THE GORDON SETTER. 



Dr. J. Whitaker. 



Sportsmen differ widely in their love 

 and admiration of the various 

 breeds of dogs, yet all are striving 

 for purity and excellence in field quali- 

 ties. Some prefer the English setter 

 and others the pointer ; my choice is 

 the Gordon setter, the oldest and purest 

 of all known setters, which I will prove 

 as I go along. The origin of the Gordon 

 is somewhat obscure, yet we know the 

 Duke of Gordon was a breeder of this 

 type. The name comes from Gordon 

 castle, though the strain may be much 

 older. 



About 90 years ago we find the 

 noblemen of Great Britian breeding 

 their dogs to the Duke of Gordon's 

 dogs, as they were the only noted set- 

 ters of that day. They were black and 

 tan, and sometimes black, white and 

 tan. The Duke generally drafted the 

 black and tan, and thus retained the 

 color. The McKinnon kennels, In- 

 verary Castle kennels, the Duke of 

 Hamilton, Lord Edgecomb, Mr. Joblin, 

 Mr. Lanstaff, Duke of Beaufort, Sir 

 Arthur Chichester, Sir Mathew Ridley, 

 Mr. Adamson, Mr. Pearse, Mr. Stakes, 

 Lord Bolingbroke, and a host of others 

 bred from the Gordon castle stock. 

 With these facts before us, we have a 

 right to claim that the Gordon is the 

 oldest and purest of all setters showing 

 the Duke of Gordon's blood in them. 

 When Mr. Malcolm, of Baltimore, Md., 

 was advocating the organization of the 

 Gordon Setter Club of America, a great 

 many writers assailed him on the breed- 

 ing of his Gordons. Some of these 

 went so far as to assert that the Gordon 

 setter blood had a sheep dog cross in it. 



One writer, a bitter opponent of Mr. 

 Malcolm's and a friend of mine, one 

 who claims to be an authority on the 

 origin of breeds, wrote some brilliant 

 letters to the English Stock-keeper, under 

 the heading " Origin of Breeds." The 

 editor said to him in a foot-note, printed 

 under one of these : 



" The Gordon setter is a setter, the 

 collie is a collie, and we do not for one 

 moment believe that either had any- 

 thing to do with the creation of the 



other, though it is certain that Gordon 

 blood was introduced in some strains of 

 collies, and it took genuine sheep-dog 

 fanciers some years to breed out the 

 rich tan and the flap ears." 



Hence I say that the Gordon setter 

 of to-day, that can trace back to Gordon 

 castle without any crosses, is the purest 

 setter of all. There is not an English 

 setter anywhere, that can boast of an 

 extended pedigree, but what has Gordon 

 blood in his veins. Among pure bred 

 Gordons, I may mention Old Moll, 

 the dam of Dash I, color black and 

 white with light tan ; Dan, Nell, Lad, 

 Flash and Myrtle. In the pedigrees of 

 nearly all well bred English setters you 

 will find the names of some of these 

 dogs. 



The development of the Gordon 

 setter in this country, of late years, has 

 been wonderful. In place of the large 

 black and tan that used to be exhibited 

 at our shows, as a Gordon setter, we 

 now find a more beautiful, symmetrical 

 animal, built on proper lines. Owing 

 to the determined efforts of Mr. Harry 

 Malcolm, the cross bred black and tan is 

 gone, never to be benched again before 

 the American public. At our early bench 

 shows, taking in 1879, dogs were ex- 

 hibited as Gordons, weighing 60 or 

 more pounds, and not full grown at 

 that. The breeders of these did not 

 know, at that time, what a Gordon 

 setter really was. A typical Gordon 

 should weigh 40 to 50 pounds, and 

 should stand 22 to 24 inches in height. 



The Gordon has a wonderful mem- 

 ory. Anything once learned is never 

 forgotten. He has a most affectionate 

 disposition, and is easy to teach. Neither 

 the pointer nor the English setter can 

 surpass the Gordon in nose, enduram :e, 

 staunchness, obedience or speed. His 

 instinct teaches him where to look for 

 game, and he does his work in a busi- 

 ness-like way. Such dogs are rarely 

 seen at our bench shows, but many such 

 are kept by prominent sportsmen, all 

 over this country. They keep them for 

 their own private shooting and care 

 nothing for the empty honors of a 



