The Irish Setter (Irish: sotar rua, literally "red
setter"), is a setter, a breed of gundog and family dog. The term Irish
Setter is commonly used to encompass the show-bred dog recognized by the
American Kennel Club as well as the field-bred Red Setter recognized by the
Field Dog Stud Book.
Appearance
The coat is moderately long, silky, and of a red or chestnut
color. It requires frequent brushing to maintain its condition and keep it
mat-free. The undercoat is abundant in winter weather, and the top coat is
fine. Their coats should also feather in places such as the tail, ears, chest,
legs, and body. Irish Setters range in height from 25 to 27 inches (64 to 69 cm),
males weigh 60 to 70 lb (27 to 32 kg) and females 53 to 64 lb (24 to 29 kg).
The FCI Breed Standard for the Irish Setter stipulates males: 23 to 26.5 inches
(58 to 67 cm), females: 21.5 to 24.5 inches (55 to 62 cm). Irish Setters are
deep chested dogs with small waists. Irish Setters life expectancy tends to be
around 11 to 12 years.
Temperament
Irish Setters get along well with children, other dogs, and
any household pets, and will enthusiastically greet visitors. Even though they
do well with household pets, small animals may pose a problem for this breed,
as they are a hunting breed. Some Irish setters may have problems with cats in
the house, and may be too rambunctious with small children. As the FCI, ANKC
and UK Standards state, the breed should be "Demonstrably
affectionate." As a result, Irish Setters make excellent companion animals
and family pets.
Irish Setters are an active breed, and require long, daily
walks and off-lead running in wide, open spaces. They are, however, a breed
with a tendency to 'play deaf,' so careful training on mastering the recall
should be undertaken before allowing them off-lead.
Irish Setters enjoy having a job to do. Lack of activity
will lead to a bored, destructive, or even hyperactive dog. This is not a breed
that can be left alone in the backyard for long periods of time, nor should
they be. Irish Setters thrive on constant human companionship. Irish Setters
respond swiftly to positive training and are highly intelligent.
Though they are usually alert to their surroundings, Irish
Setters are not well-suited as guard dogs, as they are not a naturally
assertive breed.
Irish Setters are also widely used as therapy dogs in
schools and hospitals. Therapy dogs are permitted in hospitals with special
permission and can visit patients on the assigned floors. This is a venue where
the therapy dogs are permitted in schools and then asked to sit with children
as the students read to the Irish Setter. This process helps to enable the
student the ability to read without being corrected or judged. Generally the
Irish Setter will lie on the floor with the student as the student continues to
read, in this calming and relaxed setting.
History
One of the first references to the 'Setter,' or setting dog,
in literature can be found in Caius's De Canibus Britannicus, which was
published in 1570 (with a revised version published in 1576). Translated from
the original Latin, the text reads.
The Dogge called the Setter, in Latine, Index: Another sort
of Dogges be there, serviceable for fowling, making no noise either with foote
or with tongue, whiles they follow the game. They attend diligently upon their
Master and frame their condition to such beckes, motions and gestures, as it
shall please him to exhibite and make, either going forward, drawing backeward,
inclinding to the right hand, or yealding toward the left. When he hath founde
the byrde, he keepeth sure and fast silence, he stayeth his steppes and will
proceede no further, and weth a close, covert watching eye, layeth his belly to
the grounde and so creepth forward like a worme. When he approaches neere to
the place where the byrde is, he layes him downe, and with a marcke of his
pawes, betrayeth the place of the byrdes last abode, whereby it is supposed
that this kind of dogge is calles in Index, Setter, being in deede a name most
consonant and agreeable to his quality."
It would be incorrect to assume the dog described above in
any way resembles the Irish Setter (or any Setter) as we know the breed today.
Caius was referring to a type of setting spaniel, most likely now extinct. The
description of the work undertaken by this early pillar of the breed resembles
the working behaviour of modern Irish Setters. Of this early dog, Caius went on
to write: "The most part of theyre skinnes are white, and if they are
marcked with any spottes, they are commonly red, and somewhat great
therewithall." If this is the case, it is safe to assume the solid red
colouring of today's Irish Setter came about by selective breeding practices.
Further reference to Setters in early literature can be
found in The Country Farme by Surflet and Markham, published in 1616. They
wrote: "There is also another sort of land spannyels which are called
Setters."
It is clear that, by the early 18th Century, the type of dog
known as the 'Setter' had come into its own right. It is also clear the Irish had
begun actively breeding their own type. For example, the de Freyne family of
French Park began keeping detailed stud records in 1793. Other prominent landed
Irish gentry also known to have been breeding setter lines at the same time
include Lord Clancarty, Lord Dillon, and the Marquis of Waterford.
It was noted as early as 1845 that Setters in Ireland were
predominantly either red, or, according to Youatt, "...very red, or red
and white, or lemon coloured, or white patched with deep chestnut." Clearly,
the preference for a solidly-coloured dog was having an effect on the
appearance of the typical Irish-bred setter.
The Breed Standard for the modern Irish Setter was first
drawn up by the Irish Red Setter Club in Dublin and approved on 29 March 1886.
It consisted of a 100-point scale, with a given number of points awarded for
each of the dog's physical attributes. The points system was later dropped;
however, aside from some minor changes, the Standard remains largely unchanged
today in most countries where the breed is formally recognized.
Uses
The
Irish Setter was bred for hunting, specifically for setting or locating and
pointing upland gamebirds. They are a tireless, wide-ranging hunter, and
well-suited to fields and wet or dry moorland terrain. Using their excellent
sense of smell to locate the mark (or bird), the Irish will then hold a
pointing position, indicating the direction in which the bird lies hidden.
The
Irish Setter was brought to the United States in the early 19th century.
In
1874, the American Field put together the Field Dog Stud Book and registry of
dogs in the United States was born. The FDSB is the oldest pure-bred registry
in the United States. At that time, dogs could be registered even when bred
from sires and dams of different breeds. At about this time, the Llewellin
Setter was bred using blood lines from the Lavarack breeding of English Setter
and, among other breeds, bloodlines from native Irish Setters. Around the same
time, the red Irish Setter became a favorite in the dog show ring.
The
Irish Setter of the late 19th century was not just a red dog. The AKC
registered Irish Setters in a myriad of colours. Frank Forester, a 19th-century
sports writer, described the Irish Setter as follows: "The points of the
Irish Setter are more bony, angular, and wiry frame, a longer head, a less
silky and straighter coat that those of the English. His colour ought to be a
deep orange-red and white, a common mark is a stripe of white between the eyes
and a white ring around the neck, white stockings, and a white tage to the
tail."
The
Setter that was completely red, however, was preferred in the show ring and
that is the direction that the breed took. Between 1874 and 1948, the breed
produced 760 conformation show champions, but only five field champions.
In
the 1940s, Field and Stream magazine put into writing what was already a
well-known fact. The Irish Setter was disappearing from the field and an
outcross would be necessary to resurrect the breed as a working dog. Sports
Afield chimed in with a similar call for an outcross. Ned LaGrande of
Pennsylvania spent a small fortune purchasing examples of the last of the
working Irish Setters in America and importing dogs from overseas. With the
blessing of the Field Dog Stud Book, he began an outcross to red and white field
champion English Setters. The National Red Setter Field Trial Club was created
to test the dogs and to encourage breeding toward a dog that would successfully
compete with the white setters. Thus the modern Red Setter was born and the
controversy begun.
Prior
to 1975, a relationship existed between the AKC and the Field Dog Stud book in
which registration with one body qualified a dog for registration with the
other. In 1975 the Irish Setter Club of America petitioned the AKC to deny
reciprocal registration, and the AKC granted the request. It is claimed, by
critics of the move, that the pressure was placed on the AKC by bench show
enthusiasts who were unappreciative of the outcrossing efforts of the National
Red Setter Field Trial Club, as well as some AKC field trialers following a
series of losses to FDSB red setters. Working Irish Setter kennels today field
champion dogs that claim lines from both the FDSB dogs and AKC dogs.
Irish Setters tend to be a very healthy breed. Problems that
have been noted in Irish Setters include: Hip dysplasia, cancer, progressive
retinal atrophy (PRA), epilepsy, entropion, hypothyroidism,
hyperosteodystrophy, bloat (a.k.a. gastric torsion), osteosarcoma, Von
Willebrand's disease, patent ductus arteriosus, canine Leukocyte adhesion
deficiency (CLAD) and celiac disease.[4] It should be noted that Irish Setters
are now one of the few breeds for which genetic tests have been developed to
detect the presence of both CLAD and PRA (RCD-1).
Notable setter
- Alex the Dog from the Stroh's beer commercials (half Irish Setter, half Golden Retriever)
- Big Red, book and movie character
- Chauncey, fictional dog of Duck Phillips in Mad Men
- Garry Owen, pet of Maine Governor Percival Proctor Baxter
- King Timahoe (1968–1979), pet of Richard Nixon, a 56th birthday gift from his White House staff in January 1969.
- Kojak, fictional dog in the Stephen King novel The Stand
- Mike, pet of US President Harry Truman
- Milord, a red Setter which was Alexander II, Tsar of Russia's favourite dog
- Plunkett, the only Irish setter depicted in George Earl's mythical painting of "A Field Trial in the Eighties"
- Shannon, pet of Beach Boy Carl Wilson, whose death became the subject of the 1976 song by a friend, Henry Gross
- T-Bone, mascot for the Pace University Setters sports teams
- Thunder, first mascot for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds sports teams
- Seamus, owned by Mitt Romney.
- Redbeard, owned by younger Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock
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