English Setter

Description

The English Setter is a bred of Gun Dog breed to hunt upland game birds such as Quail, Pheasant, Grouse and Woodcock. This bred was dubbed Setter for it’s ability to set and mark the location of game, today’s Setters have been bred to point game.

Beautiful and Elegant are often used to describe the English Setter. They have a long and silky white coat that feathers at the tail, chest and legs, with black, orange, lemon or liver speckles. Their long coat requires regular maintenance.
Males: Height 24-27 inches / Weight 55-80 pounds.
Females: Height 23-26 inches / Weight 45-70 pounds.

History

Records dating back to the 14th century make the English Setter one of the oldest breeds of Gun Dog. Most references have the English Setter originating from spaniel stock, most notably the Springer Spaniel and the Water Spaniel, with some mentions of Spanish Pointer and French Pointer. Originally called the Setting Spaniel, for its ability to set and wait when it had found game, before it was eventually just called the Setter. The setting stance was later bred out of the Setters, for a more upright pointing stance.

In the early 1800’s, a breeder named Sir Edward Laverack, developed his own strain of Setters. Most of today’s English Setters are based on his strain, in fact in the English Setter is sometimes referred to as the Laverack Setter.

In the Mid 1800’s another breeder by the name of R. Purcell Llewellin started to develop his own strain of English Setters based on Laverack’s strain. This would later be the foundation for today’s “Llewellin Setters”. The “Llewellin Setter”, while still an English Setter, is a completely separate and pure bloodline.