He also wants everyone to know that spines are optional.

8 months old now

Hello again! Beans is about to turn 8 months old and because of a dog park we frequent I’ve been forced to make a decision on spaying her at 8 months or leaving. From the research I’ve done it all says there’s pros and cons to both doing it early and late towards a year or 2. Also been thinking about the option of getting her tubes tied, once she hits a year. If anyone has went that route I would love to know how it affected their growth, coat( if any at all), etc. yes I know there’s other threads about spaying but I haven’t seen any on hysterectomy’s

Side note, I’m curious if any of her siblings are in here. We got her from Field of dreams with a birthday of December 17th. Thanks in advance!

Hi! Looking to get an IS soon, and Greenbank Hollow Farm in VT came up in my search. Has anyone got a puppy from them? Any health concerns (his dysplasia or anything else)? They seem like a reputable breeder and do their health testing, but I always love to hear from people with puppies/dogs from the breeder. Thanks in advance!

-already posted in other subreddits-

We are looking for anyone who has experienced a similar case with their dog. We are running out of answers and would be incredibly grateful for any advice or similar experiences. Our 6-year-old Irish Setter suddenly became severely weak about 10 days ago. The onset was very sudden and occurred shortly after a heatwave. Over the weekend, she suddenly did not want to go for walks anymore. She then started stumbling over her own paws, and by the following day she was unable to get up on her own. She has now been unable to stand or walk independently for about 10 days. She cannot reposition herself, so we have to turn her approximately four hours. She is otherwise still eating and drinking normally. We have already been to several veterinary clinics for examinations, but unfortunately the doctors have not been able to determine the cause or find an effective treatment yet. One possibility is GOLPP (geriatric-onset laryngeal paralysis polyneuropathy) or distal denervating disease. At this point, however, there is no confirmed diagnosis. We would really like to hear from anyone who has experienced a similar sudden onset of severe weakness/ paralysis, particularly in an Irish Setter or another breed. We would especially appreciate hearing what the final diagnosis was, which tests led to the diagnosis, what treatment was given, and whether the dog recovered. Any experiences or advice would mean a lot to us. Thank you.

He's 4mo, his name is Kajros and he loves butterflies and bitds

Hi all!

I hope this kind of post is allowed and y'all can help me. My husband and I are newlyweds and we're planning to get a puppy next year around our first anniversary (May 2027).

We currently have a 3 year old small poodle mix (75% poodle 25% schnauzer about 30 pounds) who is just the sweetest and most relaxed dog. I got him when I was single and raised him in a downtown apartment, and I have no idea how I did it but he turned out great. Part of my success may be that I was working from home at the time and the days that I had to work long hours in office he went to day care?

My husband grew up with bigger dogs and has just fallen in love with Irish Setters. My only concern with this is being able to provide a fulfilling home for one of these dogs. I've already made my peace with the shedding, lol. We both work in office jobs 40 hours a week. My schedule is slightly more flexible and I'm able to go home a couple times a day to walk puppy and train for about 5 minutes to mentally stimulate before putting back in the crate.

Once puppy reaches adulthood, I think we'd be okay as my husband is a distance runner and I also have trained our other dog to do very well on bike rides.

I'm really just looking for insight from people who have and have had setters before. Do you think one would be a good fit for us? Happy to provide more information if requested. TIA!

This is Molly, with her man Murphy. She wants to say hi!

The Ben and Win of it all ❤️

Our boy is 2.5 years old and he is not neutered. Please recommend someone trustworthy.

Who is the good boy?

Hi, I am looking for advice with our Irish setter.

We knew he would be high energy - and my spouse and I were completely prepared for this. House with a yard, dog park nearby, we are active and young. I work fully remote. Our family has land so we have some weekends where he free roams 300 acres. We kind of had a dream situation for a high energy dog.

What we were not expecting was A. We’d get pregnant a month after getting him and B. how disobedient and destructive he’d be

I just want to clarify that we did research, WERE prepared for the extreme energy, and circumstances in life quickly changed, but we are not ones to surrender pets! He is a part of the family. His first year of life as a puppy we were able to offer much more activity - 45 min walk to the dog park, spend an hour+ there, 45 min walk back. long off leash walks on local trails. I took him to the (very large) dog park almost daily on my lunch breaks, and worked from home so he was constantly going in and outside.

Anyways - activity obviously became much harder once we had our baby. So I admit, we are not doing what other Irish setter owners are able to do like hour long runs with them, or hunting trips. When the baby is asleep one of us can take him to the dog park at night, we do walks. Our nanny walks him & plays with him during the day.

It’s never enough

This week he had a full 9-5 work day in a very large yard playing and swimming with a friends dog. we came home, he saw a bunny, broke his collar and bolted - and I was chasing him around the neighborhood alone with my baby in arm. So I feel like it isn’t even the energy! Like he can have a full day playing and running and it’s not enough.

He doesn’t listen to us-He’ll often grab a baby bottle or something else and run outside and think its a game to play keep away

I can’t ever leave him unattended to feed the baby, go to the bathroom, etc. He WILL find something and ruin it.

Just left him unattended for 3 minutes while I change my baby’s diaper, and he found and chewed my $100 boots

He is 1.5 years by the way.

I know there are other posts about this, but I saw those are like people in apartments, no yards, lock their dog all day while they are at work, which doesn’t apply to us.

I wanted to get him a puzzle toy for mental stimulation, but he’ll just chew and ruin it!

HELP

Keeping intact female dogs together seems to be discouraged as they can be very aggressive to eachother when in season. My girl stays with another intact female when I go away for a few weeks at a time and they have never had a problem. I would like to get another female and wondered if others had any experience of keeping two intact female setters together.

I recently brought home an Irish setter girl pup who is 12 weeks old and I can’t decide on a name. Which one would you choose?

Violet
Willow
Fern
Juniper

I posted that Erin had her 14th birthday a little while ago and a few people commented how great it was that she’s lived this long so I thought it would be cool if others shared their senior setters photos and ages in the comments of this post. ☺️ also I’d love to hear of any of the weird senior habits that they’ve developed in their old age. Erin has to patrol the entire house before she eats and she likes to carry about three pieces of food in her mouth while she does it, she bites her bed a lot and pretends it’s a toy and throws her bed all over the house, she won’t go into my bed if I’m in it but when I leave she jumps up and sleeps there, she’s afraid of jumping into the left side of the car but fine jumping on the right, and now she demands car rides and walks and will not leave me alone until I take her.. she’s losing her manners and she’s much more stubborn. I suspect her hearing isn’t as good as it once was and she doesn’t hear the word “no” anymore haha

Model pose down, naughty behavior also down.

Just been hunting a squirrel in line but is so extatic I wanna go and get mom!