About Linwood English Setters

I am committed to breeding beautiful, healthy English Setters with stable, easy temperaments; who are able to hunt all day for their owners.  That’s a long sentence with a lot packed into it.  I stand behind every word of it.

I got my first English Setter from Barbara Oakes in 1978.  She was CH Five Oakes Token of Linwood.  I drove from Wisconsin to upstate New York and back over a Fourth of July weekend to get “Token”. My life has been filled with travel, friends and these beautiful dogs ever since. I consider it a bonus that Setter People have become my closest friends! I chose my first dog from Five Oakes knowing that line of dogs hailed from the Heljax kennel (where Helen Kilgus’s show dogs were Jack Kilgus’s personal gundogs for many generations behind my Token).

I show my dogs at regional and national English Setter Specialty shows all over the US and sometimes in Canada.  My dogs have placed and won consistently at a national level. However as beautiful as these dogs are in the show ring their finest moments for me are seen in the field.  There is nothing quite as graceful as a Setter covering a grassy meadow in search of birds….. nothing so breathtaking as the intensity of a Setter staunch on point.

I have bred close working “Hunt Test” style dogs for many generations now.  In recent years I have been breeding for bigger running dogs that can compete in all-breed horseback field trials.  Hopefully a Dual Champion is on my horizon sometime soon.

I am highly committed to breeding healthier English Setters in America:

-I’ve been the Chairman of Health & Genetics for the English Setter Association of America (ESAA) for over 10 years.
-Jane Wooding and I launched the ESAA BAER Database for Deafness – now the largest BAER Database for one breed in the world.
-I initiated the English Setter Donor Advised Fund for research housed at the Canine Health Foundation.
-I make recommendations to the ESAA Board which research projects should receive financial support from our Donor Advised Fund.
-I’m a Charter member of the Kettle Moraine English Setter Club (based in SE Wisconsin) and have held every officer’s role at some time.

I am especially committed to breeding healthier English Setters at Linwood:

-I try very hard to get ALL the puppies I breed checked for health issues when they reach the appropriate age.
-This includes ALL the puppies in a litter and not just those placed in homes where they will be bred.
-All of my personal breeding stock has been checked for Hip Dysplasia, Elbow Dysplasia, Congenital Deafness, and Hypothyroidism.  Whatever the results, they are shared honestly and I submit them all to the Open Registries at OFA (www.offa.org).  Every dog I breed is free of the first three health problems.  Thyroid disease is still very common in English Setters and some of my dogs still have this problem.
-I am actively trying to improve the health of the Linwood dogs with each generation I produce.

MY REQUIREMENTS OF PUPPY BUYERS:

-My most important requirement is that you have a loving home and want a dog to be your friend.
-My dogs are not well suited to living outside in a kennel day and night.  My puppies are raised in the house and make special family companions.  I go to great lengths to socialize them so they will be well-adjusted dogs.
-My dogs need a safe place outside to run and play every day.  A fenced yard or electronic fencing is a MUST.  Most English Setters cannot be trusted to stay in a yard without tangible boundaries.
-I require that you agree to do hip & elbow xrays and submit them to OFA (the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) soon after your dog turns two years old.
-I recommend that you check your dog for thyroid disease when they are two years old and periodically after that since this is a common problem in our breed.

I GUARANTEE:

-Each puppy leaves my home healthy.  I ask that you take your new dog to your vet to verify this within the first week.
-Each puppy has had their first set of shots.
-Each puppy has had a microchip placed for permanent identification.
-Each puppy has had their hearing checked with the BAER test.  I send all the results to the ESAA BAER Database.
-Each dog I place of any age is healthy and has a stable temperament.
-I will discuss openly & honestly the health clearances for every dog I place.
-I am willing to discuss openly & honestly the health clearances for the parents of every dog I place.
-I am willing to be a resource for the owners of my dogs throughout the dog’s lifetime.