Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Your Pet, Our Passion.

Irish Red and White Setter

Strong and athletic, the Irish Red and White Setter is a robust yet elegant dog, with a well-feathered, medium length coat that is, unexpectedly from the name, white with red patches. The coat should be straight or gently waved, never curly.

Lifespan
10 – 13 years
Weight
27 - 32kg
Height
58.5 - 68.5cm
Colours
White with patches of deep red
Size
Medium
UK Kennel Club Groups
Gundog
The need-to-know
  • Dog suitable for owners with some experience
  • Extra training required
  • Generally healthy breed
  • Enjoys active walks
  • Enjoys more than two hours of walking a day
  • Large dog
  • Some drool
  • Requires grooming every other day
  • Quiet dog
  • Welcomes everyone happily
  • Generally friendly with other dogs
  • Gets along with other pets with training
  • Great family dog
  • Needs a large garden
  • Can live in semi-rural areas
  • Can be left occasionally with training
Generally healthy breed

As with many breeds, the Irish Red and White Setter can suffer from:
- Hip dysplasia
- Gastric dilatation volvulus
- Canine leucocyte adhesion deficiency which is an inherited disorder where the immune system does not work properly.
- Von Willebrand's disease which is where a dog produces insufficient or faulty clotting factors which can result in uncontrolled bleeding. 
- Hereditary cataracts which is a condition where the lens in the eye becomes cloudy and this can result in blindness.
 
Priority Kennel Club health schemes and testing: 
- Eye screening scheme 
- DNA testing for canine leucocyte adhesion deficiency and von Willebrand's disease which test whether or not a dog has the potential to be affected by these conditions.

Personality

Gentle, biddable and good natured, the Irish Red and White Setter is an affectionate companion with a happy nature. Energetic and enthusiastic, they still make both good family and working dogs, and as such, require an active owner interested in training and long walks to give them the life they need.

Did You Know?

  • Hunters in the 1800’s favoured dogs with white markings, in part due to the difficulty in seeing a dark red dog against the reddish browns of the heather and peat terrain they worked on.
  • There is another reason that seeing a dog might be difficult, and that is that when a setter locates game, they ‘sett’ in other words freeze in a low crouch, one front paw up… they will hold that position until commanded otherwise by their owner. It was not uncommon to discover a lost dog still setting, many hours later and owners joked that a truly lost dog could end up with its skeleton discovered still pointing at game during the next seasons hunt a year later!
  • Irish Red and White Setters appeared on postage stamps in Britain in 1979 and in Romania in 1971.