English Setter Breed Facts and Information

Coat & Grooming: The English Setter’s attractive coat is long and flowing. When properly cared for, their coats are absolutely stunning. You’ll need to groom your English Setter one to three times a week to keep the coat healthy, shiny and free of mats. “This involves brushing, combing and mat removal,” Sillman adds. “If your English Setter carries a lot of coat, you may want to get help from a professional groomer.”

Coat length: Long

Grooming: Frequent

Shedding: Even though the English Setter has a long and luxurious coat, they shed only moderately. Weekly brushing and combing (or more if necessary), can keep mats at bay.

Temperament & Behavior: This loving, gentle breed is also calm and friendly, which means they get along well with children and other animals. While they are happy to lounge in their home, once outside, their active nature and hunting instinct takes over. This breed excels at agility obstacles, can find its way out of sub-standard fences and loves to hunt. It’s important to provide an English Setter with plenty of toys, as well as plenty of time outside to run and roam.

Barking: Although the English Setter is known to be a fairly calm breed, they may bark if they feel lonely or don’t have access to enough exercise or entertainment. They don’t do well if left alone, so spending plenty of time with your English Setter is important. “The company of another dog will help your English Setter feel less lonely in your absence,” says Sillman.

Training: This breed is moderately easy to train, especially if you begin training at a young age and remain consistent. They can be stubborn at times and their hunting background often leads them to be independent thinkers, but with consistency and kindness most English Setters can be trained easily.
“Though originally bred for hunting, English Setters can be trained to successfully participate in a number of AKC-sanctioned activities, including conformation showing, field trials, obedience, rally, agility, tracking, nose work and more,” says Sillman. “They are intelligent and intuitive. The trick is to not let them get bored during training. They do not respond well to negative reinforcement (punishment), but do well with encouragement.”

Behavior with kids: This friendly and easy-going breed is calm and loving with kids.

Protection: This breed is known to bark when strangers approach, although they quickly warm up to new faces.

Life Span: On average, English Setters live to be around 10 to 12 years old.

Inherited health issues: While English Setters are generally a healthy breed, certain health conditions can occur either at an increased frequency or through genetics. Responsible breeders should perform a number of screening and genetic tests prior to breeding in an attempt to decrease the incidence of many of these conditions within the breed. These conditions may include, but are not limited to, the following: Malassezia dermatitis, Congenital deafness, Ceroid lipofuscinosis, Ectropion, Progressive retinal atrophy, Hip dysplasia and Elbow dysplasia.

Preventive care: While screening tests prior to breeding are useful at decreasing the incidence of some conditions within the English Setter breed, such as hip dysplasia or elbow dysplasia, no test can definitively prevent such orthopedic conditions. In order to minimize many of the problems associated with these conditions, owners of English Setters should take care to assure that their dog maintains a healthy body weight and receives plenty of regular exercise. Affected dogs may also benefit from the anti-inflammatory properties in fish oil fatty acids, as well as prescription medications.
English Setters also have a higher than normal incidence of Malassezia dermatitis, or yeast skin infections. These infections may be preventable if underlying triggers are identified and treated, and may occur less frequently with regular use of medicated antifungal shampoos or wipes under the guidance of a veterinarian.

The English Setter is generally an active breed, but can still become overweight with overfeeding or insufficient exercise. It is best to feed English Setters properly measured portion controlled meals of a high quality, balanced diet. Avoid offering table scraps or excessive quantities of treats, as these can quickly pack on unwanted pounds.

Daily Consumption: Average daily consumption for an adult Setter is 2 to 4 cups.

Energy Level: Frisky, energetic breed that is always ready for action

Exercise: The English Setter is an active breed that loves to hunt, run and explore. For this reason, they should always be walked on a leash, says Sillman. They do well in an outdoor setting as long as you keep a close eye on them, as English Setters have been known to find their way out of fenced-in areas. When building a fence for your dog yard, Sillman recommends making it 6 feet high at minimum.

Climate: The English Setter has a long coat that keeps them warm in the winter, but could be problematic in particularly warm climates.

Living space: Although docile and calm indoors, the English Setter is a medium-sized breed that does well with extra space to sprawl. Outdoor spaces should be properly fenced in, as the English Setter is known as an escape artist.