About Us

In September of 1965, a group of Bay Area Gordon Setter Fanciers gathered in Palo Alto to form a local branch of the Gordon Setter Club of America (GSCA). By January 1966, they had decided on a name for their group, The Gordon Setter Club of the Pacific.   In September of that year, they held their first GSCA Specialty in conjunction with the Sir Francis Drake Kennel Club show in Ignacio, California, with an entry of 24 dogs.  Interest in the breed grew rapidly.  By the early 1970s, our entries had tripled, and we were holding regular field trials and two specialties a year, all under GSCA auspices. To distinguish our events from other around the country, we identified ourselves as the Pacific Region.  In 1981 our name changed again. The GSCA discouraged the use of the term ‘region’ since the term implied an administrative unit with set geographic boundaries, and besides, our group was now one of several on the Pacific Coast. Technically we weren’t a club either. We were a local committee of the GSCA, and our shows and Field Trials were GSCA events. Still, we felt like a club: we paid local dues, kept our minutes of our local meetings, managed our own treasury, and gathered for social occasions. By the 1990s, we had decided to apply for recognition as an independent AKC-licensed club. In the meantime, we continued to hold GSCA events, but these were now “hosted by Golden Gate Gordon Setters.” It took us several years to legally incorporate and to gain AKC recognition, but in October 1995, our club became official: we held our first show as the AKC-licensed Golden Gate Gordon Setter Club.  It has now been more than 50 years since that initial gathering in Palo Alto. Despite the changes over the decades, our club’s mission remains the same: to protect and preserve the fine qualities of our beloved breed. We invite anyone who shares our interest in Gordon Setters to join us. Contact any of the officers listed below for membership information.

Club Officers:

President: Nancy Thompson – nancy.thompson@csueastbay.edu

Vice President: Donna Afflerbach – dafflerbach@gmail.com

Secretary: Denise Paquette –relativitygordons@gmail.com

Treasurer: Andrew Thompson – laporte3351@gmail.com