Setters

I need to quit doing this to myself.

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Had to add a couple of pics of my hound for you!

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Look into Large Munsterlander for another choice at a setter type.
I cant say enough about the one I have. Loyalty, stanima, tempermant, courageous in all terain from deep thicket to water.Great family dog that’s easy to train with strong hunting instincts. Not high strung but love attention while not requiring to be the center of attention.
Like said the long hair of a setter can be a pain from being a bur magnet to finding sheaded hair in every nook and cranny of the house. For a breed of dog the LM will do anything you ask it to do and more.
So many wonderful breeds to choose from.

Thanks for all the opinions, guys. I’ve ruled out setters–they’re beautiful and wonderful dogs, but I don’t think it’ll fit my wife’s criteria.

In researching dogs that will make us both happy, I stumbled onto the Spinone Italiano. I’ve been talking to breeders and owners and reading a lot, and most importantly, I’ve got my wife’s approval.

The big downside is that they’re not real common, and they’re priced accordingly.

We’re planning on a Spring ’17 pup.

Here’s our 4-year old making friends with Doc.

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Ryan,

You know my feelings on dogs. I really like a pointing dog, and short hair seems to make things much easier around the house, especially with muddy dogs and clean up after being in the outdoors all day. For me, I absolutely love the look of any of the setters, especially Irish and Red, but the hair was always their downfall, both in maintenance, and cleanliness.

I also choose dogs based on certifications of hips, eyes, elbows, etc. There are enough unknowns with dogs to take a chance on those items. For this reason, read up on any known problems with any breed and do your research on ways to eliminate/reduce these. Most of these will come with a higher price tag, but IMHO the upfront cost of a dog is one of the smallest costs of dog ownership.

I am currently on my 2nd Vizsla, and don’t know if I will own another breed in my lifetime, but before I settled on that breed I had looked into many different breeds. My top 3 list were Vizslas, Weimeraner, and a wirehair Griffon. All of these have their positives and negatives, and it comes down to individual tastes and preferences. The reasons I choose a Vizsla was their trainability and desire to please, size, short hair, and their desire to be a member of the family. A friend of mine says their Latin name is “dog who sits on your head” because they always want to be by you, but this also makes them an ideal family dog.

I also feel that any of the hunting breeds, but especially the pointing breeds, and very high energy and will require some exercise or daily training to keep them calm. I find that I needed to either activate my dogs muscles or their brain for 15 minutes when I get home, and this makes them much more calm and cool. I also have young kids, and sometimes this is simply not going to happen but I try my best to keep the dog moving.

I will not tell you that they are the perfect dog for you, or for anyone, but if I know you, there will be plenty of research and thought before you choose the right dog. Good luck in the process, but remember that life is too short to hunt behind an ugly dog!

farmboy1 wrote:

…but remember that life is too short to hunt behind an ugly dog!

What do you consider an ugly dog?

Don’t want to jack a thread, does anyone have a gordon setter. Temperment.hunting, always thought they were a fine looking dog. Thks DK.

catmando wrote:

Don’t want to jack a thread, does anyone have a gordon setter.

No worries. I am off of setters now. I agree, though, Gordons are beautiful.