English Setters 133 



extreme amount of inbreeding, and the fact 

 that the pedigrees showed from six to nine 

 years between generations. He admitted 

 that it was possible to breed setters with that 

 amount of time between generations, but 

 said that the improbability of any one doing 

 so was so great that he did not believe 

 Laverack's statements. "Stonehenge" also 

 said that while such breeding was not impos- 

 sible it was "highly improbable." Others, 

 who knew Laverack personally, have credited 

 him with truthfulness. 



Another breeder, Llewellin, who made it a 

 practice to run his setters in competitive 

 trials, bought Laverack's dogs about 1870. 

 A few years later six dogs, by Llewellin's dogs 

 and out of Laverack's bitches, were imported 

 into the United States and formed the founda- 

 tion of what is now known as the English setter 

 in this country. What is given hereinafter is 

 a condensation of the results obtained from 

 an investigation made in 1904 of the progen- 

 itors of the then six most recent champion 

 dogs descended from those imported. 



