McDaniel who was in his 80's who had just lost his daughter who was beaten to death by her husband and not only having to grieve for her loss and the long trial, he and his wife also in her 80's were left to raise his two grandsons without much income but SS. In fact, Carl also had health issues, so his wife also in her 80's had to go out to work some just to make ends meet.  Carl called Al to tell him how I had complimented his program and hospitality while I visited with the King's and he told Al if things were different he would love to own one of his great Llewellin Setters.  About a week later Al called Carl out of the blue and told him that he had shipped him a Llewellin Setter pup and had paid all the shipping and that all Carl needed to do was to go to the GA airport and pick him up. I had never seen a more great full family. The grandsons where just old enough to start hunting that fall, so it was just what Carl and the boys needed to pick them up during a very hard time in their life. I would never of known this except Carl told me. It was also one of Al's best bred pups and was not a runt or left over. I never heard Al boast about anything he did, only God knows what he did for thousands of people over all his years. I know Al loved people just about as much as he loved Llewellin Setters. I am proud to call Al my very good, best of friends. If anyone thinks Al would have done anything unethical, do not know him as we did for nearly 18 years. We went down to GA that fall and brought our Blaze female with us and the two dogs were just 100% natural and did an awesome job hunting those smart wild Georgia quail. Carl and Al never met before their passing, so I am sure they are now enjoying each others company. I could go on and on, about things Al did for his fellow man, but he was NEVER into breeding his Llewellin Setters for profit. Like us it was more important to bring happiness to everyone that gets one. He could have sued or got back at some of those who crossed him, but left those things for the Lord to judge. I only wish I can handle myself with the same grace as he did under very unfair treatment. Instead of being awarded for all he did to preserve and save all the strains of Llewellin Setters, he was stabbed in the back, because people were jealous of his great success and huge following of happy customers. May God bless his sole and may he rest in peace and may the Lord Jesus Christ be with his family and many close friends around the world as they deal with the heavy loss of this great breeder, person, christian, husband, father, grand father, and great friend!  Obituary  Alfred O. King, Sr. March 21, 1945 - October 14, 2011 Alfred O. King, Sr., 66 of Enola passed away, Friday, October 14, 2011. Born in Cotton Plant, AR, he was a son to the late Paul David and Ona Virginia (Jones) King. Alfred was a loving husband, father, grandfather and uncle, he was a member of Needs Creek Baptist Church. Mr. King was the founder of the Llewellin Setter Association, a foremost breeder of Llewellin Setters, the author of The Origin and History of the Llewellin Setter, and an avid bird hunter. He was also the owner operator of Junker's Paradise and will be remembered as always having a smile for everyone he met. He was preceded in death by his previously mentioned parents and two brothers LeRoy and Luther King. Survivors include his wife of forty eight years, Drenda (Loftin) King; sons, Alfred O'Neal King, Jr. of Melbourne, AR and Bill King and wife Kim of Greenbrier; daughter-in-law Shiela King of Greenbrier; grandsons: Kent, Paul, Brandon, Eli and Logan King; brothers, Calvin King of Cotton Plant and David King of Maumelle; grand niece, Krissy King Lewis of Greenbrier and a host of nephews, nieces and friends. Services were held at 10:00 am, Tuesday, October 18, at Needs Creek Baptist Church in Greenbrier, with Bro. Myron Milholland officiating. Interment took place at 3:00 pm, Cotton Plant Cemetery in Cotton Plant, AR. Visitation were held from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, on Monday, October 17, at Roller McNutt Funeral Home in Greenbrier.  Our Special Thank You to  Al & Drenda King of  King Llewellin Kennel! For helping in saving the Llewellin Setter breed from extinction when no one wanted a pup unless it was out of the big running Field Trail Champion and for preserving these and almost all other Llewellin Setter bloodlines in their original pure forms. NO ONE has done more to preserve the Llewellin Setters as foot hunting and companion dogs in America than the King's and no one has been more entrusted with those who developed the strains with their dogs than King Llewellin Kennel has. It is amazing to me how so many breeders can forget those responsible for saving the Llewellin Setter breed now that they are once again highly popular. Al and Drenda, are truly the King's of the Llewellin Setter breed. If not for their dedication and many years of sacrifices in preserving each Llewellin line in their original pure form, no one would had the pure Llewellin Setter gene pools we see today and it would be impossible for anyone to maintain a genetically healthy pure Llewellin Setter Kennel today. It is unfortunate that there are always people who have to put other breeder's down in order to make themselves feel important. These hypocrites will slander breeder's while continuing to use dogs in their own breeding programs that would not even be here if not for the person they are slandering. I guess there should be no surprise since the same exact thing was done to Mr. Llewellin and many other outstanding dog breeders throughout history especially within FDSB. The facts are, it would be next to impossible to find any quality, genetically sound Llewellin Setter pedigrees that did not have dogs that the King's had bred, produced, or had a hand in. I am sorry to say, that if all the Llewellin Setter's were removed that the King's had anything to do with, there would be NOTHING LEFT!! In fact, just like with Humphrey, the largest majority of great Llewellin Setter breeder's of our time have entrusted Al & Drenda King with their dogs on their passing. It is also sad that a registry dictated by one owner who has always wanted to end the Llewellin breed's existence would harass a kennel to leave their registry for years and then when they do, they attempt to hurt them personally by banning them from registration after they had already left them for another registry. Not only that, but said they were banned for two years (2002 &2003), but still say they are banned today, when they have chosen not to return to there dictatorship.  I personally believe it's a free country and with today's technical advances there are registries designed to improve breeds through special registration requirements and  not just take people's money and just keep dog records. Everyone should be free to register their dogs with the registry of their choice, without being harassed for years and then slandered for leaving for the rest of their lives and after. Without the King's there would never of been "Hunting with Hank" or "Upland Days with Dash", because there would be no great "Hank" or "Dash" to make the great shows nor the many other great dogs that have brought the breeds popularity back to the top. In fact, today's pedigrees show that 99% of all Llewellin Setters in the US would not be here if not for the King's. Their King's Bomber's, King's Gladstone's, King's Roycelle's, King's Blizzards, IrishKings, ScottKings, BelgiumKings, Dashing Bondhu's, and generation of many more are a huge testament to their love and over 50 years of dedication to the Llewellin Setter breed and in keeping their bloodlines separate and pure as they came to them, leaving their mark on the breed forever. Marie and I have personally known Al & Drenda for over 25 years, have been to their home and kennel numerous times, spending several hours and even days with them talking meticulously about each line and how hard they work to keep each line and each individual dogs unique genes preserved for the future of the breed and purest of pedigrees. No one has done more to keep their bloodlines PURE, never mind keeping their breed PURE. We have not found more honest, fair, understanding, and God fearing people. They are GOOD PEOPLE who love their Lord, family, and the Llewellin Setter breed and deserve ALL our gratitude for all they have and continue to do for the Llewellin Setter breed!   Friends, Marie Bloodgood and Drenda King in 2008 Friends, Mike Bloodgood and Al King in 2008 Can you find the Llewellin pup in the picture? Dashing Bondhu Bell is there some where. Little did we know Al was going to be gone in just 2.5 years later.  Books & DVDs Highly Recommended by Mountain View Kennel, LLC. The Setter (Paper Back) The major factor to the historical importance of this book, subtitled "Notices of the Most Eminent Breeds Now Extant....." is: His was the first documentation of Setter Breeds in existence at the same time of their existence. He lists Histories, Owners, Characteristics, Colors, and other pertinent information. This book was written before the existence of any Kennel Club. The information in his book was used as the basis for the first Kennel Club Records. As noted in the Cover Story for the June, 1995 issue of the "The Llewellin Association Journal" Mr. Laverack was a dedicated breeder who studied and based his breed on the most perfect and longest existing line of Setters to be found. His was the only strain he termed the English Setter and was later termed the Laverack Setter. The Laverack blood was the foundation of the Llewellin Setter. King Publishing, Inc. offers the reprint of this book per the volume of requests. They had acquired some of the 1945 reprints through our Antique business which sold out very quickly. We have made every effort to hold the price to an affordable range. Price: $20.00 Postage: $2.00 or FREE with the order of The Llewellin Setter. Click on the link to place your order today or call 501-849-3383 e-mail: kingllewellin1@windstream.net http://llewellin.com/dev/?q=node/17 The Llewellin Setter: Origin & Historical Development (Hard cover) 20th Anniversary Commemorative Edition By Alfred O. King, Sr. This is the first book to be written strictly on the Llewellin Setter and their fascinating development from the first pointing breeds. This book covers the development of the Llewellin from the 1500's to the 1900's. The information is derived from material acquired from the first half of the 20th century. Over 75% of the documentary is made up of direct quotes taken from old writings from 1570 to 1930. Many of these direct quotes contradict another on a given subject. Who is to know at this time which was correct? By entering all references to each subject, you as a reader are allowed to form your own conclusion. I present my own opinion and conclusion as you are welcome to yours. This special commemorative printing includes photos and 35 pages about Alfred O. King, Sr. Written by Alfred O. King Sr. of KING LLEWELLIN SETTERS, P.O. Drawer 100, Enola, AR 72047-0100 Hardback = $55.00 includes USPS Priority Mail within the US. Foreign postage will be invoiced separately. Sorry, paperbacks no longer available. Click on the PayPal link to place your order today or call 501-849-3383 e-mail: kingllewellin1@windstream.net http://llewellin.com/dev/?q=node/16 Hunting with Hank Book Hard Cover Available at Amazon for $29.95 Click on image for link. DVDs See pure "Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setters" and an ancestor of our Setters in action. "Hunting With Hank" Episodes. Click on image for Amazon link! All Episodes of Season 1  $24.95 All Episodes of Season 2  $24.95 All Episodes of Season 3  $49.95 All Episodes of Season 4  $49.95 All Episodes of Season 5  $49.95 All Episodes of Season 6  $49.95 DVDs "Dash in the Uplands" pure "Dashing Bondhu Llewellin Setter" and another ancestor in many of our Setters. Click on image to Amazon Link! All Episodes of Season 1  $49.95 All Episodes of Season 2  $49.95 All Episodes of  Season 3  $49.95 Misleading websites Unfortunately, jealousy and politics always seems to plague great dogs and their breeder's. There seems to be a personal vendetta against the King's, our kennel and IPDBA on some Llewellin websites, especially by "Ernie Hardman" who was hired by the King's many years ago and fired for being dishonest about his past experience. He has since built a website presenting himself as an authority on the Llewellin Setter breed and has used the web-site and message boards with others to bash the King's and spread untruths about them, the Llewellin breed, and even IPDBA even after being contacted with the facts and sent a cease and disease letter from the IPDBA's attorney.  Hardman's website now is trying to change history by claiming that Mr. Llewellin did not develop the Dashing Bondhu bloodlines on his website stating. "Mr. Humphrey not Mr. Llewellin developed the modern Dashing Bondhu. Mr. Humphrey developed the Dashing Bondhu line by crossing the Mr. Law Turner's mostly Laverack dogs with Mr. Hartley's dogs and Mr. Llewellin's Wind'ems. " All anyone, would simply just have to do, is read Mr. Humphrey's Manuscript to know this statement is a complete falsehood. Mr. Llewellin purchased FdCh.Ch. Armstrong's Dash II and bred them to Laveracks last great  FdCh.Ch. females and started naming all his offspring "Dashing"  and when he was bred to FdCh.Ch. Laverack's Countess Bear, they produced "FdCh.Ch. Dashing Bondhu", the most winning Setter since his sire had won every field trail entered and Mr. Llewellin started naming all  offspring from Countess females with Dash II as "Dashing something Bondhu" as their name. Even if you don't count the three years of breeding Laverack's Setters and selecting those bloodlines like "Dan", he bred FdCh.Ch. Armstrong's Dash II bloodlines from 1878 up until his death in 1925, a total of 47 years and making dozens of dual Field Champions and show Champions with them. Since it was 47 years of the Dashing Bondhu bloodlines were fully developed before Mr. Humphrey inherited all of Mr. Llewellin's "Dashing Bondhu" Setters. By the way Mr. Humphrey's Manuscript states that he also inherited pure "Dashing Bondhu" Setters from Mr. Law Turner and Mr. Hartley, all originating from Mr. Llewellin's kennel. All Dashing Bondhu's are of mostly Laverack blood, so stating that Mr. Law Turner's and Mr. Hertley's dogs were mostly Laverack is meaningless. They were outstanding dogs and all men deserve credit for keeping the bloodline pure, but to say they developed them is simply giving them much more credit than they deserve nor would accept according to Humphrey's own Manuscript. All three breeder's like Sir Llewellin were men of the highest integrity and would have never of accepted credit for them. Sadly, integrity seems to be in short supply today. In ALL of Mr. Humphrey writings including his manuscript, he ALWAYS gave FULL credit for the "Dashing Bondhu" Setters development to Sir. Richard Llewellin and ONLY to Sir. Richard Llewellin. Llewellin named his dogs "Dashing"and "Bondhu" 47 years before Mr. Humphrey inherited them from him. In fact, Mr. Humphrey was a small child when the dogs were first created. In Humphrey's own words at the time, quote he had sold all his Setters he owned to "following in Llewellin's foot steps in every way possible". Some may say Mr. Humphrey continued to improve the "Dashing Bondhu" bloodline, but that could be said about anyone who produces great "Dashing Bondhu" pups in the past 50 plus years since Mr. Humphrey's passing, but NO WAY can ANYONE get away with saying Mr. Llewellin didn't develop the "Dashing Bondhu" bloodlines that we have today and there is no way to prove if any improvement were made, since they were the WORLD'S BEST Setters when Sir. Richard Llewellin owned them for 47 years, with Humphrey for 38 years, with Fr. Brannon, Dr. Stephenson and the Kings for 30+ years and at Mountain View Kennel, LLC. since 1996. Just check out our "Testimonial"webpage. I cannot say there are not good dogs of other strains or even breeds, but I will say I have yet to see ANY better in general as the pure Dashing Bondhu strain of Llewellin Setters and have owned, bred, trained and/or hunted with EVERY bird dog breed and strain of Llewellin Setters in the USA. Since Mr. Hardman continues to knowingly post misinformation on his website, even after being notified of his mistakes, I would like to go on the record.  IPDBA stands for the International Progressive Dog Breeders "ALLIANCE" and NOT ASSOCIATION, as stated on Mr. Hardman's website. Also, Mr. Hardman likes to insinuate that IPDBA was formed for breeder's to avoid DNA Testing, but the TRUTH is IPDBA was founded in 1996, by 11 tree dog breeders, not even for the Llewellin Setter breed and was founded about 5 years before FDSB even started DNA testing any dogs parents. When we were able to get the Llewellin Setter BREED recognized in IPDBA as a fully recognized BREED and NOT just a strain in FDSB. This was ALL done many years before DNA was even done by FDSB and was done because of what FDSB was allowing having many false papered Setters. Just because Mr. Hardman and many of those FDSB breeders were left out of the loop for good reason and never invited to register their dogs with IPDBA and not heard of by them until many years later, does not mean IPDBA did not already exist. Mr. Hardman likes to ASSUME a LOT and we all know of what happens when someone ASSUMES things they know NOTHING about. People who ASSUME the worst about something shows they are NOT being honest and have a special agenda.  IPDBA only contacted the most reputable breeders of the highest standards of each breed to register their dogs with them and does not want unethical breeders or dogs known with genetic disorders and false registrations in their registry. IPDBA has never wanted to be the largest dog registry, or profit from DNA testing, they just want to have the best dogs of every breed registered in it. In fact, Mountain View Kennel, LLC. was the first Llewellin Setter Kennel to register their Llewellin Setters with IPDBA in 1996. I had contacted Al King in 1996 to register their setters with IPDBA and he later told me he had wished he did. It was IPDBA not FDSB who required 3 color photos, micro-chip, tattoo, and diagram of markings for over 5 years while FDSB continued to let all breeders' hand write each puppy application to register, without any litter registration requirements. FDSB has over 100 years of poor registration policies. Like most reputable registries, IPDBA has always required litter registration, recording the litter date, sire & dam, number of male and female pups and the color and markings of each of those pups. All pups must be micro-chipped, tattooed, and 3 color photos record each and every pup/dog before they can be permanently registered. Misleading Llewellin Photos We not only see much misinformation on prominent websites, including Llewellin and English Setter websites, we have see many photos misrepresented as well. Some may be trying to mislead, but some are just copying misinformation onto their websites from others. We will add photos as we find them in an effort to correct so much misinformation on the internet. These photos are used here only to correct misinformation and to give the copyrights that belong to the original artist or photographer. This is one of the most misrepresented prints being misused on many prominent Llewellin Setter websites and pedigree data bases on the internet today. Many websites have the photo used to represent Dash II (Laverack's) without the original caption.  This is a copy of the original print done in 1887 with the original caption stating his Kennel Club registration number and his parents who were Blue Prince (Laverack) and Armstrong's Kate making the photo of Dash II (Armstrong's), known in today's pedigrees as Fd.Ch. Ch. Armstrong's Dash II, who was purchased by Sir. Richard Llewellin for the highest price ever paid for a Setter at that time, who bred to his Fd.Ch.Ch. Countess Bear (Laverack's/Llewellin's) the sire of the great Fd. Ch. Ch. Dashing Bondhu (Llewellin's) the name sake of all pure Dashing Bondhu bloodline today.  Below is his pedigree, note his registration number and also the registration number and name of Old Kate's sire Dash II (laverack's).  Some names have been changed in pedigrees of today to help distinguish the old dogs in pedigrees, who originally did not have their breeder's name. Dash was one of the most common Setters names of that time, so one must be careful when representing which dog you are talking about. True Llewellin Setters Also, we see people now who are making FALSE claims to MISLEAD the public, by making totally false statements about what a "true Llewellin Setter must be registered with a certain registry". To think these people are actually allowed to breed dogs and tell such ridiculous LIES. Are they just that dumb, or pushing an agenda, or are they simply that unethical? Either way, how can they be trusted with breeding dogs?? What is wrong with getting your facts straight and telling the truth??? Just like with ANY other BREED of dog, Llewellin Setters can be registered with MANY REGISTRIES that a person likes that recognizes them. The fact is, that Llewellin Setters have always been registered in other registries instead of FDSB (American Field), in fact, the FIRST  ancestors were all registered in the first registry in England known as the Kennel Club 'KC', long before AKC or FDSB even existed and were and are registered in a number of other  registries in the USA, Canada, Europe and around the world today. So claiming that "one must be registered in one registry over an other has no merit and is simply a joke. In fact, FDSB does not even fully recognize them as a "breed" and the facts are the owner of FDSB has done everything in his power to eliminate their recognition separating them from the English Setter breed. They are still only recognized within the English Setter breed in their registry as a strain of English Setters. Maybe now that they are making so much money DNAing them now they will stop trying to eliminate them, BUT THE TRUTH IS, FDSB  IS CURRENTLY REGISTERING DOGS THAT ARE BANNED BY NLSA & IPDBA FOR HAVING FALSE PEDIGREES!!!  How pompous for someone to proclaim that their personal registry of choice, is the "only true Llewellin Setter Registry" , especially when FDSB does not even recognized the Llewellin Setter as a BREED, only as a STRAIN of the ENGLISH SETTER. While IPDBA and some other registries FULLY recognize them as a UNIQUE BREED, known as a "LLEWELLIN SETTER" and have had the highest registration policies, while FDSB allowed breeder's to fill out litter apps for each pup without ever registering their litters. This policy a lone resulted in countless English Setter pups and who knows what else, being false registered as them simply to double the value of their pups. The people who did this, thought people were stupid to not do it. FDSB admitted the problem and showed the world what they think of the Llewellin Setter breeder's, or why do they force EVERY FDSB BREEDER to DNA verify each and every pup they produce to be out the the parents on their papers. Because it is the ONLY way they can keep them from CHEATING! The NATIONAL LLEWELLIN SETTER ASSOCIATION 'NLSA', is the first USA and the oldest LLewellin Setter organization in history and recognizes IPDBA as the "Llewellin Setter registry", because IPDBA recognizes the LLEWELLIN SETTER as a TRUE BREED and FDSB does NOT and HAS allowed people to register them as English Setters, thousands of times, loosing thousands of genetics, never to return. One of the funny things they did was to allow those who did not want to spend hundreds of dollars to register a Llewellin Setter litter, was to let everyone have the option to just register their Llewellins as English Setters without DNA parenting. If the dogs pedigrees are fraudulent, then how can they allow them to be register as English Setters?? Do they think so little of the English Setter breed that it does not matter if they have false parents. What does it say about the FDSB English Setter breeder's in their registry. Basically, it's OK to false paper your pups, just not as Llewellin Setters today, but who cares if your dogs grand parents and farther back don't match. Countless Llewellin Setters were registered as English Setters, to avoid the DNA requirement. Many were pure, so their gene pool was lost, for no good reason. Why should FDSB charge twice as much as DNA testing cost? That's Right, they charge their breeder's double what the testing costs them and do not allow them to get DNA testing done unless through them. Does that sound like FDSB trusts them, or is FDSB just interested in making the profits. In stead of making just a litter registration, they now make hundreds of dollars for each litter. Also, it might be helpful to note that IPDBA does not register the many Llewellin Setters that have been "known to be fraudulent", those breeder's and bloodlines have ALL been BARED from IPDBA registration, but they are STILL breeding freely in FDSB Llewellin Setter breeding programs today and continue to be spread throughout the FDSB Llewellin Setter breed. I now see breeder's removing pedigrees with them from their websites, but still raising litters out of the dogs and selling them to unsuspecting buyers. Hay heck, they DNA verify all their pups now, what else do we expect them to do. How about removing those bloodlines from your program, like the King's did when they found out. So now the facts, we know FDSB has fraudulent Llewellin Setter and English Setter pedigrees and many questionable examples can be found in FDSB registered German Shorthair's with English Pointers. Can ANY FDSB pedigree be trusted today? Is it any wonder why IPDBA kennels get twice the average price for their pups and have the best guarantees found in the dog world or as FDSB kennels do?? As you can see from reading their website, Mike & Marie are very experienced, well educated, dedicated, faithful breeders, who put their all in their breeding program. They have been given the highest breeder awards by their peer's and  believe in having the highest breeding standards, breeding only the purest bloodlines, genetically clean, testing every dog before selecting only the very best, and taking full responsibility by having the best guarantee offered in the World. The same guarantee they have had for over 47 years and will have until they retire from dog breeding. Bottom line, if they cannot give the guarantee on a pup, they won't sell them. Wikipedia Lies It seems that Wikipedia has removed the "Llewellin Setter" description which was posted there for many years, even though it is a recognized unique breed today in IPDBA. It looks like the English Setter people wanted the Llewellin description removed. They actually resorted to use an old quote from a unknown pompous self proclaimed USA expert/writer on bird dogs in a 1946 publication on English Setters, wrote that "he knew of no pure strains of Llewellin Setters left in the world", simply because he did not know of any dogs of pure bloodlines, he ASSUMES there were none left in the World and now Wikipedia is ASSUMING the same. Even over looking the 6 pure American strains, that were recognized at the time, the pure Dashing Bondhu's were not even in the USA yet, because they were being bred in the UK by Sir William Humphrey from 1925-1963 and imported to the USA until the mid-late 60's. Unfortunately, it appears the Wikipedia editor does not want to know these facts and has refused to give the Llewellin Setter any recognition. It is clear the editor is an English Setter supporter. That fact is that I personally traced all our Llewellin Setter pedigrees back to Sir. Richard Llewellin's personal kennel--. This is a perfect example how the English Setter people are working to discredit Llewellin breeder's and the breed's recognition. Since the King's were the largest Llewellin Setter breeder of pure bloodlines, they were the main targets of English Setter breeder's and Field Trailer's. Fraudulent Papers With the Llewellin Setter pups demanding 3-4 times what the average English Setter pup sells for, and FDSB having allowed breeders to hand write individual puppy papers without any litter  registration requirement for about 100 years, is there any wonder why FDSB could be the leader in fraudulent registration papers especially within the Llewellin Setter breed today. We know for a fact, several dogs with certain pedigrees have 1st, non-Llewellin Setters and 2nd have dogs with known genetic defects in FDSB today and NOTHING is being or has been done to fix it. Some of us have watched for many years, English Setter Kennels becoming Llewellin Setter Kennels virtually over night and German Shorthaired Pointers become almost all white with little ticking and have the famous English Pointer forehead in just a few years. You would think someone in FDSB  would care, but not when the main goal is to win big running trials judged on horse back. All the way up to the 2000's one could easily manufacture generations of old litter papers dating back many generations and years so that breeder's and the dogs were no longer a live to verify.  The fact is, nothing was in place to stop dog jockeys (dog dealers) from buying local litters of English Setters for $100-$200 a pup and resell them for $500 plus as Llewellin Setters. DNA parent testing today only proves who the parents of the dogs are today and nothing to do with their purity as a breed today. Maybe DNA parenting has put an end to switching papers for now on, but it will never unravel all the false papering that were done for the past 100 years without any checks and balances. The likelihood of the American bloodlines in many kennels in FDSB, were crossed with Field Trail English Setters or worse English Pointers or who knows what, is all but certain in the Field Trail circles. Thank God for Al & Drenda King who spared no expense or work to locate and maintain the largest Llewellin Setter Kennel since William Humphrey. They not only preserve the Dashing Bondhu bloodlines when they got them, but they kept All the American bloodlines pure for over 50 years and helped me to preserve the pure Humphrey strain for generations to come. This is why "Straight Creek" which includes some well know Field Trail Llewellin Setters today and many others using different named bloodlines are NOT allowed to be transferred from FDSB to IPDBA registry today. Since, they started with big running FDSB English Setters, is their any wonder that they so well in the Llewellin Setter trials, but have VERY questionable pedigrees as far as being accurate or pure "Llewellin Setters" and are banned from IPDBA registration even as an English Setter. Unlike, FDSB who has registered Setters of questionable pedigree as English Setters in the past, a false pedigree is a false pedigree regardless what breed and IPDBA will NOT register them at all. We actually read on some websites offering Llewellin Setters for sale, that their dogs have been DNA tested proving their dogs are "pure Llewellin Setters" or are actually the "purest Llewellin Setters". This would be funny if not so sad to think these people are actually breeding Llewellin Setters today and can make so outrageous statements when anyone with any sense or genetic knowledge would know that it would be IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to DNA test a pup all the way back to Mr. Llewellin's personal dogs, since they all have died and been gone for over 100 years. Let me make it clear, it is IMPOSSIBLE to tell by DNA testing the differences between the English Setter breed and a Llewellin Setter Breeds. It is probably impossible to even tell by DNA any of the Setter breeds from one another, because not only were all Setters one breed at one time, because Llewellin Setters bloodlines were used in the development of ALL the Setter breeds, long before they were separated as different breeds. A Setter was a Setter regardless of color in the 1800's. Setters have been sene in art works dating back to the 1500's and the Setters are the oldest pedigreed dogs in history. Always, keep in mind the FACT that DNA testing is only as honest and trusted as the person who takes the DNA sample and they are only testing the pup parents on the papers and not if they are genetically pure or clean. I'm not saying it a bad idea, just that it always boils down to the honesty of the breeder and those breeders before him, regardless and does not have anything to do with the authenticity of the pups pedigrees or the purity or quality of the parents bloodlines. Since FDSB has not remove the "Straight Creek" and other known false bloodlines despite many complaints filed against them with FDSB. Another red flag is that FDSB requires you DNA your dogs through them ONLY, so they can get profit from each test, by keeping 50% of fees for themselves. This shows the true intent is to make FDSB's owner more $$$ and has had little to do with how pure they are. The proof was when FDSB gave many people the option to just register their litters as English Setters to avoid the DNA requirement. Am I missing something? If the parents are in question, then why is it OK to register them as English Setters, but not as Llewellin Setters without DNA testing?? In fact, I think it is funny that FDSB said it was only going to require DNA parent testing for two years, but I guess they either continued to find non-matched parents in FDSB kennels or was it that they now have DNA parent testing on EVERY Llewellin pup produced to profit 50% of every pups DNA testing fee. If it not to profit, it must because they continue to find their breeders untrustworthy, so I really find it funny to see FDSB breeder's using the fact that they are not trusted to breed without proving the parents on every litter as a way to promote their dogs as purer. BTW, the test has NOTHING to do with purity, genetic health, being better bird dogs, family companions, or of better selection. It ONLY proves the parents on the papers are the parents of the pups in the litter. If a breeder is an honest breeder and cares about purity, the breeder will make sure the parents on the papers are correct. BTW, Mountain View Kennel has NEVER bought pups, dogs, or litters to resell, we only sell pups and dogs raised at our kennel. American & Russian Llewellin's It should be noted that though I am not a breeder of the early American Llewellin imports and the newer imported Russian Llewellin Setters,  preferring to own, hunt, and breed Mr. Llewellin's,  Mr. Humphrey's and Fr. Brannon's personal  pure Dashing Bondhu bloodlines only. I am not knocking those dedicated in breeding those other Llewellin bloodlines. In fact, I have owned and hunted almost all the Llewellin strains over the years and ALL made bird dogs, even better than most other pointing breeds I have trained or owned. It was our experience that the American Llewellins we tried needed more training and were a little head strong, compared to the pure Dashing Bondhu gentlemen type bird dogs that have a stronger willingness to please. We must all keep in mind that the selection was very different by America breeders as well as by the Russian breeders. Each line has their very own unique style, appearance, and temperament and is what makes them each a recognized unique line. Everyone has different tastes and ideas of what makes a good bird dog, 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 the Llewellin Setter an American breed and believe it or not, they even questioned if Mr. Llewellin's personal Dashing Bondhu line should be recognized as a Llewellin Setter or not? Fact, there is no doubt that Mr. Llewellin's early Setter's were superior to all other bird dogs right from the start, but it is important that the public know that the early imported Llewellin Setters, known as the American Llewellin strains were from his test breedings and not the same dogs he develop for years in his personal breeding program with and he continued to perfect his dogs all the way up until his passing in 1925. His personal Dashing Bondhu lines that he bred for 50 years, continued with Mr. Humphrey and Humphrey's grandson Chris Sorenson for 38+ years, and Father Bannon for 30 more years, and later with Al & Drenda King for another 40 plus years, and continued here at Mountain View Kennel since 1996. Because the "Russian Llewellin Setters" were bred so differently from all other "Llewellin Setter's", they were NEVER register as " Llewellin Setters" in IPDBA, but were recognized as their own unique breed in the International Progressive Dog Breeders' Alliance all breed registry as "Russian Llewellin Setters" bloodlines are not allowed in the "Llewellin Setter" breed. It's my true belief that FDSB approved several imported Setters as Llewellin Setters in the hopes that they would be cross bred with all the Llewellin Setters and then would be able to eliminate the Llewellin distinction.  This was done not only with the Russian, but with several others. This has also caused countless genes lost from the Llewellin Setter breed. Identification!      There are basically four mandatory forms of permanent identification being used in IPDBA Registered Llewellin Setters since 1996 and today.   Ink Tattoo Microchip 3 Color Photos Diagram drawing Micro chipping your Setter pups.      We recommend the new Pro-ID Mini Chips that you can purchase directly online at http://www.microchipidsystems.com/  and can be purchased by breeder's for as low as $7.00 each registered to you. All Breeder's should micro-chip their pups for identification. Don't let registries or vet's rob you or your customer's blind. Also, breeders should tattoo their pups as it is much easier and cheaper for a breeder to do this at five weeks old then for each buyer to find a vet to do it later.  The tattoo also protects the breeder from someone moving the microchip and putting it in another dog. Also, a small amount of microchips stop working for some reason, I had a friend who was accused that a dog was not out of the parents on the papers, but the dog had NO identification to prove the dog was the dog sold from his kennel. It caused a big uproar, but the dog never matched any of their dogs DNA, so you would think that everyone  would have accepted the fact that the dog DID NOT COME from their kennel and the papers were switched during the three transfers of the dog. Some continue to slandered them today, so cover your back, and tattoo and microchip every pup before they leave your place. Plus, you will save your customers expensive tattooing and chipping by their vet's and many vet's don't tattoo or if they do, they make them pay for anesthesia, we have seen a vet charge a customer over $300. to tattoo a dog. Attention Customer's (Subject Microchips)      All microchips that we provide are or have been registered to the International Progressive Dog Breeders' Alliance, 'IPDBA' dog registry. In the past, this has allowed us to rely on IPDBA to contact you if your pup/dog was lost and then found by animal shelters and vet clinics. It has now come to our attention that some shelters are not willing to contact the original registered owner or kennel of the microchip if the chip has not been registered to an individual dog and owner with a national online microchip registry. IPDBA will continue to contact dog owner's if they are contacted, but to make sure all shelters will contact you, we recommend that you also register your pups/dogs microchip for life for a one time low fee with the Microchip Registration Center at www.MicrochipRegistrationCenter.com  or call (800) 434-2843. Please add our Customer Provider Code # C14240 , so we can keep track of our pups registered within their system. This will assure you that your dog is registered for life on all three online national lists and will allow you to make your contact changes online without any additional charges.  Please note: We do not receive any discounts or proceeds for recommending the Microchip Registration Center. We do so because we have been pleased with their excellent service. Tattoo Equipment from Bass Supply Company      They have the perfect size tattooing equipment for young Setter pups. We tattoo and microchip all our Llewellin Setters at 5 weeks of age. We recommend the green roll-on ink that will make clear easy to read tattoo in a puppies ear that will grow with the dog but will still remain easy to read as an adult. Tattoo set is available online at www.bassequipment.com Also, if you have a pup that needs tattooing, you can purchase the kit and will have one if your raise a litter. If you just want to register your pup without breeding, you can just purchase the last three numbers of the dogs microchip number and some tattoo ink from them. That is what most IPDBA breeders do is tattoo the last three numbers of the microchip. Breeding Diversity! Why we keep all the many colors, patterns and amount of ticking we do in our program. It is very important that every possible gene be saved to maintain a healthy breeding program. With the King'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 which was touch and go for many years. When you consider how rare a pure Llewellin's Setter is, never mind the pure Dashing Bondhu bloodline are today, you know we need all the dogs we have. Llewellin and Humphrey were known to have 600+ dogs and the Kings maintained about 300 pure Dashing Bondhu's a lone at one time. So we are very small with having less than 30 breeding Setters 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 healthy number of diverse genes. 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 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. This is why a pure White Setter or all Belton bloodline has never been developed without having problems. If you breed two Beltons of the same color together over and over again for generations, you are just asking for problems.  If you ever see a kennel with all Chestnut Beltons, Orange Beltons, Blue Beltons, all white Setters in any one color, or pattern. Not to mention what happens when breeding for looks has always sacrifices their hunting abilities. I am afraid someone without real breeding knowledge will try to build a breeding program of dogs that look like a famous dog or all alike, so buyer be ware!! You may have to wait for a pup of a certain color, pattern, or amount of ticking, but you will know you are getting a genetically sound pup that is well worth the wait. Our Thought's on Field Trials! by Michael J. Bloodgood Though we had dominated every breed of dog we entered in Field Trails and Hunting events over the 48 years we have been breeding dogs and the Llewellin Setter had dominated the early foot hunting type Field Trails around the world for nearly a century, so much so that in my opinion, the FDSB rules had to be changed in America so the pointer could win, it is my opinion that all  Field Trails of today do not help in making a breed better for the foot or pleasure hunter at all. In fact, they have proven to do much harm to all  the hunting breeds, especially as family and hunting companion. The trails promote an independent, high stung, wide ranging, dogs, that require GPS tracking and electric shock collars to keep them under control. Do the math, even though less than 1% of all Llewellin Setters will ever be entered in a Field Trail, over 90% are puppies being produced by Field Trailers today, with Field Trailing in mind. These Kennels will still advertise and sell their pups as companion dogs and to foot hunters, when less than 20% will even make a fair companion dog and will not handle for the pleasure hunter and they have designed their guarantee so that it will not work, or they will make even more money training your dog. Just like Sir. William Humphrey, our goal at Mountain View Kennel, LLC. is to preserve Sir. Richard Llewellin's personal Dashing Bondhu bloodlines, just the way they were when Sir. Humphrey in inherited them from him (as stated in the "Humphrey Manuscripts"). The true Llewellin Setter was developed to be "Man's Best Friend", a Gentleman's ultimate companion and gun dog, that hunted for their master, not the other way around. While, Field Trail type dogs are bred for independents. We have Field Trailers asking us all the time for an independent pups or dogs, basically our culls, but we will never sell one with breeding rights if they are independent dogs. These are the type of Setters they want to breed. Examples of this can be easily found in all types of Field Trails. 1. The bird dog field trails caused them to run wide and wild with little regard of the hunter, requiring horses to keep up with them and tracking equipment to find them. Even the gun dog trails, have both hunters running after their dogs with loaded guns in hand and dogs running as fast as they can, to find and shoot as many birds as fast as they can. Many Grouse Trials are conducted using stocked quail, resulting in many Grouse Champions titles being awarded to dogs who never pointed a grouse in their lives, never mind in competition and would NEVER work close enough to hunt grouse anyway. This is not the way pleasure or foot hunter hunt, nor the way I want to hunt. Resulting in wide and deep ranging dogs passing over most cover until they run into a bird by mistake. Also, with FDSB now bowing to the animal rights groups banning all "shoot to kill trails", how can any dog be put to a true test? Not to mention having to force train them to do what they should have been bred to do in the first place. 2. The Beagle field trails, caused the dogs to become so slow on track barking 30 plus times on a single track before moving to the next track, that the track would turn too cold to run and they would lose the track before they could bring the rabbit around to the gun. These were known as Walkie Talkies by hunters and became totally worthless as hunting dogs. Also, now with the newer Gun Dog Beagle trials they have already gone to the other extreme and have them running too fast pushing 90% of the game to hole instead of bringing them around to the gun. Resulting in Beagles that don't know how to jump a rabbit on their own or having the sense to find a rabbit on their own. 3. The Tree hound Night hunts and even squirrel hunts, resulted in wide ranging dogs who disregard their owner's will and requiring expensive tracking collars to locate the dogs many miles from the hunter. Not to mention the need for shocking collars to shock their dogs for everything from trash running, tree fighting with each other, and even just to come when called. Hunter's spend more time hunting for their dogs, then hunting for game. Resulting in dogs that hunt straight out and deep, passing a lot of game until they run into one by mistake. The hound breeds have been so ruined that the cur breeds are now the coon and squirrel hunters first choice, but even some cur strains are already falling to the same demise from competition. I trained bird dogs professionally for the Field trails for a number of years through the mid 1970's and also bred, trained, and competed with field trail Beagles in the late 1970's and early 1980's and trained and competed with tree dogs for over 30 years and was very successful filling walls and boxes of hundreds of ribbons, plaques, and trophies. I have even judged all three types of trails and I finally realized that trails did little if anything in helping to develop the quality of the dogs for the real hunter. In fact, competition left it's mark on every dog that was entered in trails and it was not a positive mark. I also realized that with less than 1% of the worlds hunting dogs ever being entered in a Field Trail, it was very unlikely that any of the best dogs in the world would even attend, making the titles I received meaning very little. Needless to say, titles from these types of trials no longer mean much in the whole scheme of things and I believe do more harm to the dogs, to the breed, and sport then if they were only pleasure hunted their whole lives. Here is an example how many breeders breed today: Now we made Field Champion Super Duper that required so much force training and is completely a man made dog and would be worthless if not for skilled trainers, slick handler's, and the almighty shock and/tracking collars. He might have won everything under the sun, he has little chance of ever producing any natural pups, and most of his offspring will need the same force training, slick handler's, etc., as Super Duper did to make them a "Field Champion". But Look' Super Duper is a Field Champion and that title will sell puppies, so he will be studded to any female that will stand and produce hundreds of pups annually for his owner, making lots of money, until the public realizes what they have and the breeder needs to find a new Super Duper to start all over again. Even though many of his pups won't ever be worth a lick as natural hunting dogs, they too will be used as breeder's in kennels because they are out of  Field Ch. Super Duper. How many times have you heard a breeder say, "She is not a very good dog, but she is out of so and so"? Unfortunately, 90% of breeder's think this way and still think they are good dog breeder's and are some how helping the breed. Well, they are NOT! If a dog requires force training of any kind, the dog should NEVER be considered for Breeding PERIOD! Only the most NATURAL dogs with the high degree of NATURAL ability, should be even considered. A well bred dog will produce a high percentage of it's self! So if it requires shock collars, tracking equipment, force training, it will produce the same. The Bird dog world is full of breeder's breeding man made dogs, that are producing pups that will require the same. As a professional trainer, I trained a Beagle to point solid, retrieve to hand, and even back another dog on point. In fact she was easier to train then most of the high dollar pedigreed bird dogs we trained for clients back then. Once I realized that the jug heads that we trained were being used to win titles to stud kennels and sell high dollar puppies to the public, I quit professional training, because we could not take part in their farce. I find it interesting that most of the bird dog breeder's advertising today are also professional trainer's or are using or recommending professional trainer's on their websites. A good professional trainer can make a bird dog out of a dog from the dog pound. They will glad fully sell you a pup out of two un-natural bird dogs, so you will bring the pup back and pay them to train their dog. Hey, first you pay for the pup, then you pay them to train the pup, how great is that. How about breeding dogs that don't require professional training, you might have to pay a little more for the pup, but in the long run, how much will you save and how better off will the pup, breed, and world will be. How many natural bird dogs will require rescue or adoption? I'd say none! As a Grand Master Breeder, and 48 years of breeding dogs, we have never heard of one of our pups ending up in a shelter. There are two reasons for it, first we produce the most NATURAL and SENSIBLE  pups genetically possible and the second is our LIFE-TIME SATISFACTION GUARANTEE!  Al King told me he went to the first three Llewellin Setter trails, the 1st trail they walked and foot hunted their dogs like a family hunting together, a dream Al had for many years, but the 2nd trail, Al noticed many running to get an edge on the other guy, and by the 3rd trial, the judges were put on horse back and those in charge of having the trial at Straight Creek Kennel wanted the trails conducted just the same as any other big running FDSB trails, except with the breeds as competition. They were catering to the independent, hyper, wide ranging dogs, especially the false registered Straight Creek (big running English Setters false registered as Llewellin's) dogs. Al told me it was his dream to bring all owners of Llewellin Setter, together as one big family for Christian fellowship and was why he help start the National Llewellin Setter Association, but his dream was all destroyed by the third trail. When Al and some others tried to protest, they simply started their own organization to push the Llewellin Setters into big running Field Trails. Their founding members proclaimed their dream was to make a Llewellin Setter a FDSB National Champion. Not a dream of Al's or mine. In fact, it was Al who preserve the Llewellin Setter as a Foot Hunting Gun Dog and not let them be turned into just another bunch Field Trail dogs. Is there not enough breeds ruined for Field Trails. The last thing I would EVER want is to see one become a FDSB National Champion, but there are many who are trying to do just that. Warning! (Things to be aware of) Beware of some dog trainers who sell puppies, especially with several breeds. It's my opinion that many dog trainers who sells pups do so, so you will end up paying them to train them later. Their incentive is to produce an un-natural pup, so you will not be able to train them without their professional help. If the pups were naturals, a trainer could make more money keeping them and training them and selling them as trained bird dogs. So if you are looking for a natural bird dog that you can easily train yourself, then look for breeder's who guarantee your satisfaction that their dogs will make a "natural bird dog". The worst case scenario, you may need to get them trained, but at least you have a high chance of getting a natural. Any dog that required professional training, should NEVER be used for breeding. Also, be aware of gimmicks. We have been in the dog world for 48 plus years now and have seen just about every gimmick. Remember wording matters. Look out for 30, 60, or 90 day Guarantees. These kinds of guarantees are designed to run out before you know if your dog will make a bird dog or just before a known problem shows up. Believe me they know their dogs and have adjusted their guarantee to prevent returns, instead of breeding them to be better.  Beware of one year guarantees as most of the worse genetic problems won't even be seen for many years later. Inherited genetic Hip problems are usually not found until  2 years old and HCM genetic heart disorders are usually found 4-8 years later. Also many strains are prone to Cancer at an early age of 2-4 years old. All these problems common in many kennels would not be known at 1 year of age. Now I am not saying our dogs cannot get cancer, but we have NEVER had a case of cancer under 10 years of age in any dog. Also, even a one year satisfaction guarantee would not likely be long enough for someone to give up on their dog as a bird dog. I have seen Llewellin kennels giving 90 day satisfaction and one year genetic guarantees. Let's see, you have 90 days to see if your pup will make a bird dog and you have one year to find out if your pup has HCM, hip disorders, early cancer, etc., etc. which cannot be detected that young. So basically, they are covering if you like your puppy for 90 days and nothing else. Your pup could not make a bird dog, pay him thousand of dollars for training, then have hip disorders at 2, early cancer at 4, HCM at 5, and you are out of luck. At Mountain View Kennel, we stand behind every pup for it's Life-Time with a Life-Time 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. We would not do that if we did not have 100% faith in our breeding program and on the remote chance of a birth defect causing an illness or one not making a bird dog, we fully guarantee it. We have actually heard breeders say that our guarantees are "to good to be true", so don't buy from them. Using that logic, would mean that if we had a worse guarantee, then we are OK. We will be happy to provide you with a worse guarantee if you like :) Here is a funny story, we were writing a monthly column in a national hunting dog magazine back in the early 90's on dog breeding and genetics and we mentioned that at the time we had a 98% satisfaction rate. It made one other column writer so mad that to get back at me, he stated in his next month's column that he would be happy if he got 50% satisfaction. Needless to say, his jealousy made him slip up and tell the truth about his breeding program and now everyone knew why he did not have the same guarantee. All kidding a side, nothing is perfect in life and a non-inherited birth defect is possible. Geneticist say we must allow as much as 5% birth defects before we can consider any as inherited, but since we have less than 1% total since 1996, we can rest assure we have no inherited disorders in our current breeding program, but we provide a Life-Time Satisfaction Replacement Guarantee and mean it! Gun Dog Certification! Now, certification is a bird of a different color, please excuse the pun :) The International Progressive Dog Breeders' Alliance 'IPDBA' has had a certification program for many hunting breeds since 1996 and the Certification program has proven to work  exceptionally well, eliminating the jealousy between owners, all the politics, and all of the usual problems associated with competition events, except a sure unbiased way to prove to the public your dogs are proven hunting dogs. Gun Dog Certification assures the buyer that the breeder is testing and proving each dog in their kennel. Not breeding just on a dogs bloodline or because it is out of Ole' Super Duper, but because the dogs are of a high standards and a proven hunter. With Gun Dog Certification, it does not matter who you are, who you know, where you live, style of the dog you hunt, the quantity of game in your area, or the type of upland birds you hunt. It is very affordable and does not require the time it takes to campaign a dog nationally. This also makes it's benefits available to all dog owner's around the world, instead of just being available to roughly 1-2% of larger wealthier kennel owners who usually pay handlers and professional trainers to attend competition events weekly and live where many Field trails are held. It also eliminates your dog exposure to strange dogs, that might fight, growl, or even pass on diseases, professional and slick handlers winning the dogs titles, instead of being based completely on the dogs ability. It's really very simple, all pointing breeds are required to send a clear un-edited video MPG or DVD copy showing the dog search (hunt), holding point, being shot over and retrieving to hand, and backing (honoring another pointing dog) with only a $30 inspection fee. Gun Dog Certification is a way to prove each individual dog has the instinct and abilities of a Gun Dog to pass it on to their offspring. It is easy to know which dogs are Gun Dog Certified by their IPDBA titles "GDC" and being highlighted in red by simply looking at an IPDBA pedigree. Eventually, it will be easy to see which kennels are simply puppy mills, pumping as many puppies out as possible, from those kennels that are serious in improving and preserving their breeds natural hunting abilities, intelligence, and train-ability. In fact, kennel's who breed natural easy trainable dogs will easily certify their dogs, but those kennels who breed dogs that must be force trained generation after generation are not likely to do Gun Dog Certification. In fact they are less likely to even register their dogs with IPDBA so they don't look like the only ones who are not certifying their dogs. Even if you are just seeking a family companion, Gun Dog Certifications assures you that the pups parents are handled and  hunted and have the ability, intelligence, temperament, and train-ability consistent with the breeds reputation. Not just someone's unwanted dogs found in the local newspaper because of poor house training or temperament problems and living their lives in a puppy factory/mill. Believe me that is where the puppy mills find their cheap breeding stock, sold in local newspapers because they can't be house trained or have a bad temperament but can produce registered puppies. Also, keep an eye out for puppies that are advertised as Continental Kennel Club 'CKC' registered. It is my opinion that CKC is a catch all registry with the lowest registration requirements and it's my opinion that they will register anything with four legs, even if it is a cross breed. They should never be confused with the Canadian Kennel Club, aka CKC who are a well respected registry around the world. Don't get me wrong, not every dog that is Gun Dog Certified should be used for breeding, a breeder still needs to only breed the very best of the best by only selecting the most natural and intelligent dogs of the best breedings. The only way a breeder can do that is to personally raise and train each and ever pup themselves and evaluate each ones progress as an individual. Well bred dogs, especially a genetic dominant dog will reproduce their kind and if they are duds, then duds are what they will produce, but if they are outstanding "Natural" dogs of excellent temperament, then that is what they will produce. So testing and evaluating each and every dog is a MUST! The only exception I can see is if the only dogs available out of a certain pedigree are dogs that never been hunted and are too old to train. But care MUST be taken to make SURE the pups out of them are as HIGH QUALITY as those who are out of tested and certified dog's. If they are not, completely remove that dog's line from you breeding program. Anything, that is not a step forward, should not be continued. International Progressive Dog Breeders’ Alliance Requirements for Gun Dog Certification The International Progressive Dog Breeders’ Alliance has set up a Gun Dog Certification system for various sporting dog breeds. The owner must supply a VHS or DVD formatted video of the dog meeting the following requirements with a copy of the dog's IPDBA registration papers to IPDBA Office for inspection with $25 non-refundable inspection fee (price subject to change).  Pointing Breed Requirements: Basic Requirements are Searching, Pointing, Retrieving without other dogs, and then Backing (honoring another pointing dog). Video footage must show  1. The dog by their self coursing (working the field) in search of live game bird/s without other dogs. 2. Dog must then locate live game bird/s by pointing them and holding point on their own until bird/s are flushed by handler or hunter without any verbal instruction like hold, whoa, or any other.  3. The video must also show handler or a hunter shooting at least one game bird over the same dog by their self and the same dog retrieving fallen game bird to handler or hunter's “hand” (drops will not pass inspection unless dog picks up bird and delivers it to the hand without any aid from handler or hunter). Dog may be called during retrieve. 4. The video must also show footage of same dog backing (honoring point) of another pointing dog or a silhouette cut out of a dog pointing on a live bird, until bird/s is flushed.  5. These actions may be recorded consecutively or separately in sections in the video, but each requirement must be clearly shown at least one time in a section of video and no section may be edited.  Dog must NOT be wearing any electrical training devices like electronic shock, tracking, or beeping collars and must not have any restraints such as leashes or check cords on them while in the field, only regular dog collar with name plate or tag are allowed. No other dogs may be in field while dog is shown searching, pointing, or retrieving and only one other dog may be in field while showing dog backing (honoring point).  If approved, a Certificate of Accomplishment will be sent to dog's owner and dog will receive the title of Gun Dog Certified and title letters ‘GDC’ will be added to IPDBA data base in front of dog's name and the GDC title will be recorded on all future pedigrees with their name highlighted in red. Please note that VHS/DVD sent to IPDBA will not be returned and all video footage and copyrights will become the property of IPDBA. Video will be kept for proof of Gun Dog Certification and IPDBA will have all rights to show, sell, advertise, use, or profit from the complete or portions of the video without compensation to the applicant.  Mountain View Kennel and Gun Dog Certification! Mountain View Kennel is the FIRST bird dog Kennel to pledged to breed IPDBA "Gun Dog Certified" dogs in their breeding program, meaning a dog must first be inspected and certified on upland game birds to search (hunt), point, steady when shot over, retrieve to hand, and back (honor) another dog. This assures all our customers that the pups both parents are "Gun Dog Certified" are not just brood females bred just to sell puppies. Also, please note that NOT every Gun Dog Certified dog should be used for breeding, because they were simply not "Naturals" or not good enough. Only the best, most natural, pure Dashing Bondhu Setters with a very strong willingness to please their master will ever be used in our breeding program, assuring our customer's the same quality of gun dogs we own and raise generation after generation. The only exception will be if we purchase an older untrained dog of exceptional breeding that had not been hunted. Of course they will not be advertised as being Gun Dog Certified and only would be considered if there were no trained dogs were available with the same bloodlines. Fortunately, ever pure Dashing Bondhu Setter we purchased even as old as six years old that were not trained, turned out to be so natural that they ended up making excellent bird dogs naturally and were Gun Dog Certified to date. To learn more about IPDBA and it's Gun Dog Certification program, please follow the link to Llewellin Setter Registration below. Please Note! In 1996, the "Llewellin Setters" and the "Russian Llewellin Setters" were finally totally recognized and registered as completely unique separate breeds by the International Progressive Dog Breeders' Alliance 'IPDBA' (International All-Breed Registry and Breeders' Alliance). IPDBA was the first International Dog Registry to do this. In 1996 our Dashing Blaze Bondhu was the FIRST Llewellin Setter to be officially registered as a fully recognized "Llewellin Setter" and not as a strain of English Setter like those that have been registered since 1902 in Field Dog Stud Book and are still registered that way today. It is misleading for anyone to say that a Llewellin Setter is a breed in FDSB, since they technically are not recognized as a breed in FDSB. It is also false to say that to be a Llewellin Setter, they must be registered with a certain registry especially FDSB, since they are not even recognized as a breed in them.  A Llewellin Setter is a Llewellin Setter regardless where one chooses to register their dogs. ALL our dogs ancestors were originally registered with the Kennel Club of UK (1st dog registry ever) before they came to the USA does that mean that only dogs registered with the KC of the UK are Llewellin Setters? NOTHING was added to change them, they were 100% and they remain 100% pure Llewellin Setters. They are the same in KC, FDSB, and IPDBA. In fact since IPDBA has always had the most strictest registration regulations then ALL the registries including AKC, it makes sense that if anything IPDBA has the purest of them all, but I would never say someone's dog is not something because of the registry it is registered with, that would simply be wrong. Remember it was FDSB that had DNA problems and those dogs were NEVER registered with IPDBA and had NOTHING to do with IPDBA, in fact all DNA testing by IPDBA has proven to be 100% correct with their pedigrees.  Mountain View Kennel was also the first Llewellin Kennel to register it's kennel name with IPDBA. OLN's TV stars Hank and Dash are both IPDBA registered "Llewellin Setters".  Mountain View Kennel, King's Llewellin Kennel, the largest and longest breeding Llewellin kennel in the world, as well as many other top Llewellin Kennels are now EXCLUSIVELY registering their kennels and ALL their puppies with IPDBA in an effort to preserve and improve them. In fact, thousands of new Llewellin Setters are added to the IPDBA data base each year, creating one of the largest "Llewellin Setter" breed data bases in the world! The NATIONAL LLEWELLIN SETTER ASSOC. is the oldest Llewellin Setter organization in the world and is the official Llewellin Setter Breed Charter of IPDBA.  IPDBA recognizes over 500 pure bred dog breeds internationally making it the largest all breed International dog registry in the world. IPDBA has the strictest registration policies of all registries in the world and the only registry that requires all Setter breeds including the Llewellin, Russian Llewellin, English, Gordon, Irish Red Setter, and Irish Red & White Setters to all have microchips, tattoo, and three color photos to be registered. This assures the identity of each dog and makes it nearly impossible to switch papers with other dogs. DNA parenting, OFA (Hips) certification are also options and are recorded on the registration papers for no extra fee. When you read in publications and websites claiming a Llewellin Setter is just a line of English Setter and not a separate breed, they DON'T know what they are talking about. The Llewellin Setter was recognized as a separate line in 1902, long before many other breeds have come into existence and in 1996 where officially recognized as a unique individual breed of it's own. Even though there are Setter breeds like English Setters that continue to allow Llewellin Setters to be bred into them to improve there breed, the Llewellin Setter does NOT allow ANY Out-crossing with ANY other breed and is recognized as a totally separate unique breed of their own. Improve Your Land for Wildlife! Free programs for KY land owners with 30 or more acres!   Tips & Remedies The following Tips and Remedies may or may not be FDA approved or recommended for use on humans or dogs, etc.. Please use at your own risk, Mountain View Kennel or it's owner's do not accept any responsibility for their use. Tick Removal Best way to remove a tick - blob some dish soap on a cotton ball - rub for about 15 seconds and the tick will release and stick to the cotton ball! (Warning, NEVER use a tweezers to pull a tick out, as pinching a tick will push his insides into the bite area increasing the chance for Lyme and other diseases.) Ivomec Wormer  Mix 10 cc/ml. of "Ivomec Cattle 1% inject-able" with 90 cc/ml. of Veg. oil. Shake mix well and give orally 1 cc/ml. per 10 pounds of body weight. Excellent wormer for round, hook, and/or whip worms (not for tape worms). Option, for older pups/dogs, mix 20 cc/ml. of "Ivomec Cattle 1% inject able" with 80 cc/ml. of Veg. oil. Shake mix well and give orally 1 cc/ml. per 20 pounds of body weight.  Heart Worm and Prevention Heartworms were first identified in the United States in 1847 and occurred most frequently on the seacoast in the southeastern United States. In recent years, heartworm disease has been found in all 50 states in the USA. The movement of infected animals that could serve as sources of infection for others is probably a significant contributing factor to heartworms spreading across North America. The actual number of infected dogs and cats in the United States is unknown. What are heartworms? Heartworms, Dirofilaria immitis, belong to the same class of worms as roundworms. In fact, they look a bit like roundworms, but that is where the similarity ends. Heartworms spend their adult life in the right side of the heart and the large blood vessels connecting the heart to the lungs. Heartworms are found in dogs, cats, and ferrets. They also occur in wild animals such as California sea lions, foxes and wolves. They have rarely been found in people. How do dogs become infected with heartworms? Adult heartworms in the heart lay very tiny larvae called microfilariae, which then live in the bloodstream. These microfilariae enter a mosquito when it sucks blood from an infected animal. In 2-3 weeks, the microfilariae develop into larger larvae in the mosquito and migrate to the mosquito's mouth. There are more than 60 different species of mosquitoes that can transmit heartworms. When the mosquito bites another animal, the larvae enter the animal's skin. The larvae grow and after about three months finish their migration to the heart, where they grow into adults, sometimes reaching a length of 14 inches. The time from when an animal was bitten by an infected mosquito until adult heartworms develop, mate, and lay microfilariae is about 6-7 months in dogs and 8 months in cats. (Remember this – it is important when we talk about diagnosis.) Severely infected dogs can have up to several hundred heartworms in their hearts and vessels. Adult worms in dogs usually live up to 5-7 years. Thirty to eighty percent of infected dogs have microfilariae, and the microfilariae can live up to 2 years. Microfilariae cannot mature into adult heartworms unless they pass through a mosquito. Use Ivomec wormer mix above monthly for Heart Worm prevention. Basically the same as Heartgard only MUCH cheaper. (Warning, NEVER use Ivomec products on Collies,  Huskies, or related breeds or on Heart Worm positive dogs. Also, NEVER use Ivomec Poor-On products, on any breed of dog. It may be absorbed into their reproductive organs causing deformities in future pups). Heartworm Treatment Vets commonly use high doses of Arsenic and charge over a thousand to treat Heartworms. Southern kennels have been dealing with Heartworms for over 100 years and found a safer way to treat them using a common sheep wormer known as Levamisol. The treatment is simple they would place a dog in a small pen to limit it's mobility and to keep them calm and dose them daily for 7 days, keeping the dog calm for at least a month so the heartworms are desolved in the bloodstream. Ear Mites and Treatment There are several types of mites that can invade the ear canals of dogs, puppies, cats, and kittens. The same mite can affect both dogs and cats. In the puppy and kitten, the most common ear mite is Otodectes cynotis. It is not important in the diagnosis and treatment of ear mites to identify the species of mite. Regardless of the mite species involved, we usually refer to mites of the ear canal simply as ear mites. Contrary to popular belief, however, is the fact that ear mites can live anywhere on the animal's body. You can make the same Ivomec wormer mix we use for Heart-worm preventative using Extra Virgin Olive oil  for best results when using it for ear mites and put a few drops of the wormer mix in each ear to treat ear mites, retreat in 2 weeks. The Olive oil also helps clean the wax and heal the ear as well as helps kill the mites. This is the best ear mite remedy I have ever used regardless the high price of the others. You can also us the Olive oil mix as a wormer if you like, but the taste is not as well liked by most dogs as Veg. oil. Coccidia and Treatment Coccidia are small protozoans (one-celled organisms) that live in the intestinal tract and other tissues throughout the body of dogs and cats. They cause weakness which can lead to disease most commonly in puppies and kittens less than six months of age, in adult animals whose immune system is suppressed, or in animals who are stressed in other ways (e.g.; change in ownership, shipping, other disease present). In dogs and cats, most coccidia are of the genus called Isospora. Isospora canis and I. ohioensis are the species most often encountered in dogs. Regardless of which species is present, we generally refer to the disease as coccidiosis. As a puppy ages, he tends to develop a natural immunity to the effects of coccidia. Unfortunately, this is very common in bird dogs, especially if people use pigeons in dog training, but many birds and livestock carry Coccidia and can be passed on for generations without knowledge. Most dogs have coccidia, unless treated properly. Albon is NOT a cure, it only kills active coccidia in their intestines. It is very good for that, but the Coccidia will live in the body tissues for the life of the dog and every time the dog/pup is stressed it will attack the intestines again and again. Many Vets simply assume they will have coccidia for life and will recommend giving them a dose of Albon every month. To "cure" Coccidia: Use Baycox Piglet. Give one treatment of 1cc/ml. per 5.5 pounds of body weight. Tests have shown 100% elimination of all Coccidia throughout all the body tissues in just one treatment. Also, must treat with Albon for 5 days if Coccidia is already active in intestines (showing symptoms). Recommended to retreat in 2 weeks to prevent re-infestation. Baycox is not available in the or labeled for dogs or cats here in the US, but has been used for decades in Europe, Australia, and Canada now and some Vets are starting to use it now in the US. It is extremely safe and it can be purchased from the following reliable source: http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/BAYCXP?sc=9&category=183, Giardia and Treatment Giardia are protozoa (one-celled organisms) that live in the small intestine of dogs and cats. Giardia are found throughout the United States and in many other parts of the world. Infection with Giardia is called 'giardiasis.' There are many things we do not know about this parasite. Experts do not agree on how many species of Giardia there are and which ones affect which animals. Veterinarians do not even agree on how common Giardia infections are and when they should be treated. Generally, it is believed that infection with Giardia is common but disease is rare. There is much about the life cycle we do not know either. Stagnant water is a common place for Giardia and when dogs get in contact and ingest it, they become infected and can pass it on to other dogs without symptoms and pass it to their pups. Farm land with ponds where livestock have access to them, are extremely likely contaminated with Giardia. Also, very common in old dairy barns and is very difficult to rid of in old barns, etc.. Very common in pigeons and even in game birds. To treat Giardia: Use Panacur for Cattle or Goats, give 1 cc/ml. per 5 pounds for 5 days. Also, great treatment for round, hook and even tape worms. Giardia vaccine also recommended if it gets into your kennel, pond, or livestock barn if dogs have access. Diarrhea Treatment Treatment for Diarrhea in Puppies or dogs: Give Keo Pectin 1 cc/ml. per 10 pounds, at each bowl movement until normal. Just like with humans, many times diarrhea can be caused by bacteria and treated with simply over the counter medication. We have also seen puppies and dogs with chronic diarrhea be completely cured with a few treatments of Strectinomycin products like SpectoGard used for pig scours (diarrhea). Dogs and puppies can be given 1cc/1mm per 10 pounds of body weight (same dose as piglets) given twice daily for 3-5 days.   Recommended Vaccines We get all our vaccines from Revival Animal Health at www.rivivalanimal.com . They are Christian veterinarian family run business and provide excellent service. Vaccine Schedule We recommend vaccinations starting at 5-6 weeks and then booster vaccinations every 2 weeks until 12-16 weeks of age and 1st Rabies killed vaccine starting at 16 weeks of age.  We also recommend a 1 year booster for combinations and rabies and then boosters every three years for life. Yearly boosters will do more harm than good as it will over load their immune system. This maybe the cause of dogs having so many allergies. If your vet still recommends yearly boosters or won't give a 3 year rabies, then get another Vet who does, he is out for your money and does not keep up with medical journals. Annual boosters have been proven to be harmful to their immune system, increasing skin and/or food allergies, etc..  Parvovirus  #1 killer of young pups. "NeoPar" Parvo and Norivac Vaccines, are the ONLY two Parvovirus vaccine that will protect against ALL known Parvovirus mutations 100%, new and old to date. All our pups are given a NeoPar or Norvvac vaccine starting at 5-6 weeks and every 2-3 weeks until 12 weeks of age. No other Parvo vaccine will protect your pup or dog from the new common strains. If a pup is exposed to the new strain (most commonly at the Vets) and has not been given a NeoPar or a Nobivac vaccine, it will get it and will likely die within days from it. If you have purchased a pup from someone and it has parvo, give it a NeoPar vaccine as soon as possible, even if your Vet is against it. It could save it's life. We have seen several cases turn around after given the vaccine. Basically, they had nothing to lose but try the vaccine. BTW, Many Vets say it takes 2 weeks for incubation for Parvo, but the truth is, the newer strains are known to start making a pup sick within 24 hours from exposure and are much harder to treat then the original strain was 30 + years ago. There are still 30 year old strain vaccines being sold today for Parvo, that are non-efective in protecting pups from the several new strains common today. Canine Corona virus The original Canine Corona virus has been eradicated from the world according to Cornell University, there has not been any known cases new or old of Corona virus in over fifteen years in the US. Even if a new case of Corona virus was to arise, the original vaccines we have today will not protect them, in fact it would likely weaken their immune system more than help them, so it is no longer recommended by them or knowledgeable Vets and we no longer give it to our pups/dogs.  Distemper Unfortunately, distemper is still very common in wild animals and can be spread to domestic animals as well as your dog. It is recommended that you use the newest distemper vaccine on the market, because these would be the vaccines tested against the newest strains as well as the old ones. Nobivac 1- DAPPv is our choice as it covers 5 different viruses including Distemper, Adenovirus, Typ 1 (Hepatitis), Adenovirus Type 2 (Respiratory Disease), Parainfluenza, and against all known Parvovirus strains. More info to come soon. Llewellin Setter Dog House Plans Made from just (1)  3/4"  4' X 8' Plywood & (1) Treated 10'  2" X 4" (Click on photo for Print Friendly format) More about Al King & FDSB Unfortunately, there are still some people who are telling lies about my dear late friend Alford O. King. Hundreds of his dogs were DNA checked to match their parents and all but one was found with papers that not match it's parents. The dog was three years old and had changed owners three times "on record", which there is no way to know how many times the dog and papers actually changed hands, because many times, signed papers are not filled in with the buyer's name for many transfers. The dog not only did not match the sire on the papers, but when the King's DNAed all their Studs, he did not match any of King's studs, being used the time of the mating. This was back before their pups were tattooed or micro-chipped and the dog was a Blue Belton (Black Ticked) on the papers. Now common sense would tell most people that the dog is obviously NOT the same pup that was purchased from the litter and some where a long the line the papers were either mistakenly moved or purposely to attempt moved to hurt the Kings. Unfortunately, the FDSB owner clearly had an ax to grind with the King's for forcing FDSB to keep the "Llewellin" distinction for years after several attempts by the owner to remove it and the fact that Al protested against the horse back Field Trials. The owner made the problem PUBLIC without sharing all the facts that they could not prove the puppy sold was the same dog on the papers and that hundreds of their dogs were tested before and after without any problems, especially, that the King's were denied an appeal or hearing and once the King's had already left FDSB and registered all their dogs with IPDBA registry, FDSB PUBLICLY banned them for 2 years for "not allowing FDSB full rights to all their dogs DNA".  Which means the Kings were no longer banded in 2004 and were NOT banned for false registering the dog, but for leaving FDSB and having NOTHING to do with them. The King's never registered their dogs with FDSB again, but many continued to say they "are still banned for false registering" even today in an effort to get their customers. It is important to note, that the King's we not banned for false registration, the letter said he banned him for not cooperating with FDSB and giving them 100% control on all their Setters DNA. The King's had already left FDSB, so they were banned for NOT allowing FDSB owner to have all rights to their dogs DNA, even though the King's had gone through great expense to get all their dogs DNA themselves. After FDSB owner went public with NO proof except a dog who did not match his papers and couldn't trust FDSB owner with their DNA after they clearly mishandled the case and would not allow them an appeal process as stated in their own by-laws. FDSB owner knew that if Al was given a hearing open to the public that everyone would know how FDSB had a personal vendetta against them. You may be next!   Since FDSB broke their own by-laws for not allowing the King;s a hearing, I wish Al had sued the heck out of FDSB, and ALL those who spread lies about him. I know I would have in a heart beat, in fact I would have owned FDSB if they did what they did to them to me. Al King was clearly setup and refused an appeal, because the owner clearly violated FDSB by-laws which deems "a person may be banned if they purposely falsifying papers". How in the world can anyone prove that Al purposely falsified the papers, when they cannot even prove it was the same dog he sold. Never mind that the dog changed owners three times on record before even being DNA tested. We all know that papers get switched, especially in FDSB. Those breeder's who were around back then, should have stood up for Al, boycotted FDSB, but it was clear, that many chose to just take advantage of it the situation for personal profit. After all with the King's out of the way, they could now sell their pups. Only problem, the King's still had all the pure bloodlines and FDSB has a bunch of false registered bloodlines still being bred in their registry. Not to mention all the genetic disorders being spread under the disguise of out-crossing to hide them, but as time goes on and the genes are spread, they will soon be in the whole breed and they will not be able to produce a health litter. We see this in so many breeds today, suffering from out-crossing instead of line-breeding to keep their dogs genetically clean. Also, for the record, the King's continued to allow all their customers access to their dogs DNA on hundreds more of their dogs they sold to be checked since they left FDSB and ALL have passed perfectly as before.  Sadly, instead of being honored by FDSB and the Bird Dog Hall of Fame, in his last years for the fact he SAVED the Llewellin Setter DISTINCTION in FDSB, maintained the highest amount of pure gene pool for over 50 years and then helped establish them fully as a unique "Breed" in IPDBA, and help preserved all the pure Llewellin Setter strains there, they were cast aside and slandered by many who never knew them or the fact that EVERY Llewellin Setter in FDSB today including their own, has some of the King's personal dogs in them. Sadly, the same was done by those high up in FDSB to Sir. Richard Llewellin in his last years. Their jealousy seems to continue to have no end in that crowd. They have a clear record of cutting off the hand that feeds them. If the King's were no good, then all the Llewellin Setters anyone own's today are no good, you cannot have it both ways. May God bless bless them and Al be rewarded in heaven for all the joy he has given the world through his Llewellin Setters. IPDBA did honor Al with a Grand Master Breeder Award (same as Hall of Fame in other organizations) before his condition got the best of him and he was deeply moved. At least IPDBA gave the man a small amount of acknowledgment for his life's work in saving and preserving the Llewellin Setter breed and at least 12 pure bloodlines for 50+ years, Enough said. Brooding Game Birds Surrogator verses a home Brooder with equal equipment investment Model Unit Cost  # Chicks Avg. Loses Avg. Birds Released Bottom line Surrogator $2400.00 each unit 125 quail/65 pheasant 30% (Idaho F&W) 87.5 quail/45.5 pheasants less than 1/10th the birds GQF Brooder 1 unit = $240.00 100 quail/50 pheasant 5% Our Averages 95 quail/47 pheasants More birds raised with 1/10th the investment. 10 GQF Brooders (2) 5 unit stacks = $2400.00 1000 quail/500 pheasant 5% Our Averages 950 quail/475 pheasants 10+ times the birds every 5 weeks with the same investment.     We raise all our game birds in wire bottom, stack-able brooders with clean out trays similar to the GQF, only ours are 30"D x 60"W and hold 200 Quail, 150 Chukars, or 100 Pheasants in each for 4-5 weeks. As you can see the cost of one GQF brooder unit is 1/10th the cost of one Surrogator and they are far superior to them as well. The quail and pheasants have no idea where they are raised and their is really no benefit to raising them in a brooder out in the field or in a garage, spare room. or good out building. In fact, just the opposite is true. In the field, pilot lights blow out, feeders get clogged, waters leak or clog, predators, both animal and humans reek havoc. We also use automatic GQF waters cutting an inch off the bottoms for quail and putting stones in them a few days to keep the birds from drowning. Even if you compare only one brooder unit against the Surrogator, the brooder until costs 1/10th the amount and raised 95 quail/47.5 pheasants and the Surrogator only raised 87.5 quail/45.5 pheasants starting with 25% more chicks. If you don't believe me, see what the Idaho Fish & Game review had to report, it is not pretty.  http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/hunt/rearUnitSummary.pdf GQF Brooders, inubators, and supplies available at https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_listItems.asp?idCategory=41&orderBy=sku

 

DO NOT feed ANY puppy/dog foods with ANY "Poultry-by-Products," "Chicken-by-Products," or "Animal Digest" in them. This includes all other SPORTMIX® labeled foods (except for their "Stamina" and WHOLESOME® natural line). Foods with "Poultry-by-Products," "Chicken-by-Products," or "Animal Digest" have medications, chemicals and/or additives to make those animals infertile, grow faster, larger, more tender and moist, and will affect the growth and future health of your puppy and dog. Tainted "Poultry-by-Products," "Chicken-by-Products," and/or "Animal Digest" are also the number one cause for recalls. Feeding them will NULL & VOID our Lifetime Guarantee. WARNING! We are NO LONGER feeding or recommending "SPORTMIX® Stamina 24/16" Dog Food because of the addition of CHICKEN-BY-PRODUCTS. We are now feeding Good Friends® Hi Energy Performance Blend 30/20, that is Meat base without by-products or animal digest and made by Nutrena for Rural King and is available at all Rural King locations. We are ONLY recommending their Hi Energy formula.   Good Friends Hi-Energy Performance Blend Dry Dog Food, 40 lb. Bag (ruralking.com) Other Recommended Dog Foods without by-products of digest. WHOLESOMES® Energy Plus 24/20 Dry Dog Food, 40-lb bag is an all-natural dog food made by SportMix® and is a high-quality food available at most PetSmarts, TSC, and is somewhat more reasonably priced than others. It is a VERY GOOD FOOD! Available online at WHOLESOMES Energy Plus 24/20 Dry Dog Food, 40-lb bag - Chewy.com Victor® High Energy 24/20 Multi-Meat based formula (beef, chicken, pork) that has excellent levels of both protein and fat, supporting the needs of growing puppies and active dogs. Fortified with high levels of both Glucosamine and Chondroitin. These additives work to support healthy joint cartilage, which is the key to long-term health of your dog! I have not fed this, but it looks like a very good quality dog food without by-products, but please check the ingredients before purchase. Available online with free 2-3 day shipping at VICTOR High Energy Formula Dry Dog Food, 40-lb bag - Chewy.com Southern States "Complete Sport Formula 24/20" 50-lb bag is Meat based without by products or animal digest. Available at Southern States Feed Stores. Southern States Complete Sport Formula — SouthernStatesCoop Wholesomes® Chicken, Beef, or Lamb & Rice, is an all-natural dog food made by SportMix® and is a high-quality food for less active dogs, available at most PetSmarts, TSC, and is somewhat more reasonably priced than others. It is a VERY GOOD FOOD! Available online at: https://www.chewy.com/sportmix-wholesomes-chicken-meal/dp/118416 If you need a lower fat diet because of overweight problems during non-hunting months, we have found it best to just ration it. If that is not practical, we have fed "Joy Maintenance" 22/12 (no by-products in the "Maintenance"-- other Joy dog foods with by-products or digest are not recommended) to dogs over 12 months old who have overweight problems. IMPORTANT UPDATE: MORE FAT, LESS PROTEIN DIET improves detection dogs' sniffers! An article in the Cornell  Chronicle proves that higher protein and low fat diets will adversely affect dogs' scenting abilities and their body temperature, decreasing both scenting ability and stamina. We have found this is the case with feeding dog foods that are 24/18 or 24/20. Our Setters have great stamina, hunting all day without prior conditioning and having scenting ability to point single wild quail up to 40 "yards" away. Cornell Chronicle From sniffing out bombs and weapons to uncovering criminal evidence, dogs can help save lives and keep the peace. Now, researchers have uncovered how to improve dogs' smelling skills through diet by cutting protein and adding fats. Such a diet, say the researchers, appears to help dogs return to lower body temperatures after exercise, which reduces panting and, thereby, improves sniffing. The findings could change how detection dogs are fed and boost their detection abilities, says Joseph Wakshlag, Associate Professor N of Clinical Studies and Chief of Nutrition at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine. Wakshlag, who collaborated with researchers at Auburn University, is presenting the findings at the Companion Animal Nutrition Summit in Atlanta, held March 22-24. The study, funded with a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, also found that detection dogs are more reliable detectors than previously thought. The study is the first to be conducted in the world's only detection dog research facility designed in conjunction with a military dog trainer. The Alabama facility, which provides expert detection dogs to police and military forces, flushes out fumes between tests, ensuring a fresh field each time. "Previous studies from other facilities, which lack this feature, had suggested detection dogs signaling for suspect substances are about 70 percent accurate," said Wakshlag. "The lower numbers may have been due to study design flaws which our new study overcame. Dogs tested in the new facility signaled with 90 percent and above accuracy. We also found we can push detection performance even further with the right kind of food." Bucking conventional thinking, the group found that less protein and more fat in the dogs' diet helped trained dogs perform better in exercise and detection tests. During an 18-month period, they rotated 17 trained dogs through three diets Wakshlag selected: a high-end performance diet, regular adult dog food, and regular adult dog food diluted with corn oil. Measuring how different diets affected each dog, they found that dogs eating the normal diet enhanced with corn oil returned to normal body temperatures most quickly after exercise and were better able to detect smokeless powder, ammonia nitrate, and TNT. "Corn oil has lots of polyunsaturated fats, similar to what you'd find in a lot of nuts and common grocery store seed oils," said Wakshlag. "Past data from elsewhere suggest that these polyunsaturated fats might enhance the sense of smell, and it looks like that may be true for detection dogs. It could be that fat somehow improves nose-signaling structures or reduces body temperature or both. But lowering protein also played a part in improving olfaction." Wakshlag designed the high-performance and corn oil diets to have the same amount of energy from fat (57 percent). But the corn oil diet had less protein: 18 percent compared with 27 percent in the regular and high-performance diets. "If you're a dog, digesting protein raises body temperature, so the longer your body temperature is up, the longer you keep panting, and the harder it is to smell well," said Wakshlag. "Our study shifts the paradigm of what 'high-performance' diet can mean for dogs. It depends on what you want your dog to do. A sled dog or greyhound may need more protein to keep going. But detection dogs tend to exercise in shorter bursts and need to recover quickly and smell well. For that, less protein and more fat could help." Carly Hodes '10, MBA '14, is a communication specialist at the College of Veterinary Medicine. Please Note: Mountain View Kennel, LLC. or its owners do not receive any discounts or compensation for recommending any dogs foods. We do NOT recommend dog foods over 30% protein or lower than 18% fat because we have found high protein and low fat ratio foods will cause loose ligaments in their hips, knees, ankles, and feet as well as possibly causing liver and kidney problems in later years. In the past, we have seen high-protein dog foods with low fat %  caused liver and/or kidney problems later in older dogs, so we believe it is good to use caution when trying new, higher protein levels, especially if the fat content has not been increased. High fat contents are needed in high-protein food formulas to prevent liver and/or kidney damage. The fat is burned to digest the protein; if fat levels are not increased with protein levels, the dog will use its own organs to digest the protein. We also add Lamb Milk Replacer 25/25 to our nursing mothers' and pups' food mixed with warm water for their first 7 weeks and then feed all the dry food they want for their 1st year, rationing their food if needed, but most of our Setters are in perfect condition while eating it free will, 24/7.  When feeding high quality, properly balanced foods, you will add years to their life span, have less Vet bills, and even save on the cost of feeding them in the long run. Dogs actually eat/need half the amount of high quality food as they will eat/need on cheaper foods. Saving a few dollars on a bag will usually cost more since the dog may need to eat twice as much food. We personally DO NOT recommend any Purina dog foods, especially "Puppy Chow," "Purina One," or "Purina Pro Plan." We know of several dogs of many breeds (including many Setters) who have had chronic coat and skin problems, hyperactivity, and underweight issues while being fed "Purina Pro Plan" or "Purina One." When they were changed over to what we recommend, they have all cleared up completely, gained weight, and had calmer dispositions. Most of Purina foods have poultry by-products, animal digest, or chicken by-products which will also null and void our health guarantee. If you must feed Purina, feed only their natural foods without by-products or digest in them. To be fair to Purina, if you are raising game birds, Purina Game Bird foods are the BEST food to feed them. It costs more, but it's been our experience raising game birds for over 52 years, including for NY State Conservation Department, that the birds will hardly peck at all and will grow to be strong boned and fully feathered. Especially Purina Game Bird Startina 30% protein, we start all our quail and pheasant chicks on it. We feed our six-week-old pheasants and quail Purina Game Bird Grower 18% or Flight Conditioner 18%. We have found that as long as we maintain an 18% or higher protein level in our quail and pheasants, we have little to no pecking. We do put specks on our pheasants at six weeks old. Once pecking has started, it is very difficult to stop.  We have tried just about all other brands of feed and found it costs less to feed Purina bird feeds because of much fewer losses. Consider the cost of losing a half- or full-grown pheasant or quail as well surviving birds that are without any feathers to protect them when released, and if  you lose even one or two birds, it costs more to feed the cheaper feed than it does to feed them Purina. Also, a stronger, healthier, well-feathered bird will fly and survive better in the wild and won't contaminate the native birds. All comments made are my personal opinions formed over many years of experience as a Supreme Grand Master Breeder.  Please note: We DO NOT recommend  Retriever® Hi-Pro dog food (from Tractor Supply® TSC), Ole Roy® Hi-Pro dog food from Wal-Mart® or any dog foods made by these brands. Our adult Setters had very little stamina and even had VERY poor scenting abilities compared to what the same dogs normally had when they were on another diet and it has now been confirmed with several customers' dogs having the same problems when fed these foods and some other foods like them. We never thought it was possible for a manufactured dog food to adversely affect a dog's scenting and hunting abilities until we tried them. The same Setters who constantly made 40 yard points could not smell a bird unless they were within 3-4 yards of them. This may explain why we have been able to easily train all but one of the less than 1% pups returned and sold them as well started within a few weeks after hunting them.  If you are feeding one of them or are not satisfied with your dog's scenting abilities or stamina, you will see a noticeable improvement feeding them one of the following foods listed below. It may be the answer to problems you may be having with your pup/dog. We also do NOT recommend "Taste of the Wild," or other very high-protein dog foods over 30%. These high-protein dog foods will cause loose ligaments as they develop and may cause liver or kidney problems later in life. Protein is hard to digest, and it takes a bunch of energy to burn protein and will burn up their liver and/or kidneys in the process. They found this out years ago when the crave was for high-protein dog foods that only had 10% fat. Many dogs died at a young age from liver or kidney problems. IMPORTANT UPDATE: More fat, less protein improves detection dogs' sniffers! Article in Cornell Chronicle proves that higher protein and low-fat diets will adversely affect dogs' scenting abilities.   http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/03/more-fat-less-protein-improves-detection-dogs-sniffers WARNING! Recent testing has shown that Blue Buffalo foods had only 5% meat and a lot of bone and the quality is not as advertised. Blue Buffalo also makes "Taste of the Wild," and we do not recommend these very high-protein dogs foods with no grains at all. Super high protein can cause loose ligaments as well as liver and/or kidney problems later in the dog's life. Our Setters will not grow right on super high-protein foods of higher than 28% and may affect their long-term health/life. Please note: We do not sell dog food or receive any coupons or proceeds for recommending any of these products and only do so to help our customers select quality, safe food for their pups and dogs. We have been offered many deals to feed our dogs and recommend brands that have by-products, digest, and/or other additives, which we refuse to feed our dogs. We would never recommend something we would not feed our dogs, regardless how much they offer.

 

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