Crazy / Funny Irish Setter Stories

[Gene]

Here's a discussion that I bet most all of us can participate in...I bet some people have several stories to share about times when our dogs did something crazy or funny.

This is a story about my first Irish Setter, Chelsea. It is only funny that in retrospect or looking back, she was not sick or injured.

A good friend of mine had recently taken a job as an international CFO for a local company. He was spending most of his nights overseas and with the time zone differences it was upsetting his sleep schedule. He started telling me about a supplement called Melatonin, which is a supplement/pill that resets a person's sleep clock to when they want to go to sleep, almost like a sleeping pill. At the time, I was having a bit of difficulty getting to sleep so I thought I would try some.

I went out and bought a 500 capsule bottle of Melatonin and made the mistake of leaving it on the kitchen counter. This was before I was familar with the term 'counter-surfing'. When I came home from work the next day, I noticed that the bottle of melatonin pills was no longer on the kitchen counter. I found the bottle in the living room with the child-resistant/tamperproof top tore off and not a pill to be found. Chelsea had ate 499 Melatonin pills. She was prancing around showing no sleepiness or ill effects whatsoever. I immediately call the vet and that if she was going to suffer any ill effects, I would have saw them by now.

Again, funny in retrospect, but I learned a lesson in a scary few minutes.

[Laura Kolbach]

My story is neither funny nor crazy - it is kind of scary and I would have never believed it if it wasn't my parents to tell me.
While I spent a year in Sweden, Odin was at my parents place. They live in a flat. My dad had serious heart problems at that time. One afternoon he felt that he is getting really bad, with symptoms of a heart attack (it was not his first one, so he knew); he laid down on the couch in the living room. Odin was very nervous and licked his face. My dad couldn't do anything, not even go to the phone and call the ambulance. My mum was at the neighbors, drinking coffee.
And then it happened. Odin run out of the living room, opened the front door and went over to the neighbor, scratching his door. When it got opened, Odin rushed in, took my mum's arm and tried to pull her out. She did not know what's going on but after some seconds she was sure that something had happened, Odin never acted like this before, she was barking and "showing the way" outside. She followed Odin over to their flat and saw my dad struggling on the couch. She called the ambulance, they came and my dad had a surgery - received a by-pass.
Unbelievable? YES.
Though I don't dare to imagine what would have happened if the door had been locked (as usual).
By the way: Odin never opened a door before or after this episode...

Unnecessary to say that there is a special bond between my dad and Odin...

[harriet]

what a great story, from a very brave and excellent Odin

[Henk ten Klooster]

Well ok heres a todays whats in a name.

While my setters were galloping small heathers, a woman was calling her red setter. "Piet heeeeeeeeeere" she shouted. "Huh", I reacted. "Piet?" You must know Piet is a very ordinary name here and most Irish setters have very extra-ordinary names.

So why is that. "Well its Piet because its the name of my ex-husband", she revealed. "He never listened to me, always doing exactly the opposite. So I decided to call my dog Piet and enjoy him doing exactly what I weanted him to do. Like sit, down, come here."

Meanwhile, setter Piet was racing the horizon on the heather. Seemingly deaf for her command. So she shouted again: "Piet...come heeeeeeeeeere". But never no Piet coming.

Wishing her good luck, I continued walking my setters.

After for about an hour returning to the heather, still there was that same woman. Still shouting "Piet.....come heeeeeeeeeeere." Now Piet did react. But when she tried to grab his collar, he raced away at great speed.

"You know", she smiled with a bit of tragedy in it. "Piet is a copy of my ex-husband."

[harriet]

I have a very funny puppy named Elliot who loves the rabbit so much that he wants and tries it still go to sleep in the cage like he did when he was just a little puppy.
Now when the rabbit get his vegetables like a carrot or a apple he wants it too.
I sometimes think what did i get a irishrabbit or a Irish seal since he loves to swim or a Irish pig since he loves the mud so much that he rawls in all the muddpuddles he sees.
Justin my other Irishs he jumps over him like a horse, so maybe he is a irish horse.But all overall he is a very funny cute puppy.

[Londa Warren]

While on foot "roading" my precious Jazzy many years ago in preparation for field-trial season, I frequently took a route through the suburban neighborhood we used to live in. Jazzy was a smart girl and knew that when she was in harness she was allowed, nay, encouraged, to pull! I usually wrapped her checkcord around my waist and leaned back against her pressure (good for the figure, you know!). One day, one of residents came marching down her driveway, business card in hand, and stopped me. She said something to the effect that she had been watching for weeks as the dog pulled me down the street and thought I could use some help from the CIA, which was an obedience school named Canine Intelligence Association!!!!! I valiantly refrained from laughing, explained that Jazzy was trained to pull for conditioning purposes, and to prove it moved the checkcord from the harness to Jazzy's collar and we did a quick heeling routine! I remember her with a smile, especially when I also remember that her two little something-or-others would come barrelling out of the house, yapping their heads off, when we passed by!

Londa Warren, Edmond, OK

[Laura Kolbach]

How many lives can a dog have? (some horror-stories)
Odin already used 4 of hers - as far as I remember.

1. We were on our usual evening walk 5-6 years ago, it was winter time, very cold and the streets covered with ice, "thanks" to the strong wind. We walked on the sidewalk, Odin had no leash on as she had always been a good girl. Then that car came with way too high speed, the traffic lights turned red, the car wanted to put on the brakes but it did not help because of the ice all over. The street resembled a mirror... The car began to spin on the ice like a whirling dervish and in the end crashed against the wall of the house we were walking by, missing Odin by 2 centimeters only. This happened within some seconds or maybe less, i stood there shouting to Odin to turn and come back to me - which she did. What if the wind had been from the wrong direction and she wouldn't have heard me shouting??? What if she was at the age she is now and almost completely deaf and she wouldn't have heard me shouting? What if... I just don't want to think about it.

2. The babesia-story, you have heard that one before.

3. Last summer we visited a friend in the countryside. She has a nice house with a big balcony that finishes in a roof, of course there is a rail, so you don't fall down :-) We just arrived at the place and the girl showed me around. We went to the back of the house as there is an additional little appartment where I was to sleep. Odin must have lost sight of me, as we noticed that she was on the balcony, trying to find me. In the next moment when I looked up, she was on the roof! She must have heard my voice coming from downstairs and climbed through the rails - don't ask me why! I almost got a heart attack seeing her looking down at me, sliding slooowly to the roof edge... Her hind legs are with very little muscle since the babesia-story. My friend ran upstairs and tried to lure her back to the rails. I hid under the roof so she wouldn't see me. I stood there and could see the dog falling all those meters in my mind's eye. But that never happened. Odin managed her way back to the rails somehow without falling down but I could hear her nails on the tiles, sliding... My friend helped her climbing back to the balcony and showed her the way to the garden. Odin was very happy to see me but my heart was still beating heavily...

4. It happened 2 weeks ago at the bank of the river Danube, where we spend lots of minutes every day, as part of our evening walk. I was throwing the ball, the dogs swam in to retrieve it. After the x time, I noticed that something was wrong. Odin was in the water, splattering it and she looked like staying in one place, kind of trying to swim but without success. Then her head disappeared under the water but came out again. But then she was under the water again. I jumped into the fairly cold river, swimming to her, catching her hind quarters and tail and pushed her up and towards the strand. She swam out alone, still having the ball in her mouth... What happened is that a big whirl caught her hind legs and she was not able to lift them to continue to swim. And there I stod soaking wet, tears coming from my eyes, looking at her: she wagged her tail and went her way to look for some food anglers might have forgotten... But in the evening she cuddled up to me, laid her head on my chest, looked at me and those eyes were telling it all: "thank you, mum".

[Carmel Murphy]

Are you sure Odin is a setter, and not a cat with 9 lives!??

[Laura Kolbach]

no idea :) if she is a cat, then she has some more lives to prove on... don't want that part though...
may she live some more years but please calm and relaxed, with no horror-events. :-)

[Laura Kolbach]

Ginger, a good idea, thanks! Hope that you can buy such things here ;-)
The strange thing was that it never happened before in the past 10 years. But I know how unpredictable the Danube is, many people drown in it every year :-(

[ursula wilby]

Laura, if you are going to Stockholm, they will have them for sale there!
No problem.

[Barbara Simpson]

Last summer, I accidentally let Annie out of the house. My neighbors teenage son came over to mow my lawns for me, had opened the garage door with his opener at the same time I was in the garage putting the trash in their containers. I had left the door going into the house open. Walked out to talk to Travis for a couple of minutes. Neither of us noticed Annie as she scooted around my truck which was parked inside the garage and around the corner of the house. I realized she was missing about 15 min. later. I raced outside to look for her, Travis hadn't seen her either. I finally found her almost a mile from the house, she had wandered past 6 neighbors homes and around a corner and behind our houses to a 48 acre field behind my house. She was busily hunting for birds, rabbits, whatever she could find. She was in specials coat of course, covered in briars and weeds. When I called her, she didn't pay any attention (wind was blowing towards me) so I trotted out into the field about 100 yards until she finally noticed me. She came trotting over as if to say,hey Mom, I've been having fun out here, what are you doing here? I just thanked God that she didn't get out onto a very busy highway bordering that same field! She wasn't wearing a collar but was microchipped and tattooed. Poor Travis was out on his bicyle combing the neighborhood looking for his special redheaded buddy too. I chased him down and let him know that Annie's little "walk about" was ended and that she was safe at home. Poor girl was so tired I think she slept for at least 8 hours without moving after that bit of exercise! One other time, right after I moved into my new home here in N. TX, I just had the 2 redheads, Annie and Garnett. I had mowed my back yard, put my mower away in the garage after cleaning it up. Went inside the house from the garage and let the dogs outside again. Took me about 10 min. to realize that oh mi God! I'd left the gate open to the front! Went dashing out the back door, yep, gate was wide open and no redheads in sight! I ran thru the house and out thru the garage, calling both girls frantically. Annie came trotting to me from one side of the house but no Garnett. I put her inside the house, grabbed my truck keys and was prepared to scour the neighborhood in my truck looking for Garnett. She came running towards the truck as soon as she saw me tho, so both girls were home again and safe. My heart took nearly an hour to calm down tho. I never, ever, forgot to relock the back gate afterwards either and after Annie got out a year later, Travis always, always makes sure he checks the garage door going into the house, makes sure it is closed before he walks away from my open big garage door. He's also very careful about relocking the back gate after mowing my lawn for me too. He's such a responsible Teenager! Good Boy Travis! LOL!!!! Garnett and Traveler don't get very far away from me these days, they like staying close to Mom, Annie crossed over the Rainbow Bridge in Feb. so she's on another "walk about" , we still miss her sweet face and constant arroooos.