I am not a regular member of this list, but joined today in order to respond to the series of questions and comments regarding Irish red setters that have been posted the past few days. As a point of reference, I am a member of the National Red Setter Field Trial Club (www.nrsftc.com) and am currently a member of the Board of Directors. I also am currently serving as their Futurity Chair for our National Futurity, and have been serving on the Board in one capacity or another for about 12 years. I have owned red setters for about 15 years.
Much of the information posted about Irish setters, referring to them as undisciplined, stupid, untrainable, nonhunters, etc., etc. is highly inaccurate. I must assume that these individuals have owned or had experience with Irish setters out of bench or show stock, or perhaps what are often referred to as "dual dogs". Red setters out of hunting or field trial stock do not exhibit those behaviors. A bit of historical clarification would help explain...
In 1950 a group of gentlemen from eastern PA (who hunted with Irish setters) got together and formed a club with the specific purpose of restoring the Irish setter as a class hunting dog and field trial competitor. These men formed the National Red Setter Field Trial Club, and the club has been in existence since that time, and our purpose has been unbending... to produce high quality Irish red setters that can compete on the same level as English setters and English Pointers in championship field trials. The results of this endeavor (commonly referred to as "The Purest Challenge" by those in the field trial community) have been nothing short of miraculous. The restoration of the Irish red setter by breeders in our club has produced a dog that is highly intelligent, biddable, well gaited, with intense pointing instinct, high desire to hunt, and excellent temperment for both hunting and companionship. These dogs compete on the American Field (FDSB) field trial circuit, and are quite competitive. In fact, the pointing dog with the highest number of placements in the United States in the history of the American Field trials (dating back to 1898) is a red setter by the name of Bearcat. No other pointing breed has beat his record, including English setters and pointers. (this dog passed on in 2002). I currently own 10 red settes, with which I run walking trials on the eastern part of the U.S. I also train in North Dakata. All of my dogs are proven on wild birds in the Dakotas, and can point and hold pheasant, huns, grouse, and woodcock. My 7 year old red setter King Cormac (Mac) was the 2005 Amateur Shooting Dog of the Year for Pennsylvania. He has over 30 field trial placements, and, by the way, I have also shot several dozen pheasant over him. Most of my dogs have both horseback and walking placements. I can run my dogs in a horseback trial and have them reach out over a 1/2 mile on one weekend, and the next weekend I can hunt over them on foot and they will adjust accordingly. The reason is intelligence. Not only are they intelligent in terms of adjusting to proper range, but they also are bird intelligent, and quickly figure out how to handle wild birds. All of my dogs are also housebroken, and I routinely rotate them into the house. As I type this note, I have two red setters lying at my feet... one is my old red setter Finny, who has had several hundred pheasants shot over him, and the other is Ruby, who, last March won the National Red Setter Futurty with a scorching horseback race, topped by a quail covey find, in a blinding snowstorm with 30 mph winds and horrific conditions that would have put most hunters and dogs in the house. Finny, who is 11 years old, will retrieve birds out of water with a 1/4" of ice and will retrieve to hand. These dogs live to hunt and be with their owners. I'm not telling these stories to brag... I'm telling you that if you want to hunt over an Irish setter, then you need to get a red setter out of the National Red Setter Field Trial Club restoration effort. Do NOT purchase an Irish setter from a "dual" dog person, a bench dog, or show dog... RUN AWAY from those people... they don't hunt, and neither do their dogs. If you're buying a red dog for hunting, insist on ensuring that the dog has a history pointing to the National Red Setter restoration efforts. If the dog does not, I would recommend against buying the dog for hunting purposes.
I would encourage you to look at our website, and to make inquiries from the list of breeders noted on those pages. Our organization is small (less than 200 members), but extremely dedicated to pursuing The Purest Challenge. We have a performance-based standard (the ONLY pointing breed in the United States to have a standard based upon performance and not conformation). Our dogs hunt, they do it well, and they do it with the style befitting an American bird dog. We breed for intelligence (a bird dog must be smart), gait (gait is essential for maintaining endurance and stamina), nose (a bird dog must have a good nose), biddability (a bird dog must hunt for the handler), and temperment (a bird dog must be trainable and family oriented).
If you're looking for a bird dog that lives to hunt, lives to be loyal to his owner and family, is great looking, is well behaved in the house, and will hunt all day every day, then you should consider checking out a red setter.
Hope this will clarify the situation.
Best regards,
Allen Fazenbaker
Conneaut Creek Red Setters
Kingsville, Ohio
http://www.redsetter.ushttp://www.nrsftc.comhttp://redsetters.blogspot.com
