Irish setter hunting dog

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Moaky

Well-Known Member
I recently got an Irish Setter bitch pup, mainly as a family dog, but secretly I wanted to try and make a sporting dog out of her. Ive never had a gun dog before so dont really know where to start. You would think with all of the information on the internet I wouldnt have a problem, but it seems to just be a bit of information overload. The good news is that on the walks through the woodlands and fields I take her on around my house, she seems to just naturally cut sent trails, is able to grid pretty well, and is starting to point when she closes in on a scent (mostly field mice at this point).

Of all the material/videos out there, is there a particular one that everyone rates highly that a beginner like me can follow? Would love to teach her to flush and retrieve birds, but also possibly track deer.

Also, has anyone on here had any experience specifically with the Irish Setter breed?

thanks in advance!
 
Theres a big difference between working a dog on birds and using it for deer.
Setters are big running far ranging hunters but most of the strains available in Ireland/UK are show dogs, have a look at your dogs pedigree and check out what you have.
There are some good videos from Scandinavia, have a search, they’ll give you an idea of what you should be aiming for.
 
dunwater said:
Theres a big difference between working a dog on birds and using it for deer.
Setters are big running far ranging hunters but most of the strains available in Ireland/UK are show dogs, have a look at your dogs pedigree and check out what you have.
There are some good videos from Scandinavia, have a search, they’ll give you an idea of what you should be aiming for.
Click to expand...
Thats a good point, I dont believe either parent were hunting dogs, the dad was a show dog. Just got a bit excited when she naturally starting tracking and pointing, but that just may be the little left of whatever remanent instinct is left in her. Will defo have a look at those Scandi videos, as I want to give it a good go with her. Best case she's a great hunting dog, worst case she's turning out to be a great family dog with a good nature.
 
The continentals use them like HPRs, so if from the right lines, you may be in luck.

Hopefully she will point, and she may well retrieve naturally, the deer work might have to wait until she is a bit more mature.

If you can get hold of 'The Versatile Gundog' by Guy Wallace, it is a simple, somewhat outdated, but nonetheless useful basic instruction book. If you want to dig deeper, and focus on traditional setter work, 'Pointers and Setters' by Derry Argue is worth a look.
 
Bestman said:
The continentals use them like HPRs, so if from the right lines, you may be in luck.

Hopefully she will point, and she may well retrieve naturally, the deer work might have to wait until she is a bit more mature.

If you can get hold of 'The Versatile Gundog' by Guy Wallace, it is a simple, somewhat outdated, but nonetheless useful basic instruction book. If you want to dig deeper, and focus on traditional setter work, 'Pointers and Setters' by Derry Argue is worth a look.
Click to expand...
Great info, thanks for that. Is there a way to research her lines? Is that something I can find through her pedigree registration?
 
Moaky said:
Great info, thanks for that. Is there a way to research her lines? Is that something I can find through her pedigree registration?
Click to expand...
The best bet would be to ask someone from the working side of the breed club to have a look at her pedigree.

But you've got what you've got now, and I've known plenty of dogs with one 'show' parent to be decent workers.

If she is not a keen worker, wanting to scour the earth for birds, she may actually make a reasonable deer dog sooner.
 
Bestman said:
The best bet would be to ask someone from the working side of the breed club to have a look at her pedigree.

But you've got what you've got now, and I've known plenty of dogs with one 'show' parent to be decent workers.

If she is not a keen worker, wanting to scour the earth for birds, she may actually make a reasonable deer dog sooner.
Click to expand...
Awesome, cant wait to get started. Glad I asked the question on here!
 
If you do want her to be just for deer than a slightly different approach in the NZ method ok big game indicating dogs. That work may be more suited to her if she hasn't got the high drive of a working strain and is happier walking and scenting with you rather than further afield.

biggameindicatingdogs.com

Big Game Indicating Dogs

Big Game Indicating Dogs is based in New Zealand and run by Paul Michaels. We specialise in helping people to train their own big game indicating dogs, or deer dogs, using The Deer Dog Training Blueprint.
biggameindicatingdogs.com
 
Very hard to get a half decent one from working stock, they are very head strong. There’s a reason why very few have them are used for work. Make sure you work on recall by the way. I’ve had 2 in the past, mediocre at best. I did shoot over one in my late teens, he was a very good dog, hence why I tried two. I don’t know one person with one and I live in Ireland.
 
SikaSeeker said:
Very hard to get a half decent one from working stock, they are very head strong. There’s a reason why very few have them are used for work. Make sure you work on recall by the way. I’ve had 2 in the past, mediocre at best. I did shoot over one in my late teens, he was a very good dog, hence why I tried two. I don’t know one person with one and I live in Ireland.
Click to expand...
They’re really a specialist dog, designed to hunt large areas of heath and bog where game is scarce, not many people need that type of dog or have access to vast acreage of flat bog or moorland nowadays.
You’re quite right, they’re not popular in Ireland and a good working dog is hard to find.
Best ones I’ve seen are in Scandinavia. They have some really nice dogs, the territory to run them in and game that will hold for a pointing dog.
 
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