Irish Setter

The Irish Setter is the chestnut-red bird dog of Ireland — fast, wide-ranging and famously slow to grow up.

History

It began as the Irish Red and White Setter, and the solid red dog was a nineteenth-century preference that became a separate breed; the red-and-white nearly disappeared as a result and had to be revived in the twentieth century. Show fashion pulled the red setter towards coat and outline for decades, and Irish and American breeders later worked deliberately to restore its working ability.

Temperament

The breed is known for being exuberant, affectionate and enthusiastically friendly with everyone, boisterous well into adulthood and a poor guard for exactly that reason.

Care and training

It needs a great deal of exercise and space to run. Training needs patience and humour rather than pressure; maturity comes late. The silky feathered coat needs regular brushing.

Health

Known tendencies include bloat given the deep chest, hip dysplasia, progressive retinal atrophy and an inherited immune deficiency the breed's clubs test for. These are known patterns for the breed and a matter for a breeder and a vet; the measured facts are in the panel.