Ted, first of all that was my opinion of what a setter should look like. If you looked at the video, that is what I was referring to. All old pictures show the exact same type of setter, like the ones in the video. Some of the setters now were bred to be smaller and to me lost the look of the "older" setters.
Beans,
I'll preface this with this thought.
The show ring has been more destructive to our breeds of sporting dogs than anything else in their history.
"Old" isn't mid 1800s when talking setters, David. The breed was recognizable as far back as 1000AD, prior to the use of firearms, the game was usually netted, along with the dogs, in the early descriptions of the hunt.The setters were prized more than the evolving spanials for their lack of tongue during the hunt and the crouch that came to be called a point. The descriptions from the era describe a dog of no more than 30 lbs, lean, and able to make game for long periods of time, over great distances.
I had some of the show stock, in Irish and English setters, David. My gut feeling is any dog over 50lbs is starting to show some of the bad effects of breeding for the ring, and it will a tougher row to hoe for that dog between 5-10 years of age. That is just based on what I have seen, and owned, and is my opinion, as well. My two examples of dogs in that catagory were well over 50lbs, and had the show ring "look", big pooch with heavy feathering. But, that "look" didn't help them much in the task of finding, holding, or retrieving birds, especially as older dogs.
I don't hunt anywhere on the east coast, and the wide, open expanses of the Dakotas, that are my backyard, might be shocking for someone with a lot of time spent in New England and their dog to see. I came to my notions of what works for me in a setter, right here. When I see the big plowhorse style of a dog in that country, I feel a twinge of sympathy for the dog.
Best,
Ted
