New Irish Setter families, please INSIST on seeing the breeder’s home, kennels, other resident dogs, everything. Do not rely on the number of champions a breeder has produced. It is possible that your experienced breeder lives in a filthy puppy mill where sick, neglected dogs are being churned out for profit.

If your breeder does not welcome you into their home and kennels, there is a reason. Even a breeder of international champions may refuse to allow you in their home, or make excuses to keep you from seeing their operation . . . “I have to go to the bank, so you can see your potential puppy there,” for example.

When you visit the breeder, consider the questions below. Also ask other Setter owners and breeders these questions about your breeder. Good ethical breeders and show families support one another, and they know the bad apples.

—First, and very importantly: Do other Irish Setter breeders respect that breeder?

—When your breeder goes to dog shows, are they professional, prepared, organized, gentle with their dogs?

—Is your breeder’s home, yard and kennel a clean, safe, and happy environment for all resident dogs?

—How many dogs live there?

—Who takes care of them?

—Where does each dog sleep?

—How many litters are produced per year?

—Who plays with them and teaches them? How often?

—What does the inside of breeder’s home look and smell like?

—How many of your breeder’s dogs have died before their expected lifespan?

—Are the breeder’s dogs clean, happy, and healthy?

Surely there are more good questions our IS friends can offer. But, please, don’t get hoodwinked by “champions all over the world.”

Since she was a puppy, Arya always needed naps in my lap. Over eighty pounds later, she still needs it. She'll come up and invade my personal space until I finally lift her up on my lap with my legs propped up. I'll rub her chest and face until the baby starts snoring.

The rainy days have finally arrived and my golden irish (9 months old) is getting pretty stir crazy as he is used to roaming the yard a majority of the day. I am quickly running out of ideas on how to keep him busy and am going crazy listening to him hit the button to go outside every 5 minutes so would love some help brainstorming.

What I’ve been doing:
- puzzles and pupsicles
- hide & seek with toys
- having an obstacle halfway down the hallway and chucking treats or kibble on either side
- yak chews and bully sticks

Hi, we have a 6 months old female setter. We just bought her a tractive device and noticed she is almost 3X more active than similar dogs when it comes to both sex, age, weight and breed. Should we be more stressed about this? We never push her and try to help her relax as well.

Our girl just turned two, and we’ve noticed she has gotten a lot more lovey-dovey in the past few months. Since she was a wee pup, she’s always been a sweet girl and up for a cuddle, especially if she was sleepy. But in the past few months, I’ve noticed she asks for pets much more frequently, and we often have to tell her “no kisses” because she would like to do so right on the mouth if given any(!) opportunity 😂

Just wondering if this is a common experience for an Irish Setter as they get older and start to come out of puppyhood. Did yours get more cuddly as well? Is it normal for them to have absolutely no personal boundaries whatsoever?

Can you tell me more about the breed please? Id like to know more about Irish Setters!

Hi, all! This is Lena's doggy daycare Halloween photo; she is Little Red Riding Hood. They are having a vote to decide the best costumes. Obviously, you can vote for whoever you like, but I'd really appreciate a vote for Lena. She's currently the only Irish Setter at daycare.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSefRCUCaXQdlizacAlyAwR3dfpSB45C3U-T4q583iKUE85yPw/viewform?pli=1

About 27" at the withers and 60lb.

This is my 10 month old IS girl Fern (loml). She is definitely on the smaller size and everyone seems to pass a comment about how small she is or is surprised when they hear she is 10 months old. Shes tricky to measure but is about 21’ at her withers and approx 16kg. She is from working lines so I know they are more compact but looking to hear others thoughts here?

This is Red (aka Big Red). She’s the sweetest girl on earth but I’m likely bias 😉.

after 2 years we’ve cracked the code on what it takes to wear out an irish setter! the formula is: 3.5 hour car ride, house with river access for unlimited swimming, fully fenced acreage for unlimited exploring, 10 miles of hiking, and another 3.5 hour car ride home. this weekend road trip had Blaze totally wiped for about 24 hours. now back to the regular scheduled chaos!

Hi all,

I have a 4.5 year old Irish Setter and my partner and I have been alternating driving home at lunch to let him out for a quick play, pee & feed.

Due to some work location changes for my partner, that would now fall on me and I'm wondering if I can skip it / what other owners are doing.

Our guy goes out for a 30 min walk in the morning (on leash, it's so dark!), then 40 mins off leash after work. On the weekends we do hiking / yard work (lots of space) so usually tucker him out thoroughly on the weekends.

Thoughts? I guess I feel like 8 hours (I work 830-430 and am about 10 mins away from home) is such a long time to go without a pee break!!

Thanks all!

Edit: Thanks so much all for your perspectives! I'll be heading home at lunch or hiring it out : ) he's the best boy and deserves the best care XoX

A friend recommended a groomer who hand strips old coat out- which is how a setter’s coat should be taken care of. I’ve tried to do it at home but can’t get the hang of the technique and finding a groomer who does it ended up being nearly impossible. I was so excited to get her in with for a proper groom yesterday and the results were beyond what I had dared hope for. That red coat was still there after all, hiding under the fluffy blonde. And it will only improve now that she will get regular grooms with appropriate technique for her coat. Highly recommend looking into this if your pup developed spay / neuter coat

So thrilled to have Rua, an angelic-looking tornado of mischief. Collected her during the week. One hour of chaos followed by one hour of sleeping seems to be her preferred life balance. She’ll fit right in! Love this breed.

We went for a 2 mile walk on a trail then went for nuggets. As we pulled up to the window, she jumped up and accidentally started my wiper blades. All I saw were her back feet as she dove past me into the back seat.

We have an Irish setter play group that meets up every so often (pics are from a few past gatherings). I set up a Sniffspot rental for my dog’s birthday and so far expect at least 4 other Irish setters (and their humans) to come hang out. It’s about a half hour east of central Houston and scheduled for 11-2, come and go as desired. The weather will be perfect.

I’m not going to post the address publicly so send me a chat if you’re interested! Always exciting to meet other IS families :)

This is Max. He is 5 years old and he costed a lot in vet bills, we still love him. As of recent he is on meds because he had TWO seizures within 24h and those were first ones ever (at least that were caught by us). Here comes another problem, for about a year now he’s been biting into his leg. To the point where he had an open wound. Blood works were done multiple times, everything is fine.

He was on different medications, allergy tests were done, different diet - nothing. There is nothing that could make me stress, the estate he lives in is pretty quiet. Did anyone else experience this with their dog? Anyone from Ireland who could recommend us another vet, we are in Co. Waterford. We’re desperate. Just last week he was at the vet’s, the poor woman was shocked by the state of his leg because it almost got infected. Got some meds, his wound has to be cleaned twice a day, but everything on the paper is fine. We’d appreciate any help or hearing anyone else’s experience. ❤️

Thanks in advance.

Are you cool enough to ride in a 97 year old car like Tucker? Side note, we decided to get him a friend. Flew from California to Wisconsin to get Dolly at 8 weeks old. She is now 14 weeks and is the sweetest and calmest setter I've ever seen. One of my wife's Mainecoons isn't too sure about her being in bed with us.

rosie and millie turned 8 in august!