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Most people who meet an English Setter are instantly captivated by his elegant appearance, with his silky, slightly wavy coat and distinctive flecking (known as “belton”). But behind the refined looks is a highly specialised athlete from Great Britain. The breed was originally developed for bird hunting, in which the dogs would lie down low in front of game birds (“to set”) to point them out silently to the hunter. Today this British gundog combines two fascinating worlds: indoors, he is exceptionally gentle, friendly and cheerful, while outdoors he bubbles over with pure joy in his work and a need to move. If you want to buy an English Setter puppy, you are bringing a highly sensitive companion into your home, with a life expectancy of 11 to 13 years.

For a puppy from carefully planned breeding, a realistic price range is 1,500 to 2,500 euros. This price reflects the considerable effort that health-focused breeders put in: extensive veterinary pre-breeding examinations of the parents, audiometric hearing tests for the whole litter, and a rearing process that includes proper socialisation. The breeding line also affects the price and, above all, your everyday life later on: dogs from working lines (bred for hunting performance) are often somewhat smaller, extremely agile and even more finely attuned to the subtlest signals than dogs from pure show lines. Steer clear of supposed bargains with no traceable origin – disreputable backyard breeders save money on exactly the health checks that will cost you many times more at the vet later.

English Setters are generally considered robust, athletic dogs, but they carry specific genetic predispositions affecting the joints, eyes, thyroid and hearing. One key issue, linked to the high proportion of white in the coat, is congenital deafness. The breed is also affected by joint problems such as hip dysplasia (HD), an underactive thyroid and inherited eye diseases such as progressive retinal atrophy (in particular the late-onset form rod-cone dysplasia 4, rcd4-PRA). In the breed club (e.g. the Verein für Pointer und Setter e.V.), testing for hip dysplasia, rcd4-PRA and deafness is mandatory; health-focused breeders also have their dogs tested for generalised PRA.

A health-focused breeder meets these risks with transparency and diagnostics: they have the parents’ hips, elbows and thyroid examined clinically and by X-ray to significantly reduce the risk for the offspring. DNA tests are available for rcd4-PRA and for the rare neurological disease neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL). Such a DNA test reliably shows whether a parent is clear, a carrier or affected; a reputable breeder will only ever mate carriers with clear partners. In addition, each individual puppy’s hearing is measured by BAER testing (audiometry) before it goes to its new home.

The English Setter also has other breed-related health issues for which no routine DNA tests exist, including atopic dermatitis (skin allergies), eyelid abnormalities (ectropion/entropion), dry eye (keratoconjunctivitis sicca), the blood clotting disorder haemophilia and cutaneous asthenia (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome). In the first year of life, also take great care to give joint-friendly exercise during growth, and plan regular veterinary thyroid checks for the adult dog.