Brains, Beauty And Bird Sense

Developed by the 4th Duke of Gordon, the handsome black-and-tan Gordon setter has fallen out of fashion as a gundog, but deserves our attention as a potential pet, discovers Matthew Dennison.

- Matthew Dennison

THAT’S a really big spaniel, isn’t it?’ and ‘Your dog’s a rottweiler’, comments more than once addressed to Siobhan Whiteway on walks with her three-year-old Gordon setter bitch, Ember, give an accurate indication of how rare and unrecognised this handsome black-and-tan gundog has become. Last year, the number of Gordon setter puppies registered nationally by the Kennel Club (KC) sank to 172. By contrast, in the same period, the nation’s favourite dog breed, the French bulldog, notched up more than 30,000 puppy registrations. On the eve of the bicentenary of its breed standard being formalised—in 1820, by Alexander, 4th Duke of Gordon, who lent the breed his name—the Gordon setter is well on its way to becoming the gundog British owners forgot.

It’s a sorry outcome. Anyone who has ever witnessed a Gordon setter at work, pointing in the field or running with long, liquid strides across open parkland, is unlikely to forget the beauty of the sight: the dog’s silky coat like molten liquorice splashed with amber, eyes set, nose aquiver, a long plume of tail extended, the feathering of legs, tail and underbelly suggesting a surprising lightness to this heavyweight of British setter breeds.

Noble both in appearance and heritage, the much-neglected Gordon setter is an attractive and lovable pet for owners capable of providing appropriate training in what can be a protracted puppyhood and who are willing and able to exercise energetic dogs bred for an outdoor working life.

‘The Gordon setter does need exercise,’ owner of four—and co-owner and co-breeder of the only two dual-champion setters (show ring and field trials) in UK history—Jean Collins-Pitman states. ‘They need to be able to gallop freely.’ Yet they are also, she notes, comfort-loving, cosy and comfortable dogs: ‘Gordons are very loving and very friendly.’