Shooting Times and Country Magazine July 1-7, 1982
IRISH RED AND WHITE SETTERS
By
MAYFLY
IF YOU IMAGINE we are playing the psychologists' game of "associations", and I say the words "Irish Setter" there is a fair chance you may reply "red dog" or "rich chestnut colour" or some such and we shall ignore those unworthy persons who are tempted to reply, "daft, neurotic dogs." The colour factor in our conception of the Irish setter is so strong that we use the term "red setter" quite interchangeably, and understandably so. For the Irish setter is, indeed, a predominantly red animal. But look really closely at them, especially the working specimens and you will almost always be able to detect some traces of white.
It may be a blaze on the head, or a patch on the chest, or perhaps only a tuft of white between the toes, but there will almost certainly be white hair somewhere, for the very good reason that the Irish setter was originally a red and white dog. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say a white-and-red dog, for the original breed was predominantly white, with red patches and spots.
And a very handsome animal it was, if we believe the old pictures and prints which portray a setter not unlike some styles of modern English setter, but with rich red colouring where the English setter would probably be lemon or orange in colour. But the dog world is subject to its fads and fashions, and in the 19th century there was a major trend towards the predominantly red strains of Irish setter. Selective breeding emphasized the red colouring more and more, until the breed had become an almost solid red type, with only a few residual white markings to betray its earlier style. This was true of both the working and the show-bred strains, although the anti-white prejudice was strongest in the show world. Shooting men, as might be expected, bred from those animals which exhibited the best working characteristics. Looks, conformation and colour were always secondary considerations.
However, for the past century or so, the term "Irish setter" has generally been taken to denote an almost solid-red animal, but it is worth remembering that change, especially in matters Irish, is often very slow. Remember the story about the airline captain about to land his aircraft at Dublin and saying on the tannoy: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are just about to land in Ireland. Kindly put your watches back 50 years."?
In odd corners of Ireland, chiefly in the south and west, a few kennels of the old red and White blood have lingered on, often from the simple devotion of one family to its favourite bloodlines. In many cases the dogs were not registered with any Kennel Club, nor were breeders unduly concerned with keeping careful pedigree records. It was enough for them that their dogs ran well in the shooting field - and what fellow-sportsmen could find fault with that?
Those changing fashions I referred to have led in recent years to a resurgence of interest in these old-style red-and-white dogs, and to the eventual formation of the Irish Red and White Setter Field and Show Society. It is a small but growing group of enthusiasts who are eagerly researching the old, almost-forgotten blood lines and breeding accordingly, in an attempt to restore the original style of setter. The English and Irish Kennel Clubs have co-operated, while still setting strict standard and requiring vetting for true type before registration is permitted, but there are encouraging signs that headway is being made, slowly but surely.
On March 13 last I had the privilege of attending an historic event. At Wilkinson County Meath the Society held a Confined Novice Field Trial Stake for red-and-white setters, believed to be the first for almost a century, and certainly the first ever held under the rules of the Irish Kennel Club.
It was an impressive and nostalgic sight to see these old-style dogs assembled with their handlers beneath the ivy-clad walls of ruined Wilkinstown Castle, to run the stake in what had been the Castle demesne. A small field of 10 dogs was judged by Mrs. K. Bride and Mr. M. Carroll, with game consisting principally of pheasants and snipe.
No one present would claim that it was the world's most polished day's trialing. A number of handlers lacked in experience and handling ability what they made up for in enthusiasm and dedication, and most of the dogs exhibited faults which would have been eliminating factors in major setter trials. But several dogs and handlers showed promise, as the judges noted in their summing-up, and the most important aspect of the event was the potential it revealed for the future. Sean Walsh of Dublin, with his mis-marked red-and-white dog Hawk of Knockalla, from the kennels of Mr and Mrs W.L. Cuddy, made a little bit of history by taking the first prize and cup in this event.
What we saw that day in the fields of Wilkinstown, and later that week, on St Patrick's Day, on the show-benches of the Royal Dublin Society, represents not an end but merely a beginning. Setter enthusiasts and traditionalists everywhere - and aren't all field-sportsmen traditionalists at heart? - will wish the Society well, and look with great interest at their efforts to revive a handsome and once-famous style of setter.
[two illustrations One of "Derek Watson's bitch, bred by Walter Thompson of Moira' and the other of Sean Walsh and Hawk of Knockalla and the judges of the trial.)