50 Fun Facts About English Setter

Alongside the English and two Irish setters, which black-and-tan breed completes the setter group?

The four setters and the pointers usually form a subgroup within the gundogs in the UK.

The flecks of colour on an English Setter's mainly white coat are known as what?

The colour varieties have a collective name of their own borrowed from a village.

What term is used for the English Setter's speckled colour varieties, such as blue or orange?

The term was coined in the 19th century to describe a breeder's ideal flecking.

A white English Setter with black flecks is called what?

White with orange flecks is 'orange', and white with liver flecks is 'liver'.

What distinguishes a 'lemon' from an 'orange' English Setter?

Both are white with orange flecks; only the pigment differs.

The word Laverack coined for the flecked colours is also the name of what?

It described his ideal for the flecking of the coat.

The English Setter is sometimes called the Laverack or Llewellin Setter. Why?

Horace Lytle put it simply in 1928: a Llewellin is always an English Setter, but an English Setter is not always a Llewellin.

How tall can a male English Setter stand?

Females start at around 24 inches; field-bred dogs are finer than show-bred ones.

How does an English Setter carry its head when working, and why?

The standard says a setter should never follow foot scent.

The long silky coat on the ears, legs, belly and tail of an English Setter is called what?

It should be straight and flat, never curly, though a slight wave is allowed.

The English Setter's standard temperament is summed up in what phrase?

The breed is described as intensely friendly and particularly happy with children.

How much daily exercise is recommended for an English Setter?

Indoors they turn into couch potatoes and lap dogs.

Where does the English Setter rank in Stanley Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs?

That is above-average working intelligence, though bird instinct distracts them outdoors.

English Setters can be trained for almost any task another breed can do, with the exception of what?

Positive reinforcement works best, as the breed is sensitive to criticism.

A 2024 UK study found what life expectancy for the English Setter?

A 2024 Italian study, by contrast, gave just 10 years, the same as the overall Italian figure.

What percentage of 701 English Setters tested by LSU in 2010 had congenital deafness?

Autoimmune thyroiditis affected 26.2 per cent of dogs in an Orthopedic Foundation for Animals listing.

How did the term 'setter' arise?

On command the dog then creeps forward to flush the birds.

Before firearms, what did hunters release once a setter had put the birds into flight?

Later, netting replaced hawking and the hunter threw a net over the birds behind the dog.

Which game birds is the English Setter classically used to hunt?

Trainers usually start puppies on quail or domesticated pigeons.

What do trainers call a setter puppy that shows excitement and interest in birds?

Most setters are born with a natural proclivity to hunting.

Writing in 1876, Arnold Burges called the pure-blooded English Setter the best animal for what?

His book was The American Kennel and Sporting Field.

The English Setter is believed to derive from the Spanish Pointer, the large Water Spaniel and which breed?

Works of art from the early 15th century already show dogs of setter type.

What may Caius's 1576 description of a French dog speckled 'inclining to a marble blewe' describe?

Caius also gave the setter its Latin name, Index.

What Latin name did Caius give the setting dog in 1576?

It refers to the dog 'betraying the place of the byrdes last abode' with its paws.

Which Englishman, born in 1800, developed the strain that gave the modern English Setter its appearance?

Llewellin then founded his own strain from Laverack's best dogs.

Which pair of dogs, bought from a Carlisle clergyman around 1826, founded Laverack's line?

Reverend A. Harrison claimed the strain had been pure-bred for 35 years; Laverack inbred to the pair for generations.

Llewellin outcrossed Laverack's dogs with which bloodlines?

Kate bred to Laverack's best males produced Llewellin's ideal field champions.

What was Llewellin's personal strain called, inherited by William Humphrey in 1925?

It was founded on Fd.Ch.Ch. Armstrong's Dash II and Fd.Ch.Ch. Dashing Bondhu.

Who imported the first Laverack-line English Setter to America, in 1874?

The working setter Count Noble descended from these early imports.

The celebrated working setter Count Noble is commemorated at which institution?

He descended from the earliest Laverack imports to America.

Which Missouri town has a bronze statue of Jim the Wonder Dog, the Llewellin Setter with 'occult power'?

He reportedly picked the Kentucky Derby winner seven years running and predicted the Yankees' 1936 World Series win.

How many years in a row was Jim the Wonder Dog said to have picked the Kentucky Derby winner?

A joint session of the Missouri Legislature was convened to witness his talents.

How do field-type English Setters typically differ from show-type dogs?

Less coat makes burs easier to remove and spots make the dog easier to see in the field.

How does the FCI classify the English Setter within Group 7?

In the UK it is a gundog, in America and Canada a Sporting dog.

What is the highest UK title available to a setter?

It requires both a Show Champion and a Field Trial Champion title, and very few English Setters achieve it.

Which English Setter was the first gun dog to hold both show and field trial champion titles?

Bred by Laverack and sired by Dash 2nd, she was passed via Sam Lang to Llewellin, who ran her in field trials.

The English Setter won Best in Show at Crufts in 1964, 1977 and which other year?

The 1996 winner was a Cocker Spaniel.

What was remarkable about the English Setter that won Best in Show at Westminster in 1938?

As of 2013 he remained the only setter ever to win Westminster's top prize.

What was the name of the English Setter that holds American Kennel Club registration number one?

Born in 1875, he was black, white and tan and owned by breeder George E. Delano of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

How many sporting breeds were accepted as the AKC's first pure-bred registrations in 1878?

The setter shared the honour with eight others.

UK English Setter puppy registrations peaked at how many in 1974?

By 2012 the figure had fallen to 234, putting the breed on the Vulnerable Native Breeds list.

In which country does the English Setter remain a popular working gundog, with over 14,000 registrations in 2011?

Even there the breed is in decline, down from 20,999 registrations in 2002.

In the AKC's 2011 'year of the setters', where did the English Setter rank, up from 101st?

By 2024 the ranking had slipped to 93rd.

How does the standard say an English Setter's ears should be positioned?

The ears are sometimes called 'leathers'.

The English Setter's tail should be long enough to reach where?

It is carried in line with the back and feathered with long coat.

When netting replaced hawking, how did the hunter use the setter?

Guns became common in the mid-1600s, and setters then also had to be steady to shot.

Hunters may work how many setters together to triangulate a hidden bird's position?

The quarry is usually landfowl concealed in tall grass or low shrubs.

A blue or liver belton English Setter with tan markings on face, chest and legs is called what?

The flecks should be spread all over the body rather than forming large patches, and puppies may not yet show all the markings they will carry as adults.

In 2012, why did the Kennel Club list the English Setter among its Vulnerable Native Breeds?

Registrations edged back up to 314 that year, moving the breed to the 'At Watch' list, but a fall to 289 in 2015 returned it to the vulnerable list for 2016.

What share of 747 English Setters examined for an OFA listing (1974-2012) had autoimmune thyroiditis?

Elbow dysplasia, hypothyroidism and food or skin allergies are the other conditions the breed is known to develop.