Background

Rick Rock, my father, spent his earliest years in Roosevelt, WA and Hermiston, Oregon, where his family farmed and ranched. As a boy hunting with Uncle Frank and his German Shorthair Pointer, he learned the thrill of the sport and was hooked. Sallee, the GSP, found Rick's very first bird and still holds some fond memories for him. Among many field outtings behind his friends' bird dogs, Rick later hunted with his own Black Labrador, Joe, and his brother's GSP/Lab cross, Ben. He was a country boy and could often be found riding his ponies and horses or kicking the brush with one of his dogs, gun in hand. Hunting was one of Rick's favorite pastimes as he was growing up. Of course, he and his two brothers and sister got into a fair amount of mischief around the farm doing other "activities."

In 1983, Rick married my mother, Jan. He had worked for his parents' irrigation business but soon starting commerical trucking, until, in 1987, he became indentured into the electrical contractors program and eventually started his electrical contracting business. As he was establishing his family and career, my dad found that he still enjoyed hunting but missed being behind his own bird dog. In his early thirties, my parents decided that they and their children, Tyler, me (Chelsea), and Logan, were ready for a dog. Rick set out to find the best bird dog that he could and bought a champion-pedigreed (both field and ring) German Wirehaired Pointer, Rock's Rusty Gun. Rusty was an incredible bird dog that we used on pheasant and quail, impressive and intense. He helped carry on the Rock's family tradition of hunting to my brothers and me. When Rusty was three years old, though, there was an unfortunate accident, for which he had to be euthanized. It was a heavy blow for our family.

A short time passed, and the absence of a dog felt unbearable. There had to be a "replacement," so the search was on. When we brought Jake (Rocco's Gallantries) home over fifteen years ago, we knew that we had found a breed that encompassed everything that we wanted- class, gentleness, athleticism, intelligence, beauty, biddability, and most importantly, excellent hunting ability. Still, to me, Rusty's memory deserves much credit for the way we do things at Rock Llewellin Setters.

Jake was our first Llewellin, and when he was a couple years old we began exploring the idea of dog breeding, talking to our vets and local breeders. With still a lot to learn, we started seaching for a female Llewellin. After about a year, we had Sophie sent to us from Jim Yeryar. All the while we were raising, training, and hunting our dogs, I was busy doing research on what this would entail. We decided to start a small breeding program with a focus on doing it right. From the start, we realized there were not many options in the Northwest for quality Llewellin Setters. We began and continue to breed with the goal in mind of improving the Llewellins' hunting ability, temperament, conformation, and health to modern ideals. Every litter we will breed will be with the intention of incorporating them in part of my program down the line. In addition, we are modifying our training program, and our goal is to give hunt tests or trials a shot with future dogs. For now, our dogs' skills are put to the ultimate test on wild birds every season. They are also a huge part of our family, participate in other activities and training with us, and are a source of joy and love for us. Our program has produced outstanding hunters in states from Alaska to New York who are also well pampered members of their families. We wouldn't have it any other way!

A bit about myself: For over fifteen years, I have been largely involved with our setters and love expanding my knowledge about training, handling/care, breeding, health issues, hunting, business, rescue, and much more. Dogs are not just my hobby; they are my life. I am passionate about continuing working with and for them throughout my lifetime, so I am now focusing even more on how to achieve success with our program for the future. I earned my B.S. in Zoology, with coursework in ethology, genetics, physiology, psychology, and much more. Then, I worked as a veterinary technician and occasionally sub'ed in as a groomer's assistant. Throw in years of helping with breed rescue and volunteering at multiple shelters, and you can guess that I've had my fair share of gettin to know dogs. I am currently on the Behavior and Training Team at my local open-admission shelter, doing both behavior modification and training with challenging shelter dogs and teaching classes to the public. Recently, I also started fostering dogs. I am currently working towards my CPDT and have plans to do graduate work in animal behavior, take the professional course by Karen Pryor Academy, and apply all my experience and education to upland training when I have my own facilities. In the meantime, I am active in training for other dog sports/activites and getting my dogs out experiencing the world, not just the field.

RLS's Ongoing Mission is:

To maintain and improve the physical and mental health of our dogs by caring for them in the best ways we are possible of doing.
To only breed dogs we know are healthy, mature, and possessing specific qualities we want to maintain.
To stay current with health, breeding/genetic, and training advances.
To responsibly & ethically produce healthy puppies with good temperaments and excellent natural hunting abilities.
To place our puppies with knowledgable, dedicated hunting families and/or field trialers where they will have the opportunities to do what they love and be loved.
To be responsible to our dogs and puppies throughout their lifetime.
To be available to our clients/pet owners for help and questions.
To help educate people about animal care.

During the next decade or so, you won't be seeing many puppies advertised for sale. One of the reasons is that we don't keep a lot of dogs for breeding, and we don't give away or sell retired dogs. Each breeding will be planned only if and when we have specific qualities that we want to see continued, such that we feel will improve the breed. In addition, because our ultimate goal is to contribute to the genetic diversity of the Llewellins, we will not be breeding the same pair of dogs together more than twice. We're not here to fill puppy orders or produce for the sake of selling. We will not breed a bitch consequtive heat cycles or as a senior because their health and condition is the utmost importance to us. And lastly, we will only plan a breeding when we can be sure that we will have the time to do each litter full justice with care, socialization, and training. Our priority is and has always been in the interest of our dogs and puppies.

Bottom Line: Our dogs have been chosen and raised carefully. Not only do they excel in bird hunting, but they are also beloved companions and participate in other activities as well. At Rock Llewellin Setters, each hunting season brings on new and memorable adventures, and we hope for the same with our puppies' families.

• Hunting: Medium ranged, hard-going hunters, with mid to high set, merry tails. Stylish, tall/proud, intense points. Good scenting capabilities. Bold, intelligent, confident, fast working, high drive and desire, thorough, easy handle/biddable, and responsive. Exceptional stamina/endurance over variety of terrain. Good heat and cold tolerance. Tough physique with drive and love of work. Exceptional hunting instinct, including natural pointing and backing. Quartering when desireable. Tendency for natural retrieves. Able to handle variety of upland birds.
  
  

• Color: All colors; prefer dark eyes, eyelids, and noses and light-medium ticked coats. We personally do not care for ticking so heavy it looks solid grey/black, and will not be breeding for it--lighter works better in our cover and heat.
  

• Health: Exceptional physical & mental health through screening and development. Close genetic history of at least OFA Good for hips and must be healthy dogs in every other aspect. Genetic predisposure to dysplasia, deafness, cryptorchidism, umbilical hernias, eye disease, etc, will be as limited as RLS can earnestly determine. *In 2013, we decided OFA Elbows, Thyroid, and Eyes will also be added to our screenings of all breeding dogs.*

• Size: Females maturing at 43-53 pounds. Males at about 45-60 pounds. Females about 19-25 inches at shoulder. Males at 21-26 inches.

• Conformation: Functionally correct, nicely formed, pleasing to the eye, and overall balanced build that will be able to handle the rigors of long days in the field. Muscular, sturdy, and defined but not too course nor fine. Level/parallel planes of the head, length of muzzle about equal to length of top of head (occipital to stop), streamlined/oval skull from above, square to slightly tapered muzzle, large nostrils, slight scissor bite or even bite, eyes well set in the head, with tight eyelids, and "bright eyed", medium set ears; tough, tight, arched feet; tight, well-formed dewclaws; mid-high set straight/slightly curved tail, prefer medium length tail that reaches the hock, carried above the back, high on point (10-12 o'clock), merry in the field; deep, wide chest, bottom of girth reaching the elbow, with roomy cavity; flat, smooth shoulders that are near at the tips and angled appropriately; muscular, straight/parallel forelegs approximately same length as depth of ribcage, short front pastern at slight angle; muscular thighs, well bent and strong stifles and hocks, more upright rear pasterns, straight/parallel hindlegs can point out slightly at feet; proportional, muscular, strong back/topline, with slightly angled croup and strong hips; defined and minimal throatiness at the "throatlatch," coat not too fine nor extravagant but still soft with feathering on ears, neck/chest, belly, legs, and tail.

• Temperaments: Adaptable, resilient, responsive, engaging, intelligent, charismatic, spirited, loyal/dedicated, sociable, affectionate, playful, confident, and bold. Active, driven, and job-oriented. "Kid friendly and tolerant."

• Pedigree: RLS dogs are currently lined in order of amount increasing to decreasing: Dashing Bondhu, Royacelle, Bomber, Gladstone and Tony-O. It is not our goal to maintain any pure specific bloodline within Llewellins, as the genetic diversity of the breed as a whole is already very limited. Our concern is focused on the qualities described above regardless of pedigree. While certain traits may be more characteristic in certain lines, we feel it is more important to look at the specific parent cross and individual than focus on the pedigree bloodline.

  Should we learn of any line/dogs that may be carrying undesired traits, we will determine how it would effect the function and health of the breed if said dog/line is included or excluded.
• The above goals are what RLS is striving for, as they describe our idea of a bird dog that is the "Total Package." It is likely that we may alter/improve some goals with time and experience.

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Jump to:
Background
Mission
Breeding Goals

The Other Four-Legged Family Members

Forever in our Hearts:
Levi, aka "Mr. Kitty" to the dogs and pups. March 1994 to July 26, 2011.

Levi was our seventeen year old house cat that we all love very much. He was very social, cuddly, demanding yet patient, and playful and had been thoroughly spoiled and loved by us. He was our constant companion and best friend, with a special relationship with each in the family. He had a one in a kind personality and kept us smiling. We still smile at the memories we were very fortunate to have had with him. We do miss him tremendously and there will always be a place in our hearts that no other will be able to replace.

Orion

This is my (Chelsea's) 19 yr old OT Thoroughbred gelding. He's a big, sweet guy that loves company. He's not too sure of the world around him but is an awesome horse, nonetheless. He's taught me a lot about riding and horsemanship.

DANDY

Dandy is the newest addition to our family and Orion's buddy. He's a five year old APHA gelding, who will be our little western "pony."

Former Member/Regional Vice-President of

for multiple years, resigned in 2011. (We are still listed as such, so feel free to contact us with questions.)

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