As we work to establish tools to assist and mentor new Gordon Setter breeders when choosing the right dogs for breeding we were faced with the realization that size and substance are difficult to identify from a photo. Maintaining and preserving proper breed type by encouraging adherence to the AKC breed standard is the foundation upon which the Gordon Setter Club of America is built, so we’d like to give our breeders as many tools as possible to ensure that we are fulfilling our mission to provide guidance. In some breeds it is common for owners to list the height and weight of their dogs in ads, and it has been suggested that we (the GSCA) should follow the lead of the English Setter national club and include height and weight measurements for publication in GSCA pictorial ads.

We’d like to get a feel for how Gordon Setter folks feel about including that information in our publications, particularly in the GSCA Pictorial? What we would hope to accomplish by publishing those measurements would be to present a picture for breeders that shows the diversity of size that is perfectly proper and within the standard for the Gordon Setter. We’ve devised this simple poll for you to voice your opinion, it’s not official in any way, it’s simply testing the water so to speak.  Once we close the poll we’ll share the results of your answer here on the blog. We’ll keep this poll open for the month of October allowing you plenty of time to forward this poll to fellow Gordon Setter breeders by email or Facebook posts so we can get a large enough sampling to make the data viable. Please encourage everyone to vote, especially those in the U.S. who may be contemplating breeding or who are already doing so.