Gordon Setter

Devoted to its own people and often slow to mature.
A Gordon Setter
Photo: Radosław Drożdżewski (Zwiadowca21)
Adult male
25–36 kg
55–80 lb
Adult female
20–32 kg
45–70 lb
Lifespan
12.4 yrs
Class · Field
also Sport, Companion

What it's like

In temperament the Gordon Setter is confident and alert, closely devoted to its own people and often reserved with strangers. It tends to mature slowly and keeps a strong hunting instinct.

Day to day
Activity
Needs lots of exercise
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Needs steady training
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Sticks close to its people
Independence
Cooperative, with its own ideas
Around the home
Sensitivity
Average
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Chases; needs managing
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
Is a Gordon Setter right for you?
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Living with one

It has a coat with feathering. It sheds through the year rather than in big seasonal moults. Plan on brushing a few times a week. It needs plenty of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A Gordon Setter is a large dog, about the weight of a grown Golden Retriever. Males end up clearly heavier than females. It is one of the lightest large breeds.

It is more heavily boned and substantial than the English or Irish setters. The soft, glossy coat is straight or slightly wavy, coal black with rich chestnut markings above the eyes and on the muzzle, throat, chest, legs and under the tail. Long feathering trims the ears, legs, belly and tail. Black and tan parents occasionally produce red puppies, a colour not accepted in the show ring.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male Gordon Setter puppy is already as heavy as a grown Border Collie. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old. The biggest males grow into the size large-breed puppy foods are made for.
Fully grown
12 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight8
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
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Age
Male
Female
2 months
5.2–7.6 kg 11.5–16.8 lb
4.9–7.6 kg 10.8–16.8 lb
3 months
7.9–11.5 kg 17.4–25.4 lb
7.0–10.8 kg 15.4–23.8 lb
4 months
11.7–17.0 kg 25.8–37.5 lb
9.9–15.5 kg 21.8–34.2 lb
5 months
14.9–21.7 kg 32.8–47.8 lb
12.6–19.6 kg 27.8–43.2 lb
6 months
17.8–26.0 kg 39.2–57.3 lb
14.7–23.0 kg 32.4–50.7 lb
7 months
20.1–29.3 kg 44.3–64.6 lb
16.3–25.4 kg 35.9–56.0 lb
8 months
21.8–31.7 kg 48.1–69.9 lb
17.4–27.2 kg 38.4–60.0 lb
9 months
22.9–33.4 kg 50.5–73.6 lb
18.3–28.5 kg 40.3–62.8 lb
10 months
23.6–34.4 kg 52.0–75.8 lb
18.8–29.4 kg 41.4–64.8 lb
11 months
24.0–35.0 kg 52.9–77.2 lb
19.2–30.0 kg 42.3–66.1 lb
12 months
24.3–35.4 kg 53.6–78.0 lb
19.5–30.4 kg 43.0–67.0 lb
15 months
24.6–35.9 kg 54.2–79.1 lb
20.1–31.4 kg 44.3–69.2 lb

Health and lifespan

In North American vet records, lymph node cancer turns up more often in Gordon Setters than in crossbreeds: it is more likely. It can shorten a life. These are figures for the breed as a whole, not a prediction for your dog.
Listed by likelihood level, highest first, then by how serious it is, then by name.
  • Lymph node cancer
    More likely
    Impact: life-limiting

Lifespan

In UK vet records, the typical Gordon Setter lived to about 12 and a half years, about average for a large breed.

Where it comes from

The Gordon Setter takes its name from Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, whose black and tan setters were kennelled at Gordon Castle by Fochabers, near the Spey in Moray, from a date no one has fixed. He brought in collie blood, from a flat-coated black and tan type. The Kennel Club's first stud book listed them as black and tan setters; the Gordon Setter name came only in 192412.

Named for the Duke of Gordon, whose kennel at Gordon Castle helped shape it, the Gordon Setter became a settled breed in the nineteenth century, appearing at early British dog shows. Dogs from Gordon Castle reached the United States in the eighteen-forties, where the breed found a following among sportsmen. It was bred to find grouse and other game birds on open moorland, quartering the ground ahead of the guns and freezing on point when it scented birds. It earned a name as a steady, methodical worker with stamina and a good nose, valued more for lasting through a long day than for speed.

Breed standard

The Gordon Setter is judged against standard no. 6, in group 7, Pointing Dogs4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Gordon Setter figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a large breed is most likely at the later end.

Compare with related

English Setter
Pointing dogs · Large
Irish Setter
Pointing dogs · Large
Pointer
Pointing dogs · Large
German Wirehaired Pointer
Pointing dogs · Medium
Or compare the Gordon Setter with any breed you choose
Track your own Gordon Setter
Log a minute a day and watch them sit on these curves. Free.

Sources

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Parts of this page were written by AI ·