47 Fun Facts About English Setter

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

The Gordon Setter is named after the fourth Duke of Gordon, who kept a celebrated kennel of setters at his castle in Scotland.

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

Ticking is the name for small flecks of colour on a white coat; both British and American standards prefer it spread all over the body rather than gathered in heavy patches.

In which American Kennel Club group does the English Setter compete?

Sporting is the group for dogs bred to find game birds for the gun, and the AKC counts the English Setter among its nine charter breeds, first registered in 1878.

A white English Setter with black flecks is called what?

A white coat flecked with black is called blue belton, the grey-blue effect coming from black hairs mixed through the white; orange and liver beltons are named for their flecks.

In the English Setter breed standard, which feature is judged 'the darker the better'?

The eyes should be dark brown, 'the darker the better', in both the British and American standards, which want a bright, mild expression; the nose only has to match the coat, black or liver.

The English Setter colour term 'belton' is said to be named after what in England?

A village called Belton is said to have lent its name to the flecked coat; the breed's Victorian founder used the word for his own strain, writing of 'my Beltons' in his 1872 book on setters.

Which word do both the British and American breed standards use for the English Setter's overall look?

Elegant opens both descriptions, and the coat has to match: the British standard allows a slight wave but no curl, and the American one wants it flat, free of curl and woolliness.

How does an English Setter carry its head when working?

High, to catch the airborne scent of birds: their scent hangs in the air, so a setter ranges wide over open ground with its head up and should never track foot scent.

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

Feathering is the longer silky hair on the ears, chest, belly, legs and tail; American standards want it moderate, never so heavy that it hides the dog's lines or movement.

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

'Gentleman by Nature' is the English Setter Association's motto for the breed, though the club warns that beneath the lovable exterior lies a mischievous, strong-willed animal.

English Setter breed clubs ask breeders to screen for which inherited condition that brings arthritis in later life?

Hip dysplasia is an inherited malformation of the hip joint that leads to arthritis, so breed clubs in both Britain and America ask for hip X-rays before a dog is bred.

Unlike British setters, continental gundogs such as the vizsla are bred to hunt, point and do what else?

Retrieve: continental breeds such as the vizsla are all-rounders that hunt, point and fetch shot game, while British setters are specialists whose job traditionally ends once the birds are found.

Setter folklore says an English Setter gallops so smoothly that what could be balanced on its back?

A drink: American fanciers say a teacup and a British club president was told a glass of Champagne, because the breed is built with a level back for a smooth, tireless gallop.

The English Setter's mostly white coat is linked to a raised risk of which inherited condition?

Deafness from birth is commonest in white-coated breeds, and about one in eight English Setters in a long American university study was deaf in at least one ear, so litters are given a BAER hearing test.

The setter is named for what the dog originally did on scenting game birds?

Crouched low and froze: the early setter dropped into a 'set' to mark hidden birds, then crept in on command to put them up.

Why do breed clubs urge a securely fenced yard for an English Setter?

It wanders off after game: like many bird dogs, an English Setter left loose will range far from home on an interesting scent, so clubs and vets call a fenced yard essential.

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

Quail, pheasant and grouse are the English Setter's classic quarry, upland birds it holds on point until the hunter arrives.

Which word do gundog trainers use for a setter puppy that gets visibly excited around its quarry?

'Birdy' is the trainers' word for a pup that lights up around game; most setters are born with the instinct, and it is the trait trainers look for when choosing a puppy.

John Caius, who first described the setter in print, held which post at the Tudor court?

Royal physician: Caius was doctor to Edward VI and Mary I and refounded the Cambridge college that still bears his name, so the first account of a setter came from a medical man, not a huntsman.

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

The Springer Spaniel joined the Spanish Pointer and the large Water Spaniel in the mix, and with so much spaniel blood the early dogs were simply known as setting spaniels.

Which Latin work by John Caius, translated into English in 1576, described the setting dog?

De Canibus Britannicis began as a favour to a friend: Caius wrote his survey of British dogs for the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner, who was compiling a vast encyclopaedia of animals.

What Latin name did the Tudor naturalist John Caius give the setting dog?

Caius called the setting dog Index, Latin for one that points out, because it betrayed 'the place of the byrdes last abode' to the hunter.

Which Victorian breeder's strain became the foundation of today's show-type English Setters?

Edward Laverack bought a pair of setters in 1825 and bred from their line for decades; his dogs became the show type, while a younger breeder's outcrosses produced the working strain.

The Victorian breeder behind the modern English Setter bought his founding pair of dogs from a man in which profession?

A clergyman: the Reverend A. Harrison of Carlisle sold him Ponto and Old Moll, a pair prized because the parson's line had reportedly been kept pure for thirty-five years.

A Victorian breeder outcrossed show-winning English Setters to create a strain that would excel at what?

Field trials were the goal: the show winners of the day often faltered in competition on live game, so Llewellin outcrossed them, and field-bred English Setters still carry his name.

English Setters are said to make poor kennel dogs because they crave what?

Human company is what the breed lives for: clubs say it is happiest indoors with its family, and a young setter left alone for long spells can turn destructive.

Britain's first dog show, in 1859, had classes only for pointers and setters and was held in which city?

Newcastle staged it in the town hall, and setters of every colour competed in one class; separate English, Irish and black-and-tan classes followed at Birmingham within a couple of years.

When the champion American setter Count Noble died in 1891, which newspaper marked it with an obituary?

The New York Times reported that rival owners refused to show their setters against Count Noble, so kennel clubs offered inducements just to have him appear as an extra attraction.

Jim the Wonder Dog, a 1930s Missouri setter, was said to obey commands in foreign languages, shorthand and what else?

Morse code joined shorthand and foreign tongues on the list, and what baffled the professors who tested Jim was that his owner spoke only English.

For seven years running, Jim the Wonder Dog was said to have picked the winner of which annual event?

The Kentucky Derby: Jim was shown the list of runners before each race and was said to pick the winner seven years in a row, and he was also credited with calling the 1936 World Series.

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

Smaller and lighter-coated: working lines are bred for the job rather than the ring, and a shorter coat is the practical choice because burrs comb out of it far more easily.

What is the highest UK title available to a setter?

Dual Champion, the highest UK title for a setter, is awarded only to a dog that is both a show Champion and a Field Trial Champion, a combination very few English Setters have achieved.

British and American breed clubs both call the English Setter one of the most suitable dogs to have around whom?

Children: the American club credits the breed's mellow, loving temperament, and one profile called the setter almost too good with them, since it puts up with more poking and pulling than a dog should.

English Setters have three times won Best in Show, most recently in 1988, at which show?

Crufts went to an English Setter in 1964, 1977 and 1988, and that show-ring glamour is credited with helping to make the breed fashionable in Britain through those decades.

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

He was an 11-month-old debutant: Daro of Maridor had never set foot in a show ring, yet at Madison Square Garden he was picked over more than 3,000 dogs, established champions among them.

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

Adonis got number one in 1878, six years before the American Kennel Club itself existed; two of the other names here, Leicester and Dart, were his sire and dam.

Setter-type dogs can be traced back to the 1400s through what kind of record?

Works of art from the 1400s show dogs of clear setter type, long before anyone described one in print, which a Tudor scholar finally did in the 1570s.

Each spring and summer, gamekeepers on British moors bring in working setters for what job?

Taking a census: the dogs quarter a set area and point each covey, the keeper counts the birds that fly, and the summer tally of broods decides whether the moor is shot at all that year.

Which country registered more than 14,000 English Setters in 2011?

Italy registered 14,510 English Setters in 2011, about sixty times the 234 puppies recorded that year in Britain, the breed's own homeland.

Which Depression-era US president kept an English Setter named Winks at the White House?

Franklin D. Roosevelt's Winks made the news in 1934 by slipping into the White House staff dining room and eating the bacon and eggs laid out for nearly twenty people, years before the terrier Fala arrived.

Breed guides say an English Setter typically does what when a stranger comes to the door?

Barks an alarm, and that is as far as it goes: once its owner says the caller is welcome, a setter usually stops and treats the stranger as a friend.

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

The hock is the limit in both the British and American standards, so a longer tail, or one carried above the line of the back, counts against a dog in the show ring.

In Tudor times, what did hunters draw over the birds a setter had found, often covering the dog too?

A net was spread wide over the ground, dog and all, and the hidden birds were then startled into flight so that they flew straight up into the mesh.

Away from the field, the American breed club recommends English Setters for which kind of work?

Therapy visits suit a dog this calm and this friendly, and the club suggests setters to anyone who would like to cheer hospital patients and care-home residents.

What do the British and American standards call an English Setter that carries tan points?

Tricolour adds tan points to black or liver flecking, and because both the British and American standards prefer a dog flecked all over, heavy body patches count against it in the ring.

In 2012 the English Setter joined which Kennel Club list for the first time?

Vulnerable Native Breeds takes British and Irish breeds that fall below 300 puppies a year; the setter managed 234 in 2011, under half its total a decade before, as fashion turned to more exotic dogs.

A US registry found an autoimmune disease in about a quarter of tested English Setters, attacking which gland?

The thyroid was under immune attack in 26.2 per cent of the 747 setters tested, and the American breed club now makes a thyroid test part of its health screening.