Gordon Setter 1872

Description

The Gordon Setter is a member of the setter family that includes the Irish Setter and English Setter. Setters are classified as either a Sporting or Gundog breed depending on the national kennel club or council. Their original purpose was to hunt gamebirds. Their quarry in the United Kingdom, may be partridge or grouse, pheasant, ptarmigan, blackgame, snipe or woodcock: overseas bird dogs are worked on quail, willow grouse, sand grouse, guinea fowl, sagehen, francolin and any other bird that will sit to a dog – in attempting to avoid a potential predator by concealment rather than by taking to the wing at the first sign of danger. It is this combination of a bird that will sit fast before a dog that will remain on point that makes bird dog work possible. Edward Laverick wrote in The Setter, published in 1872: “the setter is but an improved spaniel”; All setters derive from the Spaniel. The Gordon Setter has long been associated with Gordon Castle in Scotland in 1820 and is still sometimes referred to as the Scottish Setter. But there is evidence that the Black & Tan Setter was in existence in the UK long before the Duke of Gordon strengthened and perfected the breed early in the 18th century. The Black & Tan Setter is depicted in art as early as 1805. At the first dog show in Newcastle in 1859, for Setters and Pointers, a Black and Tan Setter took the First Prize for Setters. The original purpose of the breed was to find game birds, especially grouse, by quartering on moorland, and then to freeze on point to indicate to the guns where the game was. The Gordon Setter is a medium sized dog with striking black and tan markings, and a flat shiny coat of moderate length. They are a slightly heavier build than the other setters.