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English Setter breeders

The English Setter is a long-established British gundog.

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Advertise your English Setter puppies, litters and stud dogs

Breed English Setters? List your kennel on caninebreeder.co.uk so buyers searching for English Setter puppies for sale, or owners looking for an English Setter stud dog, can find you. You can advertise litters and stud dogs and show your hip scores and BAER results. A free basic profile shows your kennel name, website, social media, location and categories, and paid plans unlock the fuller showcase, including services and prices. Add your listing or see pricing.

No breeders are listed here yet, so the first profiles get the page to themselves.

  • Free basic profile: your breeder or company name, website, social media, location, breeds and industries.
  • Litters and stud dogs advertised in their own sections, never mixed with puppies for sale.
  • Premium showcase for your services and prices, previous customers, awards, video, gallery and health certificates, with your phone and email shown to buyers.
  • Sponsored articles about your breed or industry, written and published by our team.
  • Featured placement at the top of this page, labelled as sponsored.

Create your free breeder profile Advertise a litter Advertise a stud dog

Is it free to advertise here?

Yes. A breeder profile and your litter and stud dog adverts are free. Premium profiles, featured placement and sponsored articles are optional paid extras; see pricing.

Do I need a licence to advertise puppies?

In England you need a dog breeding licence from your council if you breed three or more litters in 12 months or breed and sell dogs as a business, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes. Licensed breeders show their licence number and issuing council on every advert. Puppies must be at least eight weeks old before they go to new homes.

Is my listing already here?

We add licensed breeders from councils' public registers. Search for your kennel name; if it is listed you can claim it and edit everything.

About the English Setter

The English Setter is a long-established British gundog. The English Setter Association traces it back to the 14th century, when setting spaniels found game birds and crouched motionless while hunters laid nets; once the gun replaced the net, the dogs became known as setters. The modern breed owes most to Edward Laverack, who, as the Royal Kennel Club records, started his line in 1825 with two blue belton setters and shaped it through selective breeding. His contemporary Richard Purcell Llewellin widened the gene pool with Gordon Setters, Red and White Setters and the now extinct Welsh or Llanidloes Setter. Show-bred dogs are still often called Laverack type and field-bred dogs Llewellin type. The breed sits with the pointers and setters in the RKC Gundog group and is a vulnerable native breed, with 176 puppies registered in 2025. Browse other gundog breeders, field trial pointers and setters and our vulnerable native breeds page.

Size and build. The RKC classes the English Setter as a large breed. The breed standard asks for an elegant, clean outline, gives a height of 65 to 69 cm for dogs and 61 to 65 cm for bitches, and accepts a lighter build in working dogs.

Coat and grooming. The standard calls for a long, silky coat that is slightly wavy but never curly, with feathering on the legs. Accepted colours are black and white (blue belton), orange and white, lemon and white, liver and white, or tricolour, and even flecking is preferred to heavy patches. The RKC suggests grooming more than once a week. Show setters are usually trimmed often, and the ESA warns that overuse of clippers can spoil the coat.

Exercise. The RKC recommends more than two hours a day for an adult, with a large house and large garden.

Temperament and suitability. The standard describes a very friendly, good-natured dog with a keen sense for game. The English Setter Rescue Association describes show-bred setters as generally easy-going family companions with sudden bursts of high spirits, but warns that working-bred dogs need experienced owners who can give them free running. The ESA notes a sensitive nature that needs careful, consistent training. The RKC gives a lifespan of over ten years.

English Setter health tests

The Royal Kennel Club's health guidance for the English Setter lists prioritising genetic diversity and hip scoring as Good Practice, and elbow grading and BAER hearing tests, including litter screening, as Best Practice. The RKC's DNA package for the breed covers PRA-rcd4. The breed is in Breed Watch Category 1, so no conformation concerns specific to it are flagged for show judges.

Seven English Setter breed clubs are represented on the Joint English Setter Clubs Health Committee. Its 2025 health statement says the committee does not agree with the RKC's current health standard for the breed. It treats hip scores for both parents as essential and recommends BAER testing, reporting that about 4.5% of setters are deaf in one ear and 0.5% in both. It asks that imported dogs used for breeding be DNA tested for PRA4 and NCL, conditions it says are not found in the UK population, and does not require elbow scoring because elbow dysplasia has never been common in the breed. The English Setter Association health page also covers atopic dermatitis, hypothyroidism and fertility problems, and "dead tail", a painful but short-lived limp tail that can follow bathing, swimming or cold rain.

  • BVA/RKC Hip Dysplasia Scheme (RKC Good Practice; essential for both parents according to the breed clubs, which also accept Australian and European hip scores)
  • BVA/RKC Elbow Dysplasia Scheme (RKC Best Practice; not required by the breed clubs)
  • RKC BAER Scheme hearing test, including litter screening (RKC Best Practice; recommended by the breed clubs)
  • DNA tests: PRA-rcd4 in the RKC breed package; PRA4 and NCL for imported breeding dogs (breed clubs)
  • Genetic diversity: check the mating with the RKC inbreeding coefficient calculator (RKC Good Practice)
  • Breed Watch: Category 1

Choosing an English Setter breeder

A good English Setter breeder will show you hip scores for both parents and let you confirm them on the RKC Health Test Results Finder; the breed clubs point out that scores from the Australian or European schemes will not appear there, so ask to see those certificates. Many breeders also BAER test their breeding dogs and litters. The English Setter Association code of ethics asks members not to breed from a bitch under two, to give buyers a pedigree of at least three generations with both parents' hip scores, and to help rehome a dog if circumstances change. With fewer than 200 puppies registered in each of 2024 and 2025, expect a waiting list: the ESA runs a puppy register, and the Northern English Setter Society suggests contacting breeders before a litter is born. A good breeder will ask about your time, garden and experience, and will be honest about the differences between show and working lines. In England, anyone who breeds three or more litters in 12 months and sells puppies, or runs a breeding business, needs a council licence and must show the number in adverts. Read our buyer safety guide before paying anything.

  • Can I see both parents' hip scores, and have the parents and this litter been BAER tested?
  • Is either parent imported, and if so, what are its PRA4 and NCL results?
  • What is the coefficient of inbreeding for this mating?
  • Are the parents from show or working lines, and how are they exercised?
  • Have skin allergies, thyroid problems or deafness occurred in close relatives?

English Setter questions

How much exercise does an English Setter need?

The Royal Kennel Club recommends more than two hours a day for an adult, along with a large garden. The English Setter Rescue Association says working-bred setters in particular need at least two hours every day, with room to run freely rather than a quick lap of the local park.

What is the difference between show and working English Setters?

Show-bred setters, often called Laverack type, tend to be larger, with a coat that needs regular grooming and frequent trimming. Working-bred setters, often called Llewellin type, tend to be smaller and tougher, with a coat that needs less care but a much stronger urge to range and hunt; the breed standard allows working dogs a lighter build. The English Setter Rescue Association describes show dogs as generally relaxed family pets and says working dogs need experienced owners.

What health tests should English Setter parents have?

The RKC lists hip scoring and attention to genetic diversity as Good Practice, and elbow grading and BAER hearing tests as Best Practice. The joint breed clubs' health committee treats hip scores as essential, recommends BAER testing, asks for PRA4 and NCL DNA tests on imported breeding dogs, and does not require elbow scoring.

Is the English Setter a rare breed?

It is on The Royal Kennel Club's list of vulnerable native breeds, which covers British and Irish breeds with fewer than 300 registrations a year. The RKC recorded 176 English Setter registrations in 2025, so most buyers join a breeder's waiting list or the English Setter Association puppy register.

More for English Setter owners and breeders

Official sources