Irish Red and White Setter

The Irish Red and White Setter is not a colour variant of the Irish Setter, though the two are regularly confused in the park. It is the older type. Setters in Ireland were parti-coloured for centuries before fashion in the nineteenth century swung to the solid red dog, and by the early twentieth century the red and white had almost vanished. It was revived in Ireland between the wars from a handful of surviving lines and is kept today as a separate breed with its own standard, its own club and, in the UK, a place on the Kennel Club’s list of vulnerable native breeds.

The dog itself is a shade shorter and more powerfully built than its red cousin, with a broader head and a working outlook that has been better preserved. Bred to range across bog and moorland and to freeze on the scent of snipe, grouse and woodcock, it needs a great deal of ground and a household that enjoys providing it.

Temperament in the home

Red and Whites are friendly, affectionate and easy to be around, with none of the aloofness found in some pointing breeds. They greet visitors as friends and make hopeless guards. Adolescence is boisterous and can run to two years or more, and in that time a large, exuberant dog with a long tail clears low tables and thumps children in passing without malice. Most are good with children, especially older ones. Separation is tolerated moderately well once the dog is mature and exercised, though a bored young setter alone in a house will find something to chew. Other dogs are usually welcomed. Cats and small pets are a risk given the interest in anything that moves. The breed is not particularly noisy but will announce anything unusual.

Exercise and training

About two hours a day of real exercise, with a large part off lead on ground where the dog can run and use its nose, keeps an adult content. The breed ranges wide and fast, so recall training should start early and be maintained with high value rewards, and a long line is useful in open country during the first two years. Take care near sheep and ground-nesting birds in spring, and keep to lead control where signs require it. Puppies need short outings and no repetitive impact until well over a year old. Training is straightforward in the sense that the breed wants to please and picks things up quickly, and awkward in that a scent on the wind outweighs everything else. Patient, consistent, reward-based work and plenty of scent-based games at home suit these dogs.

Coat and grooming

The coat is finer and shorter than the Irish Setter’s, with long silky feathering on the ears, chest, legs and tail, set on a white base with solid red patches. It sheds moderately through the year and more in spring. Brushing several times weekly with a pin brush and comb keeps the feathering free of tangles, especially behind the ears and under the legs where friction mats the hair. The white coat shows mud, and after a wet walk in a Yorkshire dale the dog needs a rinse or a thorough dry off. Grass seeds lodge in the feathering and between the toes during summer and should be checked for after every walk. Feet and ear feathering can be tidied with scissors, and professional grooming is not needed.

Health and lifespan

Eleven to thirteen years is typical. Two DNA tests are important. Canine leukocyte adhesion deficiency, an immune disorder that is fatal in affected puppies, is recognised in the breed and breeding dogs are tested so that carriers are never mated to carriers. Von Willebrand’s disease, a bleeding disorder, also has a DNA test used in the breed. Posterior polar cataract occurs, so eye testing of breeding dogs under the BVA and Kennel Club eye scheme should be current. Hip scoring is recommended and buyers should ask for both parents’ scores. As a deep-chested breed it can bloat, and the signs are worth learning before they are needed. A Red and White getting its exercise stays lean without effort, and it should look athletic rather than rounded.

Costs and space

Monthly running costs in the region of £100 to £170 across food, insurance, routine veterinary care and grooming supplies are a realistic guide, with insurance the most variable item. The breed eats less than its size suggests on a decent diet. Space in the house matters less than access to open ground; a small house and two hours of daily walking beat a large garden and nothing else. A secure garden fence of decent height is necessary. Finding a puppy takes patience. The Kennel Club counts a breed as vulnerable when annual registrations fall below 300, and the Red and White has sat in that category for years, so litters are spread thinly across the country and buyers frequently wait a year or more. The breed club is the first port of call and can also point to older dogs needing homes.

Verdict

The Irish Red and White Setter suits active owners with access to open country, a tolerance for a long adolescence and an interest in keeping a rare native breed going. People who walk seriously, shoot over dogs or compete in working tests get on well with the breed.

It is wrong for a flat without easy access to fields, for an owner out all day, or for anyone wanting a settled, biddable dog by its first birthday. Anyone drawn to the colour alone should meet a couple of adolescents first.