50 free English Setter trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This English Setter trivia quiz covers the 'Gentleman by Nature' from its 15th-century setting-dog ancestors to the modern show ring. Questions run through the belton colours (blue, orange, lemon, liver, tricolour) and where the word came from, ticking and feathering, size, head carriage, temperament, exercise and Coren's ranking, plus health facts on deafness and lifespan. History takes in Caius's Index of 1576, hawking and netting, Edward Laverack's Ponto and Old Moll, Llewellin's Duke, Rhoebe and Kate, Dashing Bondhu, the 1874 import to New Jersey, Count Noble in Pittsburgh, and Jim the Wonder Dog of Marshall, Missouri. Competition questions cover Dual Champions and Countess, three Crufts wins, the 11-month-old Westminster winner of 1938, Adonis as AKC registration number one, and the breed's rise and fall on the vulnerable breeds list. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our Dogs and Irish Setter quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Alongside the English and two Irish setters, which black-and-tan breed completes the setter group?
The Gordon
The four setters and the pointers usually form a subgroup within the gundogs in the UK.
Q 02The flecks of colour on an English Setter's mainly white coat are known as what?
Ticking
The colour varieties have a collective name of their own borrowed from a village.
Q 03What term is used for the English Setter's speckled colour varieties, such as blue or orange?
Belton
The term was coined in the 19th century to describe a breeder's ideal flecking.
Q 04A white English Setter with black flecks is called what?
Blue belton
White with orange flecks is 'orange', and white with liver flecks is 'liver'.
Q 05What distinguishes a 'lemon' from an 'orange' English Setter?
A lighter nose
Both are white with orange flecks; only the pigment differs.
Q 06The word Laverack coined for the flecked colours is also the name of what?
A village in the far north of England
It described his ideal for the flecking of the coat.
Q 07The English Setter is sometimes called the Laverack or Llewellin Setter. Why?
They were famous strains during its 19th-century development
Horace Lytle put it simply in 1928: a Llewellin is always an English Setter, but an English Setter is not always a Llewellin.
Q 08How tall can a male English Setter stand?
Up to 27 inches
Females start at around 24 inches; field-bred dogs are finer than show-bred ones.
Q 09How does an English Setter carry its head when working, and why?
High, to catch the airborne scent of birds
The standard says a setter should never follow foot scent.
Q 10The long silky coat on the ears, legs, belly and tail of an English Setter is called what?
Feathering
It should be straight and flat, never curly, though a slight wave is allowed.
Q 11The English Setter's standard temperament is summed up in what phrase?
'Gentleman by Nature'
The breed is described as intensely friendly and particularly happy with children.
Q 12How much daily exercise is recommended for an English Setter?
Up to two hours
Indoors they turn into couch potatoes and lap dogs.
Q 13Where does the English Setter rank in Stanley Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs?
37th
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?
Q 21Writing in 1876, Arnold Burges called the pure-blooded English Setter the best animal for what?
American upland shooting
His book was The American Kennel and Sporting Field.
Q 22The English Setter is believed to derive from the Spanish Pointer, the large Water Spaniel and which breed?
The Springer
Works of art from the early 15th century already show dogs of setter type.
Q 23What may Caius's 1576 description of a French dog speckled 'inclining to a marble blewe' describe?
The blue belton colour
Caius also gave the setter its Latin name, Index.
Herding
Positive reinforcement works best, as the breed is sensitive to criticism.
Q 15A 2024 UK study found what life expectancy for the English Setter?
13.1 years
A 2024 Italian study, by contrast, gave just 10 years, the same as the overall Italian figure.
Q 16What percentage of 701 English Setters tested by LSU in 2010 had congenital deafness?
12.4%
Autoimmune thyroiditis affected 26.2 per cent of dogs in an Orthopedic Foundation for Animals listing.
Q 17How did the term 'setter' arise?
From the dog freezing in a crouch or 'set' on finding game
On command the dog then creeps forward to flush the birds.
Q 18Before firearms, what did hunters release once a setter had put the birds into flight?
Hawks
Later, netting replaced hawking and the hunter threw a net over the birds behind the dog.
Q 19Which game birds is the English Setter classically used to hunt?
Quail, pheasant and grouse
Trainers usually start puppies on quail or domesticated pigeons.
Q 20What do trainers call a setter puppy that shows excitement and interest in birds?
'Birdy'
Most setters are born with a natural proclivity to hunting.
Q 24What Latin name did Caius give the setting dog in 1576?
Index
It refers to the dog 'betraying the place of the byrdes last abode' with its paws.
Q 25Which Englishman, born in 1800, developed the strain that gave the modern English Setter its appearance?
Edward Laverack
Llewellin then founded his own strain from Laverack's best dogs.
Q 26Which pair of dogs, bought from a Carlisle clergyman around 1826, founded Laverack's line?
Ponto and Old Moll
Reverend A. Harrison claimed the strain had been pure-bred for 35 years; Laverack inbred to the pair for generations.
Q 27Llewellin outcrossed Laverack's dogs with which bloodlines?
Duke, Rhoebe and Kate
Kate bred to Laverack's best males produced Llewellin's ideal field champions.
Q 28What was Llewellin's personal strain called, inherited by William Humphrey in 1925?
Dashing Bondhu
It was founded on Fd.Ch.Ch. Armstrong's Dash II and Fd.Ch.Ch. Dashing Bondhu.
Q 29Who imported the first Laverack-line English Setter to America, in 1874?
C. H. Raymond of Morris Plains, New Jersey
The working setter Count Noble descended from these early imports.
Q 30The celebrated working setter Count Noble is commemorated at which institution?
The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
He descended from the earliest Laverack imports to America.