new discussions ?

[silvia]

Hi there! is it simply my impression or this forum is drying up a bit? I would hate to lose it, but at the same time I reckon that I havent been here as much as I used to do for a bit  (I have also travelled for 5 weeks...) and when i went back i havent spotted many discussions..

Maybe is just my impression !! (and, at least talking about Europe, with all the water that we are having we are quite busy in getting dry and sorting things and less time for nice chats and discussions :(

[Angela Clarke]

Hi Silvia,

I did think about opening a simular discussion to this myself, you are right and yes it would be a real shame. If you look at new members you may notice also that they are not welcomed as they were in the past.

Many members are now more on Facebook, but you don't get the same layout not a lot of good to refer to previous blogs etc if you have a question,  lets hope it will pick up again soon. :(

[Sue Paterson]

Hi silvia.

Yes its a real shame. I have a look everyday more or less, but nothing much:) I'm not on Facebook, but I believe there is a group on there of people who used to be on here, until driven away by the problems and unnecessary comments.

Sadly new people will no longer have the benefit of the experienced breeder/owners. I consider myself quite experienced after 42 years of setters, but I learned so much from the breeder/exhibitors discussions, when I joined. There have been times lately when I've answered someone and wished others would chip in. 

[silvia]

I see the point... probably if most discussions naturally are going on in another forum than people dont duplicate them here.. such a bad news for me since I have a sort of antipathy for facebook so I never opened an account;)

anyway, it would be really a shame also because, as Angela said, this a very different platform that allows us to dig for past discussions, useful info, chats,  etc... would be a shame to lose such a wealm of info. I still hope there are many people interested in this forum, and many breeders as well , who may intervene :)

[Howard Glansfield]

I miss the activity on this group but for personal reasons I have been unable to contribute as I wish.

As things started to get better for me and Joan she fell,on Jan2nd, and fractured her humerus.Then,three days later, we lost Ellie.

Joan was in a great deal of pain for three weeks and it is just starting to ease off.She is also ,more or less,helpless as any movement causes agony.So I am chief everything! And I hate vacuuming!

I do look at ES as often as I can and will be back posting when I have more time.

Please don't let the group fold.

Howard

PS I am not on facebook either.I tried it once and it was not for me.

[Angela Clarke]

My best wishes to Joan for a speedy recovery, Howard don't forget to look after yourself as well cause you are no good to anyone if you over do it. Take care <:0)

[Sue Paterson]

Oh dear that's bad news about Joan. Hope it all mends well.

[Cornelia]

Oh dear! Wishing Joan all the best and a speedy and wholesome recovery!

And enjoy the vacuum cleaner... can't you teach Arthur and Fred to do some of the housework?

[silvia]

Oh no so bad for joan.. I hope she will be better soon - my best wishes!

[Dianne cook]

I built a lot of lovely friendships here on ES and learnt a wealth of knowledge on this endearing breed along the way. I've even had lovely support going through the treatment of our Shelby, who is a retriever from such warm kind people....I now call friends....hope they feel I'm a friend! I have a Facebook account due to needing to know the day to day going on of my dog obedience club but that's as far I've got with my daughter teaching me lol. I miss the old friends that would pop up from time to time on ES too. I've now found out my Irish girls dad is quite successful in Hungry where he is for awhile and I'm told I'll be able to follow he's success on Facebook.......darn I may have to succumb to pressure!! ! But I'll always love ES :o)) x

[Catherine Carter]

Anybody can start a new discussion at any time....the problem was that a few months ago a few of us oldies on this site got put down too many times and so decided it was better to read and say nothing. There are many many Irish Setters groups on FB and I belong to quite a few of them , too many really to keep up with. I will tell you what is the latest topic there. Apparently somebody did a survey to find out the 5 least intelligent Breeds ( I don't know quite how they did this survey) but the result was that the Irish Setter ranked No 4! Well I have kept Irish for over 30 years and I have found them to be highly intelligent and I get very frustrated when told otherwise! So is anybody going to join in this conversation? I look forward to some comments! :-)

[Sue Paterson]

I'm with you there Catherine. Some of mine have been very clever.

Our latest addition, now 2, shows no sign of a brain in most daily situations...a real airhead, but really, he has no attention span for anything that doesn't motivate him, so forget treats when training! I think he would probably shine 'in the field' as he is a real bird dog, but that's not our thing. So there you are, I guess he would be a dog that would uphold the findings of the survey...I'd love to know the criteria used wouldn't you?

Actually he shows amazing intelligence when it comes to burglary too!! But that's another story:)

[rob winemaker]

Hi Catherine,

I'm not around much lately either and Beth just took some great photos of the boys we hope to post soon but I also saw that survey, among others they do about dogs all the time. I was quite irate about that also. I am a life long Irish lover and I find them to be quite intelligent.  All you have to do is go S-Q and Rooker is looking in the trees for those bushy tailed rodents. He does some other things too that are quite remarkable. His brother, well maybe not quite so much but he is a lover.  The fact is that you have to know what you are getting with an Irish and when you don't, it is simple to dismiss the breed.

I did also see an article by a vet where he stated that he missed seeing Irish Setters in his office. I got a chuckle the other day when a friend was over who had never met the boys and he was OMG, do they get bigger than this?

A little late but Howard, sorry to hear about Joan and I hope things are improved.

One more thing, I also do not use FB, they should do a study on a correlation between FB users and breed of dog owner. There must be funding for that. LOL