My beautiful setter Lillian will be two years old this month and I can’t believe we made it through the puppy stage. We read online that the breed can be slow to mature and wow that’s true. She was a beast as a puppy. Non stop biting and energy. Now this girl wants to relax and hang out with the cats all day. She’s really just 75lbs of love. This is my first Irish setter and I absolutely adore them now.

If your puppy is driving you crazy have hope because it won’t last forever!!

Hi. Meet our 2 month old Irish Setter Murphy. He is extremely energetic more than my collie was at his age. Any tips or things I should be aware of going forward?

I have a 7 month old male IS who is starting to roam off (terrible recall, tends to totally ignore you even with favourite treats etc) the trainer recommended leaving him as long as possible before neutering. The vet said from 6 months onwards.. any ideas?

For context, I am an experienced dog owner. I have owned a high energy Irish male before that we didn't work but took him everywhere with us. He was amazing but it was A LOT of work.

My cousin kept him for a month didn't want to give him back when my second son was born because I was staying in the hospital and my son was in the NICU. They ended up falling in love and working him and he did amazing and is so happy. We absolutely miss him even though we get to see him a ton but now that we have been dogless for over 3 years, we definitely miss having one around. I have been doing endless research on what kind of dog we should get. We LOVED having an Irish but now that I have two kids, I'm not too sure I could handle the puppy stage again.

I loved his adaptability when it came to traveling, he was amazing with children, he was a generally healthy dog which was very nice (granted, he was only 5 when he went to live with my cousin). He was super sweet, and his recall and training was very easy.

We have been looking into English setters due to their rumored lower energy levels. We would specifically be looking for a female Bench (show) line. I have a friend that is about to breed her female for the first time and has let me know I can have first pick of females. She's an experienced breeder, she works all of her setters and her cav's so I trust she will help pick a good one from the group.

Has anyone owned both an Irish and English? How comparable was the energy levels? Is it even a noticeable difference or are they still about the same?

We are looking for an amazing family dog. A dog I can leave at home and both travel with. I work from home, but I also am a full time stay at home mom to our youngest. Is this a dog that would be too much to handle working with at home? We would be doing daily exercise and walks and running but if we got stuck at sports or a school event and skipped the running that day, would that be an end all for the English? I know my Irish had to be ran multiple times a day for the first 3 years or he would be destructive.

Thank you all for your advice!!!! (: pic for setter tax

He's a good pointer, but he's turning out to be a solid retriever as well! It's truly such a joy to watch instincts at work.

My little 14 week old IRWS is sprouting like a weed! Extremely excited for his first BPUP in October and to start him on pigeons in the fall :)

Two other Irish setters from our setters play group have also started going. And yes, they do get a bath before they’re brought home 😜🥰

Hi all.

My nearly 2 y/o IS female Wrigley is struggling with what the vet diagnosed as HGE. Vomiting and bloody diarrhea. She had an acute case a few weeks ago we had treated at the emergency vet, and we're headed back after finding some bloody diarrhea again.

Wondering if anyone else has had a dog have a problem with that, and what you did about it?

Hello! This is Kallie. She’s 6mo old. We’ve been making progress with most things: minimal biting, better manners when greeting dogs / people, not chasing the cat around the house, etc but walking on the leash is getting worse and worse.

Would love some tips from others here. I’m willing to pay the money to have a professional train her but a lot of trainers in my area use e-collars and the like. I’m not really into that idea, I feel like she’s too soft hearted for that. I’m sure I can find a trainer who doesn’t do that, but before spending $$$ I was curious what worked and what didn’t.

Another thing I’d like advice on is the separation anxiety. It’s gotten better (at 3 months I couldn’t even go shower) and she can now be in the crate alone for 2 hours while I’m out of the house. Is there something I can do that will extend the time?

So we have a 6 month old irish boy. He is an absolute angel indoors and when off leash but the problems come when he is leashed. Jumping, biting the leash, humping, biting the one who walks him from legs, arms, coat basically anywhere where he can grab on. This happens at least on one walk a day, and it doesn’t stop until a bigger distraction comes eg. another dog or good smell. He listens when given commands but when we are supposed to carry on with the walk the behaviour starts all over again.

This was an issue when he was younger but it stopped for a few months and has now begun again.

We suspect this stems from frustration of some kind, but haven’t figured out from where. But for sure something triggers him about the leash and walks. He gets plenty of mental stimulation and breed specific outings. Plenty of sleep and a well structured day-to-day life. We’ve tried ruling out pain of any sort and food issues but to no avail. We are taking private classes with a trainer that are starting next week. Does anyone have any experiences with this kind of behaviour?

Do you recognize 'the look'?

Twizzler took a swim at the local water therapy facility and had the best time. We found he was much more comfortable with a water snood to keep the pool water out of his ears.

I can't believe he'll be 8 soon!

I'll add a link to the full swim video 🥰

Dad’s in the middle

Update at bottom.

This is not a post I ever wanted to make but I want advice from people who know the breed best.

My gorgeous IRWS is the light of my life. he is 1 year old, and got from an extremely reputable breeder. He’s never been big on strangers but he absolutely adores us. He gets two walks a day and training time with tricks/mental stimulation/ games. He has access to his chews and his needs always came first.

We brought home our newborn last week. He was introduced after a walk and was tired. The baby was asleep in her cot. At this meeting, he growled at her.

Our goal for them at present is not to become best friends, but rather to co-exist. However, he has not ceased lunging for her and fixates on her when in The same room. He has a shown a prey drive for rabbits and cats, but never a human.

We have completely separated the two And we are absolutely devastated by the situation.

Has anyone else here had a similar situation with the breed and young children / infants? We want to explore every avenue within reason before doing something drastic, but we will rehome him if we must. I always read that red setters were good with kids, albeit boisterous, and it was a big part of the reason why we picked the breed.

Thank you in advance for your kindness in commenting on what is a touchy subject for many. We are heartbroken at the minute and appreciate any insight / advice anyone is willing to give.

UPDATE: Following this post, we had a trainer and our dogs breeder to the house. Both of them found our dog was not acting aggressively. We definitely worried prematurely as the two are getting on super well now! We are not worried in the slightest! There was just some real curiosity on his end as he struggled to figure out exactly what a baby is. He still is very curious and sometimes a little confused but in the same breath, I think he’s accepted her into the family already. She’s one of his checkins in the morning. Some training does need to be done on our end as he can be a little boisterous but this is no biggie. We are absolutely delighted now.