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49 free English Setter trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This English Setter trivia quiz covers the 'Gentleman by Nature' from its 15th-century setting-dog ancestors to the modern show ring. Questions run through the belton colours (blue, orange, lemon, liver, tricolour) and where the word came from, ticking and feathering, size, head carriage, temperament, exercise and Coren's ranking, plus health facts on deafness and lifespan. History takes in Caius's Index of 1576, hawking and netting, Edward Laverack's Ponto and Old Moll, Llewellin's Duke, Rhoebe and Kate, Dashing Bondhu, the 1874 import to New Jersey, Count Noble in Pittsburgh, and Jim the Wonder Dog of Marshall, Missouri. Competition questions cover Dual Champions and Countess, three Crufts wins, the 11-month-old Westminster winner of 1938, Adonis as AKC registration number one, and the breed's rise and fall on the vulnerable breeds list. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our Dogs and Irish Setter quizzes next.
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Q 01Alongside the English and two Irish setters, which black-and-tan breed completes the setter group?
The Gordon
The Gordon Setter, a black-and-tan Scottish breed, completes the setter group alongside the English, Irish Red and Irish Red and White Setters.
Q 02The flecks of colour on an English Setter's mainly white coat are known as what?
Ticking
Small flecks of colour on a white coat are called ticking; in the English Setter the ticking is spread over the whole body rather than lying in heavy patches.
Q 03What term is used for the English Setter's speckled colour varieties, such as blue or orange?
Belton
Belton is the breed's own word for its flecked colour varieties, a 19th-century coinage used in every kennel club standard for the English Setter.
Q 04A white English Setter with black flecks is called what?
Blue belton
A white coat flecked with black is called blue belton, the grey-blue effect coming from black hairs mixed through the white; orange and liver beltons are named for their flecks.
Q 05What distinguishes a 'lemon' from an 'orange' English Setter?
A lighter nose
Both are white with orange flecks; only the pigment differs.
Q 06The word Laverack coined for the flecked colours is also the name of what?
A village in the far north of England
Laverack took his word for the flecked colours from a village in the far north of England, using it to describe his ideal flecking of the coat.
Q 07How tall can a male English Setter stand?
Up to 27 inches
A male English Setter stands up to 27 inches (69 cm) at the withers, most falling between 25 and 27 inches, with females around 24 to 25 inches.
Q 08How does an English Setter carry its head when working, and why?
High, to catch the airborne scent of birds
A working English Setter carries its head high to catch the airborne scent of birds, quartering upwind rather than following foot scent along the ground.
Q 09The long silky coat on the ears, legs, belly and tail of an English Setter is called what?
Feathering
The long silky fringes on the ears, legs, belly and tail are called feathering; the breed standard wants it straight and flat, with a slight wave allowed but no curl.
Q 10The English Setter's standard temperament is summed up in what phrase?
'Gentleman by Nature'
The English Setter's temperament is summed up as 'Gentleman by Nature': intensely friendly, good-natured and especially happy around children.
Q 11How much daily exercise is recommended for an English Setter?
Up to two hours
Up to two hours of daily exercise is recommended for the English Setter, an active gundog that nonetheless settles into a calm couch potato indoors.
Q 12Where does the English Setter rank in Stanley Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs?
37th
The English Setter is ranked 37th in Stanley Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs, placing it in his 'above average working dogs' group.
Q 13English Setters can be trained for almost any task another breed can do, with the exception of what?
Herding
Herding is the one job the English Setter is held to be unsuited for; otherwise the breed can be trained for almost any task, responding best to gentle positive reinforcement.
Q 21The English Setter is believed to derive from the Spanish Pointer, the large Water Spaniel and which breed?
The Springer
The English Setter is thought to descend from crosses of the Spanish Pointer, the large Water Spaniel and the Springer Spaniel, a mix that produced a dog able to find and hold game birds.
Q 22Which Latin work by John Caius, translated into English in 1576, described the setting dog?
De Canibus Britannicis
John Caius's De Canibus Britannicis (1570), translated by Abraham Fleming as Of Englishe Dogges in 1576, described the setting dog among the hunting breeds of Tudor England.
Q 23What Latin name did Caius give the setting dog in 1576?
Index
Q 14A 2024 UK study found what life expectancy for the English Setter?
13.1 years
A 2024 Italian study, by contrast, gave just 10 years, the same as the overall Italian figure.
Q 15What percentage of 701 English Setters tested by LSU in 2010 had congenital deafness?
12.4%
A 2010 Louisiana State University study found congenital deafness in 12.4 per cent of the 701 English Setters it tested, using the BAER hearing test to identify affected dogs.
Q 16How did the term 'setter' arise?
From the dog freezing in a crouch or 'set' on finding game
The name comes from the dog freezing in a crouch, or 'set', when it found game; on command the setter then moved in to flush the birds.
Q 17Roughly how much does a male English Setter weigh?
65 to 80 pounds
A male English Setter weighs about 65 to 80 pounds (29 to 36 kg), with females lighter at around 45 to 55 pounds.
Q 18Which game birds is the English Setter classically used to hunt?
Quail, pheasant and grouse
The English Setter is classically used on quail, pheasant and grouse, finding the birds by air scent and holding them until the hunter arrives.
Q 19What do trainers call a setter puppy that shows excitement and interest in birds?
'Birdy'
Trainers call a puppy that shows excitement and interest in birds 'birdy'; most setters are born with the natural hunting instinct the term describes.
Q 20Writing in 1876, Arnold Burges called the pure-blooded English Setter the best animal for what?
American upland shooting
In The American Kennel and Sporting Field (1876), Arnold Burges called the pure-blooded English Setter the best animal for American upland shooting.
Caius called the setting dog Index, Latin for one that points out, because it betrayed 'the place of the byrdes last abode' to the hunter.
Q 24Which Englishman, born in 1800, developed the strain that gave the modern English Setter its appearance?
Edward Laverack
Edward Laverack (1800-1877) spent half a century fixing the strain that gave the modern English Setter its look, inbreeding from a single founding pair.
Q 25Which pair of dogs, bought from a Carlisle clergyman around 1826, founded Laverack's line?
Ponto and Old Moll
Laverack's line was founded on Ponto and Old Moll, bought from the Reverend A. Harrison of Carlisle in the mid-1820s; Laverack inbred from the pair for decades.
Q 26Llewellin outcrossed Laverack's dogs with which bloodlines?
Duke, Rhoebe and Kate
Llewellin outcrossed Laverack's setters with the Duke, Rhoebe and Kate bloodlines, producing the field-trial strain that carried his name.
Q 27What was Llewellin's personal strain called, inherited by William Humphrey in 1925?
Dashing Bondhu
Llewellin's own strain was known as Dashing Bondhu, after its foundation field champion of that name; William Humphrey inherited the dogs on Llewellin's death in 1925.
Q 28Who imported the first Laverack-line English Setter to America, in 1874?
C. H. Raymond of Morris Plains, New Jersey
C. H. Raymond of Morris Plains, New Jersey, brought the first Laverack-strain English Setter to America in 1874, four years before the breed entered the first AKC stud book.
Q 29The celebrated working setter Count Noble is commemorated at which institution?
The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Count Noble, the celebrated field-trial setter of the 1880s, was preserved by a taxidermist after his death and is displayed at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
Q 30Which Missouri town has a bronze statue of Jim the Wonder Dog, the Llewellin Setter with 'occult power'?
Marshall
Marshall, Missouri, where Jim lived with owner Sam VanArsdale, has a memorial garden with a bronze statue of the dog that was said to understand commands in any language.