The Red Setter by Dail Willis Nigel, a young red setter owned by Louis Frutuoso, works a field in Maine during training. (Photo courtesy of Brad Cullivan of Wild Wing Kennels, Knox, Maine) t’s not surprising that the history of the same dog embraced by the dog-show Worst of all, say hunters, that dog doesn’t Irish setter in America is marked by crowd. The divide is so wide that today, have the desire and the intensity required of I underappreciation and disputatious- America is home to two kinds of setters a working bird dog. ness. Ireland has suffered much the same with Irish roots: the Irish setter and the red The Irish dog that can hunt is so for centuries. Nevertheless, the setters from setter. different from his AKC counterpart that the Ireland have survived, if not always pros- The Irish setter is the dog name isn’t even the same. The hunting dog pered, in America for more than 150 years. embraced by those in the dog-show world, is known as the Irish red setter, or just red They are loved by hunters and field trial in particular the American Kennel Club. It’s setter. The dog tends to be smaller, is bred enthusiasts as well as those who show dogs. a handsome dog– large, uniformly red, with with a high tail – and that dog can and will But their broad appeal is also the source of a pump-handle tail. But that dog won’t hunt. “All I know is, I will have red setters the disputes that have dogged the breed hunt, say sportsmen. That dog is too big to from now on,” says David Belisle, who has almost since its arrival here. The Irish setter run fast, and the tail is the wrong configura- been guiding hunts in the Winner, South that hunters and field-trialers love isn’t the tion to find and read correctly in the field. Dakota, area for more than a decade. Over the years, Belisle has owned and trained a wide variety of dogs, includ- ing English setters and German short- haired pointers. He had his first red setters in the 1970s. But he knew he’d found a breed for life when he acquired two red set- ters in the mid-1990s . “I have had only red setters since then,” he says. Today, Belisle has four: six-year-old Prince, three-year-old brothers called Red and Remington and a three-year-old female named Phoenix. He is also helping preserve the red-setter line: He bred Prince to Phoenix and she had five puppies in the spring of 2010. He sold one puppy to Louis Frutuoso of Connecticut Shot Guns in Connecticut. Frutuoso had been impressed with Belisle’s dogs on a guided pheasant hunt several years ago. “They’re a classic American hunting dog,” says Frutuoso. His puppy, Ryland, a red setter owned by Chris Hall, retrieves a duck. (Photo courtesy of The Flushing Whip) Nigel, is just over a year old and is being trained at Wild Wind Kennels in Knox, Maine. He’s winning hearts and minds there, too. Red setters hunt well in a variety of environments, fulfilling Ned LeGrande's vision of a hunting dog “He’s excellent – steady to wing with "good shooting dog range, beautiful gait and most of all bird sense." and shot,” says Wild Wing trainer Brad (Photo courtesy of The Flushing Whip) Cullivan. “He’s got an excellent nose on him and he loves to please.” Cullivan, who is a registered Maine guide for hunting, fishing and recreation, has been training dogs for 12 years and became a registered professional two years ago. In all, he’s trained about 40 hunting dogs, and he puts Nigel in the top three dogs he’s seen as a trainer. “I’d guide over him – he’s that good a dog,” Cullivan says. The Irish setter was first devel- oped to hunt on the rugged moors of Ireland. “Speculation suggests a blend of English setter, pointer, Gordon setter, both land and water spaniel as probable contrib- utors to the Irish red setter which became well established as a recognizable breed by the year 1800,” according to the website of the National Red Setter Field Trial Club. The first Irish setters were chestnut and white, and even today, some say a solid red coat indicates the dog may not shine in the field. Red setters are steady to wing and shot, and display a keen interest in finding birds. (Photo courtesy of The Flushing Whip) This historical photo shows hunter S. A. Hodges with his two Irish setters and some of the 66 quail his hunting party shot on a fall day in 1917. Hodges and family members were hunting in Overton County, Tennessee. (Photo courtesy of The Flushing Whip) By the 1860s, the Irish setter had trial in 1950 and watching a progression of support from the Irish Setter Club of come to America, where it began to com- show-bred Irish setters lumber and flail America, which hewed to the American pete in field trials and bench shows, as dog through the field, he turned to his wife, Kennel Club’s purebred doctrine. So they shows were then called. Before long, a live- Helen, and said, “Something is going to founded the National Red Setter Field Trial ly debate ensued among dog owners about have to be done for Irish setters.” Mrs. Club and, in the grand tradition of Irish elo- which was the better hunter – the Irish set- LeGrande, who had seen her husband’s quence, called their breeding program “The ter or the English setter. In 1879, a contest determination when confronted with other Purest Challenge in Sportsdom.” They also was arranged to settle the argument. seemingly impossible challenges in athlet- decided to call their dogs red setters Gladstone, considered the best English set- ics at William and Mary, in his fishing-line because they wanted to differentiate them ter in America and an import from Great business and elsewhere, said to herself, from the bigger, slower dogs bred for show. Britain, was matched against Joe Jr., an Here we go again. Her expectation of a LeGrande’s breeding and rebuild- Irish setter bred in Tennessee. Three days lengthy engagement was accurate. Her hus- ing program was extensive. He bred the and one leg injury suffered by Joe Jr. later, band pursued his dream of breeding hunt- best American Irish setters he could find Joe Jr. the Irish setter had won, with 61 worthy Irish setters for the rest of his life with dogs from overseas. It took him more finds to Gladstone’s 52. and is widely credited with achieving his than a decade, but he ultimately was able to By the 1920s, Irish setters were goal. reliably breed the dogs he wanted: “Red not doing well in field trials. The breed lan- LeGrande consulted every canine setters with early point, high tails, good guished outside the show ring for another geneticist and dog breeding expert he could shooting dog range, beautiful gait and most three decades. There was a general dirge of find. He struck lucky with a North Carolina of all bird sense, all with intensity and consensus that the end was near for the farmer’s family pet. The dog, named desire.” The breed’s hunting ability had breed as a gun dog. Askew’s Carolina Lady (the farmer’s name been resurrected. Salvation arrived in 1950 in the was Askew), produced a long line of good By 1975, the Irish Setter Club of person of W.E. (Ned) LeGrande. AVirginia hunters. LeGrande was joined in his quest America asked its parent, the American native and resident of Pennsylvania, by a handful of other men who loved Irish Kennel Club, to withhold reciprocity for LeGrande had hunted with Irish setters in setters and wanted to recapture the days of Irish setters who were registered in the his youth. While attending an Indiana field hunting glory. But they didn’t get a lot of Field Dog Stud Book. The AKC agreed. That decision still stands today: Breeding an AKC-registered dog with a Field Dog Stud Book-registered one will result in pup- pies that won’t have AKC registration. For those who hunt Irish setters, however, the dispute is only a minor detail. They know it’s out there and they don’t care. What matters most, they say, is the dog’s performance in the field – and their dogs don’t disappoint. Belisle uses his four dogs when he guides pheasant hunts in South Dakota. “My three males are Field Book, my female is AKC and Field Book. These dogs want to please more than some other breeds.” It’s too bad that LeGrande isn’t around to hear the praises. His legacy of a hunting dog with the characteristics needed to succeed in the field, as well as the desire to hunt and to please, is winning over sportsmen across the country. Cullivan sums up the trend: “They seem to be coming back in popularity.” Dail Willis is a native of Orange County, Virginia. She has been a writer and editor for three decades, reporting and editing for newspapers, magazines and the Associated Press, and currently lives in North Carolina. ..