Gordon Setter

Dakotazeb

Dakotazeb

Well-known member
I found a 4 year old field bred female Gordon Setter that may be available next spring after she has another litter. I've been around several Gordon's in NSTRA trials but never hunted behind one. Always thought they were one of the most beautiful breeds. Anyone on this site have a Gordon or experience with them?
 
I have had two of them.

My first was a field Gordon, a fair amount of Springset blood. She was an awesome dog. One of the better pheasant dogs I have had. Medium range, good retrieve, sweet as could be.

My 2nd was supposed to be a "duel", the show blood took out a lot of the bird skill and she was a bigger slower hunter. Good nose, but not to the standard of my other Gordon.
 
Have never owned one, only hunted in the same field with one. The experience was not the greatest and I soon realized why my group of co-workers made this guy and his Gordon hunting by themselves. I think there are lines of Gordon's that have followed the Irish Setters where the show lineage has really taken over, if that is possible. I have always like the looks of the Gordon and I'm sure there are great Gordon's out there. My experience was not a good one, but that was only one hunting season where I might of hunted with this guy only a handful of times. When we hunted the flushers went one direction and the pointers went another. He and I would keep our distance as well. This Gordon had a great disposition just not a polished hunter, wouldn't back and often times bust the points of my Britt. Hunted a few times with an Irish Setter like that too, I believe they both are great breeds but I would not own one.
 
I have had 2. The first was way too rangy for me and I traded her for my second to a field trialer. He put her with a pro and at 4 she won the National Amateur Gordon Championship one week and the National Open Gordon Championship the next. Repeated the Amateur the following year. Her range was 1/2 mile and that is unusual for a Gordon. The one I traded for was a good bird dog and sweet as can be. I got my hunting buddy a half brother to her and he was absolutely awesome.
 
The thing about going with a Gordon is not that you can't get great dogs, its that you have to do you homework to prevent getting something that is not up to your standards. In other words the % of great Gordon setters is lower than the % of great English setters, as a total of the dogs out there.

IMO
 
Miforester said:
Have never owned one, only hunted in the same field with one. The experience was not the greatest and I soon realized why my group of co-workers made this guy and his Gordon hunting by themselves. I think there are lines of Gordon's that have followed the Irish Setters where the show lineage has really taken over, if that is possible. I have always like the looks of the Gordon and I'm sure there are great Gordon's out there. My experience was not a good one, but that was only one hunting season where I might of hunted with this guy only a handful of times. When we hunted the flushers went one direction and the pointers went another. He and I would keep our distance as well. This Gordon had a great disposition just not a polished hunter, wouldn't back and often times bust the points of my Britt. Hunted a few times with an Irish Setter like that too, I believe they both are great breeds but I would not own one.
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You are correct. Like the Irish Setters and Gordons are beautiful dogs and people wanted them for pets and show dogs. A lot of the hunting instincts were eventually bred out of them. Fortunately there were enough breeders that stayed true to the hunting/field lines and preserved that breeding. Similar things happened with the Springers. The show and field dogs are almost two different breeds. Sounds like your buddy probably had a Gordon that was mainly out of some show dogs. I'm only looking at breeders that breed only for the field. Here's the gal I hope becomes available for me.

MollyOct2013.jpg
 
She's a looker! Built nice and a better than average tail. Some of their tails tend to be ropey, level, and curved. Finding straight, higher tails would be a plus if I were looking.
 
That is a very nice size. Just tall enough to allow the tail to be a table duster.....:p
 
I grew up hunting behind our family Gordon, Jinx, from '70-'76. She was a good foot shooting dog. I remember one of my first roosters shot over her. I was 12 and had a day off school. Jinx and I walked 2 blocks to the farm my dad grew up on. From there hiked over the ridge to his Aunt's farm. Jinx pointed a big rooster and I dropped it. I felt like I was 10 feet tall hiking home with the bird in the pouch of the old hand me down coat. She was a good dog with the family and in the field.

About 25 years ago there was a guy near Medford, WI who had Gordon's. His stud dog was a duel champ. Nice dogs, male @ 65 lbs. and the females about 50. A couple years later I tried looking the guy up, but he had moved, or I would have considered getting a pup from him.

One of my brothers had two and he always bragged about their pedigree. He bought a male, the pup showed some instinct, but my brother never gave the dog a lick of training. Brought it hunting once time and spent the entire time screaming at it. Never took it hunting again. The guy he got the male from later gave him a female. It had a bad underbite. My brother breed them anyways, twice. They were both dainty little things and some of the pups came out pure chocolate brown. I don't know if that's normal, or not. He and I don't get along on these issues, as I would never breed a dog that had problems like a bad bite, or hadn't been proven in the field. Despite ours being a hunting family and him owning "bird dogs", he never took them hunting because they'd run away. The poor dogs spent their lives in a kennel. Same for his current Irish Setter. Some people shouldn't own a dog.
 
I would be proud to hunt behind a dog like that.
Just 700 miles out of the way, looks like its worth it. :thumbsup:
 
700 miles, hell that is nothing, I've traveled to rural central Kansas to pick a pup out of a litter.....hope your side trip goes well and safe travels to AZ. Keep us posted on how your visit goes!
 
Well, my plans to see that Gordon Setter in Idaho got derailed. I drove to Cheyenne, WY yesterday and when I got up this morning and I80 was closed from Laramie to Rawlins. Plus it was snowing and blowing in the western part of Wyoming and into Utah. I had to pull the plug on that part of the trip. Instead I headed south on I25 and made it to Gallup, NM today. The owner is holding the Gordon for me so I plan to make the trip to see it when we return from Arizona in April. Hopefully the weather will be better then.

I will also be looking at a 1 1/2 year old female Brittany in Arizona while I'm down there.
 
Tough to get across 80 this time of year. I just got done talking to a Britt breeder in AZ, might be putting a deposit on a spring pup.
 
quail hound said:
Tough to get across 80 this time of year. I just got done talking to a Britt breeder in AZ, might be putting a deposit on a spring pup.
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What breeder?
 
Mason Ridge Brittany's. Can't believe how hard it is to find a dog that isn't a GSP here at home.
 
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