English Setter

The English Setter is a breed of dog. It is part of the Setter family, which includes red Irish Setters, Irish Red and White Setters, and black-and-tan Gordon Setters.

The English Setter is a gun dog, bred for a mix of endurance and athleticism.

Description

Appearance

The coat is flat with light feathering of long length. They have a long, flowing coat that requires regular grooming.

The various speckled coat colours when occurring in English Setters are referred to as belton; valid combinations are white with black (blue belton), white with orange flecks (orange belton)), White with orange flecks and lighter nose is lemon belton, white with liver flecks (Liver Belton) or "Tricolour" which is blue or liver belton with Tan markings on the face, chest and legs.

Temperament

This breed's standard temperament is best described as a "Gentleman by Nature. However, it can also be strong-willed and mischievous. English Setters are energetic, people-oriented dogs, that are well suited to families who can give them attention and activity, or to working with a hunter, where they have a job to do. They are active dogs outside that need plenty of exercise in a good sized fenced-in yard. Inside they tend to be lower energy and love to be couch potatoes and lap dogs that love to cuddle. Many are good around children.

English Setters are very intelligent and can be trained to perform about any task another breed can do, with the exception of herding. However, they are not always easy to train, as their natural bird instinct tends to distract them in outdoor environments. Their temperament is considered a soft one. Therefore they are very sensitive to criticism, and could be unwilling to repeat a behaviour out of fear to disappoint the trainer. Positive reinforcement training methods therefore work best for English Setters.

Health

A relatively healthy breed, Setters have few genetic problems but some problems occasionally occur. Canine hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, congenital deafness, and canine hypothyroidism are some of the more well-known ailments that can affect this dog. A specific form of cancer is also common in older members of the breed. Some lines are prone to allergies including food allergies. Life expectancy is between 10-12 years, though with proper medical care 13 to 15 years is not out of the question.

History

The English Setter was originally bred to set or point upland game birds. From the best available information, it appears that the English Setter was a trained bird dog in England more than 400 years ago. There is evidence that the English Setter originated in crosses of the Spanish Pointer, large Water Spaniel, and Springer Spaniel, which combined to produce an excellent bird dog with a high degree of proficiency in finding and pointing game in open country. The modern English Setter owes its appearance to Mr. Edward Laverack (1800-1877), who developed his own strain of the breed by careful breeding during the 19th century in England and to another Englishman, Mr. R. Purcell Llewellin (1840-1925), who based his strain upon Laverack's and developed the working Setter. Today, you still hear the term Llewellin Setter, but this is not a separate breed, they are however a completely separate and pure bloodline. Field-bred English Setters are often mistakably referred to as "Llewellin", but only DNA can tell the difference.

With time, Laverack bred successfully to produce beautiful representatives of the breed. The first show for English Setters was held in 1859 at Newcastle upon Tyne. The breed's popularity soared across England as shows became more and more widespread. Not long after, the first English Setters were brought to North America, including those that began the now-famous Llewellin strain recorded in the writing of Dr. William A Burette. From this group of dogs came the foundation of the field-trial setter in America, "Count Noble," who is currently mounted in the Carnegie Museum at Pittsburgh. At present, the English is one of the most popular and elegant sporting breeds, often grouped with its cousins, the Irish and Gordon Setters.

The field type & show type English Setter look very different, even though they are the same breed. Field type setters are often smaller and are seen with less feathering and usually more distinctive spotting than show type setters. Both traits are beneficial in the field: fewer feathering makes getting burrs out of their coat easier and the spotting makes them easier to see in the field. For this reason, in the English Setter breed, compared to other breeds, there are very few Dual Champions (dogs that have completed their show & field championship titles).

English Setters have been among the premier breeds since the formation of the American Kennel Club. Along with eight other Sporting breeds, they were among the first pure breeds accepted by the Club in 1878. In fact, the very first dog registered with the AKC was an English Setter named Adonis.

Miscellaneous

The name Llewellin Setter is given to a certain breed of Setters bred by R.L. Purcell Llewellin to be perfect for foot hunting and early field trials. The breed was very successfully advertised even though losing to Joe, Jr. in the great match race between the Cambell (George M. Cambell of Springhill, TN) native English Setter strain and the blue blooded Llewellin Setter Gladstone of an American strain of Llewellin Setter.

Because of the major change in American field trials to big, wide running field trials their field trail performance begin to decline against the bigger running pointers after 1914 when pointer Commanche Frank won the National Bird Dog Championship. But the obsession with the Llewellin breed as champion foot hunting bird dogs and excellent family companions occurs at the same time pointers began to dominate wide ranging field trials.

The Llewellin Setter breed is making a huge come back with the lose of large area's to hunt, leaving hunter's the need for a closer ranging hunting dog and family companion.

There are basically two lines of Llewellin Setters recognized today. They are the "American Llewellins" developed from lines of early English imports from the late 1800s and early 1900s that were mainly developed by American field trial breeder's. The second is the "Dashing Bondhu" line developed personally by R.L. Purcell Llewellin himself for 50 years and with William Humphrey also in England for 38 more years and Fr. Brannon in Ireland for 30 plus years. These were not imported to America until the 1960s and 80's. The breeding of these pure Dashing Bondhu's in America resulted in producing the most famous of all Llewellin Setter's known today. The famous "Henry Princeof Paws", aka "Hank" fame of the Outdoor Life Network 'OLN' Channel series known as "Hunting with Hank".

Aside from the separately recognized Llewellin Setter breed with FDSB registry in 1902 and with the International Progressive Dog Breeders' Alliance 'IPDBA' registry in 1996, there are many other unrecognized regional strains of English setters. One such strain, the Newfoundland Setter, was accomplished by breeding English, Irish and Gordon setters together over a period of hundreds of years. The result is a setter which is almost perfectly adapted to the local terrain and can display the visual traits/colours from any of the setter types.

External links

• English Setter Association
• The National Llewellin Setter Association
• Pure Llewellin Setter Photos
• English Setter Rescue UK
• English Setter Association of America
• Another Chance for English Setters USA
• Above & Beyond English Setter Rescue USA
• Keepsake Setter Rescue USA
• Illinois Birddog Rescue USA-Midwest

Notes