How many of you have had 'no issues' with your Setters?

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I have been reading through some of the discussions on this site and I couldn't help noticing how many training and behavioural issues have come to light ....

Destructive, noisy, disobedient, separation anxiety, hyper, fussy eaters to name but a few! 

It would be interesting to know how many of you have had no problems (excluding health) with your Setters and have found the breed to be very trainable and a 'doddle' to live with and why, in your opinion, do other people seem to come up against these problems with their dogs.

 

 

[Katie Rogers]

I didn't realize there was such a thing as owning an animal and having "no issues".  I think they all have their little quirks, hey even my barn cats climbs on my husbands car and has scratched the paint.  I think that would be like asking if any parent's out there have a child that has never disobeyed.  JMHO though

[Val Martin]

Our little quirks are what makes each of us (humans and animals) individual Katie.

I'm talking about training and behavioural problems not innate behaviours.

 

 

[Philip Hall]

NOW :-) you two behave.....pretty please :-)

[Val Martin]

Your so right when you say......you don't want a Border Collie....they have more issues than any other breed I know of.        

Funnily enough I've got one coming today for training...lol

[Teresa]

Sue, I just love your answer, I am a bit younger than you, an my experience with dogs not as big as yours - I also never had the chance to learn from anyone with more experience... there are no trainers near me! Well, not decent ones, at least!

I do believe we learn along the way, and that our best teachers are our dogs. Pitanga was my first "solo" dog and my first setter, and she did have a lot, if not all of the common setter issues: fussy eater, no recall, barking like a mad dog, separation anxiety, you name it! She is growing out of being a fussy eater, and all the other issues I managed to solve, mainly because of tips I picked up here, and I must say that she has managed to impress almost everyone she has met due to her very good behavior.

I knew better with Romã, and she has never showed any of the usual behavior issues we are talking about. Other than being a bit shy - and she can cope with it perfectly - she has never showed a behavioral problem in her life - she is not that into misbehaving either. Her first successful recall was the very first one and she has never missed one after, so I guess I'm incredibly lucky with her!

 

The one thing I'm sure of is that setters do not cope or learn like any other breed, and it takes a while to get into their smart heads, and each of them is so different it's hard to believe - If I had to guess I'd say that is why so many of us have issues with our setters along the way... We have trouble learning what they are teaching us at first, but we all come around eventually!

 

As for Borders... I know a lot of amazing Borders, that will do everything you can imagine... Most of them come with their own issues, most of them worst than setters! Also... No matter how amazing borders can be, I prefer my dogs a little more "doggish" and a little less "robottish"!

[silvia]

wonderful considerations, sue !

[Teresa]

I really hate those owners... Their dogs misbehave, get away with anything really, and in the end, our sweet well behaved dogs are the ones who end up losing something, not those little terrors!

I also believe we are over caring owners, and we do worry about every little thing with our dogs, but that allows us to ask and share so much more - it becomes a wonderful learning experience and I think our dogs benefit the most from it.

I'll say it again, if it weren't for countless ES tips, I'd never been able to help Pitanga! I never wished to change her, just to give her the right tools to cope with her daily routine and the World around it. She is still herself, but has a lot more fun, gets to do more things, goes to more places and gets more a attention from so many people!

 

...come to think of it, maybe I should make a blog post thanking all of those who were kind enough to give me advices... It would be a very long post, so...

Thank you all! :)

[Elizabeth Maher]

I have a 20 month old female Irish Setter and the only "issue" I have is that when we are out walking she insists on jumping up on me whenever we approach what she perceives as a threat-eg we pass by a German shepherd dog with a ferocious bark.

Any advice on how to stop her doing this would be welcome--I would have to say that apart from "mouthing" our Siamese cat (14 years old) and they sleep and eat together) she is a delight--extremely gentle --digs in the "right" places, only barks when a stranger approaches our house. I have had boys in the past and except for one I found them alot more boisterous and harder to handle.

I have noticed from time to time she will go off her food but I don't react and within a couple of days is back to normal.

 

[Val Martin]

Hi Eva..... Judging by your photo's, you live in a nearly perfect world!

You can't possibly have had issues especially with your wonderful 'Joy'......I just wouldn't hear of it... :-))

[Lois McCullough]

I guess I'm so used to ISs having had them for 30 years I no longer notice the issues, perhaps if I were to have another breed (virtually impossible) I might think how boring in comparison. In other words I have nothing to compare our 'boys' to - good, bad or just downright naughty - love them to pieces 

[Frans de Vos]

Hello Val..

 

my boy's are so differend from eachother , its hardly to believe they are both irish setters

Icko almost.7 years old  .always.very obidient, gentle and easy to handle bud also a wimp...during the walks with other setter owners they said he's not a irish setter because he is so well behaved..

Thomas .4,5 years old.  very stubborn, little bit macho to other male dogs in the beginning , but also very funny and behaves as a adolescent...

Always asking for attention.like he's affraid that you like other dogs more then him...

 

 

 

[ursula wilby]

Ha!

Im going to stick my neck out on this one...I have no issues with my setters at all!

Only issues would be me having made misstakes somewhere along the way in their training...