doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com looking to get an English Setter, need suggestions

It's easier to train a dog to work close, than it is to get him to range out.

Mark, it's easy to get a dog to stay in close, up to 35 yards, but when you see those big ranging pointers and setters in the big field trials way out there that takes time to do. From what I know, you train him by letting him out and run out there, bring him back in, kennel him and repeat that day in and day out. After a while that all he knows is to run way out there.

The best way to find out how the breeders dogs hunt is to have him take them out and see how they range.

It's easier to put the "whoa" than the "go" into a dog that lacks one or the other. Check out the parents and offspring of the parents' previous litters to see what the breeder is producing. As a novice and wanting a close-working dog, you will be sorry for ten years if you get a "hot" dog and expect it to be easy to train to hunt close. There are close-working English Setters out there. You just have to do your homework.

I currently own 4 English Setters and have had 9 total. Great upland dogs.
I would add to your search http://www.nstra.org look under classifieds. Many breeders and owner breeders advertise here, and not all of the dogs are "race" dogs. I have seen litters some in your areas.
My family and I enjoy this breed, Easy to have in the house, easy on cats and other neighborhood vermin, soft and friendly. They really turn it on when the odor of a wild bird catches them!
Do inquire about hip certification asd Setters have a fairly high incidence of issues there.
Good Luck!

I don't much care for those big slavering dogs as my friend Tom Griffiths of Iowa called George Bird Evans dogs. I go for the small Setters. Half a dozen guys I shot with back at the Potomac River Gun Club in Indianhead, Maryland, had Mahoney Setters, sna did a lot of Grouse and Woodcock hunting all thru New England.

http://www.bdarn.com/mahoney/

Then I retired and moved out here and Gene is right nearby. My dog on a Pheasant --



Her daughter on a covey of Quail --



Both go 29 pounds.

Nice Setters Researcher!
The second bitch is very nearly a twin to two of my setters which are also Mahoney dogs out of "Magic". ---I don't know how to attach photos.
My dogs will work closer in thicker cover and range bigger if we're looking for chukars or Gambels

This one on JDW's photo looks good to me, but I strongly prefer hunting upland dogs of weight around 55 pounds and 25" tall in shoulders. Too heavy and tall dogs are not stylish. At the same time tall dogs got better nose, than small dogs.
English Setter 29 pounds sounds spaniel with point to me

How can the size of a dog of any breed have anything to do with how his nose works? That's just not logical. Think of some of the sub 25# FB English Cockers hunting out there every day.

There was military purpose reseaching re.dogs in USSR, very seriuos science people did it. I read some not secret now article from this reseach and there was statement, that in general tall dogs got better nose, than the small one of the same breed. As I remember this correctly every 4" in shoulders add aprx. 10% of distance to dog nose.
Actually it's physics and nothing else I believe. If your tall dog brings his head low most of the time, it's not about your dog

Interesting information from Geno. The best dog that I ever had was an English Setter 39 Lbs and could run hard all day or hunt up short. This dog would stand on his hind legs when trying to get sent off from the wind, he would do this high sniffing many times during the days hunt.
David Lien