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A work in progress, thank you for your patience ...
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Click on image below for full-size version.
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Testimonials from Over the Years
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Pictured above: Just a few of the hundreds of letters from all over the world John has received over the years ...
~~~ The Fetters Challenge ~~~ ~~~~~~~~ UPDATE ~~~~~~~~
by John Fetters
© 2010 Fetters Setters, all rights reserved
© 2011-2012 Fetters Setters, all rights reserved
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December 4th, 2010
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It has been nearly nine months since I published this challenge (see original ~~~~ The Fetters Challenge ~~~~ below) and I have been thoroughly disappointed that no one has yet come forward..
Again, I invite anyone to bring their best sires and dams used in their breeding programs to produce a setter they classify as a "Ryman," "Ryman Type," "Ryman Style" or "Dual Type" (or what have you) setter to join me in The Fetters Challenge.
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To make matters more interesting, I propose a $2500 stake to be put up which will be donated by the loser to the winner's favorite charity.
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This challenge will be filmed and will be made freely available on the internet for anyone who cares to view it.
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Again, the Fetters Challenge entails the following:
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A six-day hunt running in brace with any setter from my kennel, which will begin each day at sun-up and end at sundown. Point for point, wild bird for wild bird, retrieve to hand.
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At the end of this six day period, we will see whose setter is eager and rarin' to go hunting for the seventh day.
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A six-day hunt running in brace with any setter from my kennel, which will begin each day at sun-up and end at sundown. Point for point, wild bird for wild bird, retrieve to hand.
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At the end of this six day period, we will see whose setter is eager and rarin' to go hunting for the seventh day.
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This should finally put to rest once and for all the claims of those who claim to own ~ or especially those who claim to be breeding ~ "Ryman Type" and/or "Ryman Style" or direct "Ryman Line" gun dogs.
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This should finally put to rest once and for all the claims of those who claim to own ~ or especially those who claim to be breeding ~ "Ryman Type" and/or "Ryman Style" or direct "Ryman Line" gun dogs.
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Particularly welcome in The Fetters Challenge are those who have been making false claims against me and especially those breeders who have been spreading rumors to the effect that I no longer breed, raise and train shooting dogs and/or that I am DEAD!
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At the end of the day, any takers to The Fetters Challenge will be welcome to join me for a cold beer or hot toddy and to watch a few old Ryman films from our library.
At the end of the day, any takers to The Fetters Challenge will be welcome to join me for a cold beer or hot toddy and to watch a few old Ryman films from our library.
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~~~~ The Fetters Challenge ~~~~
by John Fetters
© 2010 Fetters Setters, all rights reserved
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March 13th, 2010
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I personally invite anyone out there who claims to own a "Ryman Type" or "Ryman Style" setter to bring their best setter and join me in The Fetters Challenge:
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A six-day hunt running in brace with any setter from my kennel, which will begin each day at sun-up and end at sundown. Point for point, wild bird for wild bird, retrieve to hand.
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At the end of this six day period, we will see whose setter is eager and rarin' to go hunting for the seventh day.
.....
This should finally put to rest once and for all the claims of those who claim to own ~ or especially those who claim to be breeding ~ "Ryman Type" and/or "Ryman Style" or direct "Ryman Line" gun dogs.
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Particularly welcome in The Fetters Challenge are those who have been making false claims against me and especially those breeders who have been spreading rumors to the effect that I no longer breed, raise and train shooting dogs and/or that I am DEAD!
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At the end of the day, any takers to The Fetters Challenge will be welcome to join me for a cold beer or hot toddy and to watch a few old Ryman films from our library.
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At the end of the day, any takers to The Fetters Challenge will be welcome to join me for a cold beer or hot toddy and to watch a few old Ryman films from our library.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
The Confusing Correspondence and Subsequent Under-handeded Antics of Lee J. Stellrecht
By John Fetters
© 2010 Fetters Setters, all rights reserved
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In 1991, I was contacted by Gun Dog magazine requesting my cooperation for an article they wished to write about my setters and the history and heritage behind them. Prior to this time however, I had begun receiving what would ultimately amount to a sheaf of correspondence from Lee J. Stellrecht of Bliss, New York. (Click on image to the right for a larger version.)
Mr. Stellrecht had begun writing to me in an effort to breed his setter, Oldfield's Blue Breeze ("Breeze"), to one of my dams. However as I rarely breed outside my own bloodlines and kennel, and even then, only after I have personally observed a dog in the field in actual hunting conditons on wild birds, I never even hinted at cooperating with Mr. Stellrecht's intentions.
Time and again, I requested that Mr. Stellrecht send me photos of his dog in actual hunting situations in the field, however the only answer I received from Mr. Stellrecht was excuses as to why he could not send me said photos, including stating that he thought he had sent the photos to "someone else."
I did finally receive three photos from Mr. Stellrecht, all of them of his dog at the end of a chain with blaze orange reflector surveyor's tape hanging from the dog's collar ~ of course, not at all what I had requested and I immediately returned those photos to him by mail.
I also repeatedly invited Mr. Stellrecht to bring his dog and visit with me for a few days so we could take the dog out to hunt and I could personally observe the dog in the field under actual hunting conditions. But again, I received numerous excuses from Mr. Stellrecht as to why he could not come and visit, the last excuse in the December 1989 letter published below. Shortly afterward, however, Mr. Stellrecht told me that he and his dog would arrive at my place on the morning of New Year's Eve 1989, however after I waited up until 3 a.m. on New Year's Day, Mr. Stellrecht still had never shown up and had not called.
I did not hear from Mr. Stellrecht again until March of 1990, at which time he sent me a short note asking how I was doing and telling me he had never heard from me. I understandably did not return a letter to Mr. Stellrecht at that time and did not hear from him again.
Gun Dog magazine published their article about my dogs in the April/May 1991 issue as scheduled. After the article was published however ~ and unbeknownst to me a later time ~ Mr. Stellrecht wrote a letter to the editor of Pointing Dog Journal, claiming "controversy" over the article that had been written about my dogs in Gun Dog magazine ~ and telling them that they should publish an article about Ellen Calkins (whom Mr. Stellrecht called, "Mrs. English Setter").
Shortly after this letter from Mr. Stellrecht was received by Pointing Dog Journal, a mutual acquantaince of Mr. Stellrecht and mine gave me an actual copy of the letter Mr. Stellrecht had sent to the Pointing Dog Journal. The party who gave me this letter was a long-time hunting companion of mine and had inside access to the Pointing Dog Journal. He was aware of the lengthy correspondence to me that Mr. Stellrecht had previously engaged in and considered the letter Mr. Stellrecht wrote to the Pointing Dog Journal as a grossly under-handed attempt to undermine and discredit the Gun Dog magazine article about my setters.
Pointing Dog Journal subesquently published the article about Ellen Calkins entitled "Mrs. English Setter" ~ and the article in fact does NOT hold water and is based on blatant falsehoods as relayed by Ellen Calkins to writer Ryan Frame.
For instance, Ryan Frame writes that Ellen Calkins told him that George Ryman "destroyed" any and all setters with "body patches." While one can perhaps understand that Ryan Frame would not question anything told to him by Ellen Calkins, and did in fact tape the interview with her, this is just one small example of the misleading and false information contained in the Pointing Dog Journal article.
To verify this as a false statement, we have many pieces of correspondence, photos and film footage of and from George Ryman with his personal dogs, a number of which do indeed have body patches. Why Ellen Calkins would make this (and other) false statements as relayed by Ryan Frame is anyone's guess.
However we wholeheartedly and absolutely stand behind the April/May 1991 Gun Dog magazine article as written about our setters and the history and heritage behind them. To further verify the true facts in the matter, we will be publishing here on the "Fetters Setters ~ Testimonials" page actual corespondence received from Maurice H. and Jean Ryman ~ Maurice at the time, being George Ryman's only living son.
Below, in two parts, letter sent to me dated July 15th, 1989.
To Top of Page
© 2010 Fetters Setters, all rights reserved
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In 1991, I was contacted by Gun Dog magazine requesting my cooperation for an article they wished to write about my setters and the history and heritage behind them. Prior to this time however, I had begun receiving what would ultimately amount to a sheaf of correspondence from Lee J. Stellrecht of Bliss, New York. (Click on image to the right for a larger version.)Mr. Stellrecht had begun writing to me in an effort to breed his setter, Oldfield's Blue Breeze ("Breeze"), to one of my dams. However as I rarely breed outside my own bloodlines and kennel, and even then, only after I have personally observed a dog in the field in actual hunting conditons on wild birds, I never even hinted at cooperating with Mr. Stellrecht's intentions.
Time and again, I requested that Mr. Stellrecht send me photos of his dog in actual hunting situations in the field, however the only answer I received from Mr. Stellrecht was excuses as to why he could not send me said photos, including stating that he thought he had sent the photos to "someone else."
I did finally receive three photos from Mr. Stellrecht, all of them of his dog at the end of a chain with blaze orange reflector surveyor's tape hanging from the dog's collar ~ of course, not at all what I had requested and I immediately returned those photos to him by mail.
I also repeatedly invited Mr. Stellrecht to bring his dog and visit with me for a few days so we could take the dog out to hunt and I could personally observe the dog in the field under actual hunting conditions. But again, I received numerous excuses from Mr. Stellrecht as to why he could not come and visit, the last excuse in the December 1989 letter published below. Shortly afterward, however, Mr. Stellrecht told me that he and his dog would arrive at my place on the morning of New Year's Eve 1989, however after I waited up until 3 a.m. on New Year's Day, Mr. Stellrecht still had never shown up and had not called.
I did not hear from Mr. Stellrecht again until March of 1990, at which time he sent me a short note asking how I was doing and telling me he had never heard from me. I understandably did not return a letter to Mr. Stellrecht at that time and did not hear from him again.
Gun Dog magazine published their article about my dogs in the April/May 1991 issue as scheduled. After the article was published however ~ and unbeknownst to me a later time ~ Mr. Stellrecht wrote a letter to the editor of Pointing Dog Journal, claiming "controversy" over the article that had been written about my dogs in Gun Dog magazine ~ and telling them that they should publish an article about Ellen Calkins (whom Mr. Stellrecht called, "Mrs. English Setter").
Shortly after this letter from Mr. Stellrecht was received by Pointing Dog Journal, a mutual acquantaince of Mr. Stellrecht and mine gave me an actual copy of the letter Mr. Stellrecht had sent to the Pointing Dog Journal. The party who gave me this letter was a long-time hunting companion of mine and had inside access to the Pointing Dog Journal. He was aware of the lengthy correspondence to me that Mr. Stellrecht had previously engaged in and considered the letter Mr. Stellrecht wrote to the Pointing Dog Journal as a grossly under-handed attempt to undermine and discredit the Gun Dog magazine article about my setters.
Pointing Dog Journal subesquently published the article about Ellen Calkins entitled "Mrs. English Setter" ~ and the article in fact does NOT hold water and is based on blatant falsehoods as relayed by Ellen Calkins to writer Ryan Frame.
For instance, Ryan Frame writes that Ellen Calkins told him that George Ryman "destroyed" any and all setters with "body patches." While one can perhaps understand that Ryan Frame would not question anything told to him by Ellen Calkins, and did in fact tape the interview with her, this is just one small example of the misleading and false information contained in the Pointing Dog Journal article.
To verify this as a false statement, we have many pieces of correspondence, photos and film footage of and from George Ryman with his personal dogs, a number of which do indeed have body patches. Why Ellen Calkins would make this (and other) false statements as relayed by Ryan Frame is anyone's guess.
However we wholeheartedly and absolutely stand behind the April/May 1991 Gun Dog magazine article as written about our setters and the history and heritage behind them. To further verify the true facts in the matter, we will be publishing here on the "Fetters Setters ~ Testimonials" page actual corespondence received from Maurice H. and Jean Ryman ~ Maurice at the time, being George Ryman's only living son.
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It should also be noted here that in the letters published below, that while Mr. Stellrecht subsequently claimed in his letter to Pointing Dog Journal that he had known the Calkins since the early 1970s, that he wrote to me in 1989 that he believed the Ryman dogs no longer existed and had in fact, vanished. Mr. Stellrecht in fact, later befriended the Calkins and enlisted their help to establish his own "Bold Return Kennel" using the Calkins' bloodine. However by that time, Carl and Ellen Calkins had sold off their dogs, had no personal dogs of their own and so Mr. Stellrecht's efforts at establishing his own kennel came to naught.
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In the meantime however, below are some of the actual letters sent to me by Mr. Stellrecht along with the copy of the letter he subsequently sent to the editor of Pointing Dog Journal. Click on each image for a larger version ~ some letters are in multiple parts for ultimate legibility.
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Below in four parts, letter sent to me dated May 8th, 1989.
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Below, in two parts, letter sent to me dated June 5th, 1989.
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Below, in two parts, letter sent to me dated July 15th, 1989.
Below, in three parts, letter sent to me dated August 3rd, 1989.
Below, letter sent to me dated October 14th, 1989.
Below, in two parts, letter sent to me dated December 18th, 1989.
Below, in three parts, letter sent by Lee Stellrecht
to Pointing Dog Journal dated October 28th, 1993.
Testimonial and "Rumors of My Death" Attribution from Bryan Rennell
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Shown above, Bryan Rennell's Fetters English Setter, Ginger, at two-years of age
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Bryan Rennell, formerly of Georgia and now residing in Texas, acquired Ginger from John at eight-weeks of age. Later he sent the above photo and the letter below.
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John heard from Bryan again this past August (2009) when Bryan posted a comment on "The Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated ..." piece on our "Fetters English Setters ~ Classic Style English Setters ~ Home Page" in July 2009, and found (with Bryan's comment) by clicking here.
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Interestingly enough, we had been hearing other first-hand reports for sometime that other breeders were spreading the rumor that John had died! We found this as amusing as we did disturbing ~ or as John has commented a number of times, "It's amazing what some people will say to sell a dog."
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Below the following testimonial letter from Bryan Rennell, we have also placed images (and the actual text) of emails from Bryan verifying yet once again that indeed, some breeders will say anything to sell a dog.
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As we have recounted earlier on other pages of the Fetters English Setter web site/blog, we have first-hand knowledge of where a number of these rumors have originated, which sadly include a number of breeders who knew and know better ~ and in fact, had contacted John numerous times in an attempt to obtain some of the Fetters English Setter bloodlines to add to their own genetically-struggling breeding programs ~ and whom John had repeatedly turned down as he did not care for the direction their breeding programs were going in.
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Directly below, Bryan Rennell's testimonial letter to John about Ginger (below that, another photo and below that, the August and October 2009 emails John received from Bryan recounting the "death" rumors and the breeder who was helping to spread them):
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"Dear John,
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"Best Regards, Bryan
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"P.S. All of my contact info is the same."
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Shown above: letter and photo sent to John
by Bryan Rennell when his Fetters English Setter
Ginger was two-years of age
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Below are the text and actual images of two emails received by John from Bryan Rennell in August and October of 2009 in which Bryan confirms that he had indeed been told John was "dead" ~ and told that by breeder Jan Turner of Setter Hills in Willmar, Minnesota ~ who also had attempted numerous times to purchase English Setters from John to introduce the Fetters Setters bloodlines into her breeding program ~ and whom John had turned down repeatedly:
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Aug 28 2009 / 19:03:54
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"John,
- "I left a comment on one of your posts, but just found this email contact page while reading. This is Bryan Rennell formally from Gainesville, GA. I purchased a great orange belton female from you named Ginger out of Darby Wind'em & Allegheny Shell. I too had heard the rumors that you had died. It is great to see that you are still alive and kicking! I was in the market for a new pup a couple of years ago and ended up with a male from another breeder. I wish I knew you were still active in breeding. Looks like I have a lot of reading to do on your site. The information is great! I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully I can have the pleasure of obtaining another one of your wonderful dogs.
"Best regards,
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"Bryan"
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Shown above, image of actual emailreceived by John from Bryan Rennell
in August 2009 recounting that Bryan
had heard the rumors John "had died."
~ Click on image for larger version ~
Below is the text and image of the actual
email where Bryan recounts the breeder
who passed this malicious rumor to him
was none other than Jan Turner of
Setter Hills in Willmar, Minnesota
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From: Bryan Rennell
To: Fetters Setters
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 10:39 AM
Subject: RE: Rumors!
To: Fetters Setters
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 10:39 AM
Subject: RE: Rumors!
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- "Thanks for the reply John. My male setter came from Jan Turner at Setter Hills. He has some Pinecoble, October, Alder Run and Fetter’s Allegheny Buck. He is a pretty good dog but doesn’t seem to have the drive Ginger has. He is just going into his 3rd season, so we shall see how he shapes up this year. I think I heard the rumor of your demise from Jan Turner. She had heard it from somewhere, but never did say.
- "Glad to hear you have some young pups coming up. I assume they are of your breeding. Please stay in touch and I will be checking your website.
"Best regards,
"Bryan Rennell, LEED®AP, QCxP
"Associate"
~ Click on image below for larger version ~
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Testimonial: Ryman's Allegheny Gold
Shown above, Ryman's Allegheny Goldpointing Wild Quail in Kansas at 16-months of age
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William B. Kent of Topeka, Kansas, acquired Ryman's Allegheny Gold from John at eight weeks of age. Later, he sent John the above and below photos along with the following letter:
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"You mentioned before that you were training a Ryman male for an individual in Kansas. If that dog has proven worthy, I might be interested in breeding my female (Ryman's Allegheny Gold) to him.
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"Goldie is everything I expect in a bird dog and more. I'm enclosing a couple of pictures and as you can see, she is quite attractive and a real bird dog already (at 16-months of age).
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"I would appreciate any information about the male, his owner with an address if possible.
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"Feel free to use Goldie's pictures in your advertising program should you wish.
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"Thanks for everything, Bill Kent"
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Shown above, Ryman's Allegheny Gold,honoring point at 16-months of age
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Shown above, letter and photos received by Johnfrom William B. Kent of Topeka, Kansas,
Owner of Ryman's Allegheny Gold ("Goldie")
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