English Setter as Hunting Dog

The English setter is beautiful dog of medium build (males 56 to 62 cm. and females 53 to 58 cm.) that usually weighs about 25 kg. One of the fundamental characteristics of pointers, retrievers and setters is the trajectory the cranial-facial axis. It is said that cranial-facial lines of the pointers are convergent, in the retrievers they are divergent and in the setters they are parallel. The head of the setter should have a length equal to four tenths of its height and the length of its snout and cranium should be equal in length. Its nasal cavity should be straight, large, wide and the nose should also be thick and wide, which when the dog is in good health looks moist and shiny. The setter's nose should be either black or dark brown depending on the color tone of the dog itself. It has narrow lips that shouldn't hang down past the dog's jaw. Its ears hang down and they should be moderately long with the tips being slightly rounded. Its eyes should be big, bright and have a friendly, pleasant expression with normally a dark color tone, although in the lighter toned setters the eyes will often also be a lighter color. The head of the setter is normally lighter and less round than that of the pointer. A big heavy head is usually indicative of a slower dog. The setter's limbs are straight and well built. One of the interesting characteristics of the English setter is that unlike other dogs its upper forelimb is actually longer than its lower forelimb. Its tail is thick and hairy and it joined fairly high up on the dog's body. The setter's coat is long and silky with the normal length of the hair being around 5 to 6 cm, except on the head where the hair is shorter. The various speckled coat colors when occurring in English setters are referred to as belton; valid combinations are white with black flecks (called blue belton) or with orange flecks (called orange belton and depending on the intensity of the color, they might be lemon belton or liver belton), or white with black and tan flecks (called tricolour belton). In regards to its abilities as a hunting dog the English setter has a well-developed sense of smell. Its stamina and beauty make this a wonderful hunting companion that holds out well even in thick vegetation. High spirited and strong tempered the English setter can nevertheless be trained to become an expert retriever.