The Gordon Setter 209 
An early Canadian fancier of the breed was Dr. J. S. Niven, of 
London, who was also an importer of several spaniels and Irish terriers 
with all of which he was very successful. He imported Blossom, the dog 
selected by Vero Shaw to illustrate “The Book of the Dog” article, and 
from which and the imported bitch Moll he bred Argus, a dog that had a 
very good show record ere he was retired in 1887, winning about a dozen 
championships besides other prizes. Blossom did not do nearly so well 
and was only shown at two or three shows, one of them being London in 
1881, when he defeated his son Argus, it being the latter’s only defeat that 
we can recall. 
Philadelphia has always been a strong supporter of this breed. Mr. A. 
H. Moore’s Bob was the first of a long line of winners owned there, and was 
followed by Mr. Maher’s Royal Duke, who was the prominent winner of 
his day. Ned Maher was a very popular owner and quite a good dog 
was named after him, but when the owner registered it with the Kennel 
Club he spelt the name Mayers, and the registration official did not 
detect the error, which cannot now be corrected. Lapping the Royal 
Duke period came the first of a most successful showing by Dr. S. G. 
Dixon, also of Philadelphia, whose first good winner was Little Boy, who 
began as first, New York, 1884, and as late as 1890 won in six champion 
classes. 
Mr. Morris of New York had also at that time that very good dog 
Beaumont, which in 1890 became the head of the Beaumont Kennels, and 
had for company such good Gordons as Belmont, Beemont, Flomont and 
others. Then there was the Meadowthorpe Kennels in Kentucky, with its 
short-lived, but good-winning kennel of dogs, including the Gordons Mea- 
dowthorpe Heather Roy, Heather Harold, Rex and Defiance. “Scotch” 
Baillie, who managed the kennels, was an excellent judge of sporting 
dogs and his entries were always close up to the blues. 
Dr. Dixon added materially to his kennel, and there never was a period 
in the history of Gordon setters in this country when there were so many 
good ones opposing one another. The Dixons included Countess of Rich- 
mond, Duchess of Waverley, Field Marshal, Ivanhoe and Lady Waverley 
as the chief winners, in addition to Little Boy, already mentioned. Mr. 
Frank Smith, also and still of Philadelphia, had one or two money-winners 
during this time, King Item, Roxie and Countess Roxie doing a creditable 
amount of winning against such strong competition. 
