Barking setters?

[ursula wilby]

In another discussion, it was said that the irish setter supposedly is amongst the 5 most barking breeds of dogs.
I find this VERY difficult to believe.
I would have thought that this would be totally against their grain.
A setter is not supposed to bark whilst working (unlike most hounds). Neither was it ever used as a guard-dog.

Yes mine do bark, but most of the time triggered by my pug and there is certainly no excessive barking.

How about you?
Ever felt that the breed deserves to be amongst the 5 "most barking"-ones?

(Illustration from one of my books - chapter on excessive barking - picturing breeds that are supposedly loud...)

[ursula wilby]

Ill think about that Susan!

[ursula wilby]

Having read all the comments regarding barking setters, I think we all agree that who ever compiled that list...had not met any irish setters!

[Sue and Cash]

That was me that said I had read that online. My last two setters were very quiet. Dublin is a barker, a singer, a whiner, he just likes to hear himself. He has his play bark, guarding bark, excited bark etc. All different levels of sounds and style too. If he wants to dig in the hole another dog is digging in at the dog park. He circles them and yaps his fool head off. But then again, he can be in the park for days without a peep out of him too. He tends to bark and circle if wants a dog to play with him, chase him, or if they have a stick he wants. If you watch his video on youtube "Dublin wants that bone" you get an idea of his noise levels. At home though he is very laid back, sleeps mostly and is quiet. I realize I make him sound worse than he really is!! He is a great dog.

[Ilona & Gina]

Hi everyone

Re barking irish setters - yes, Anton & Gina bark, but never without reason.

Usually I respond and find that they heard something unusual around the house. Only once I ignored Anton's barking at night, which turned out to be a mistake. Next morning I found out that someone had stolen a plant from out front garden.

Then Anton and Gina bark when one wants to play, telling the other one: Let's go!
In the morning when we wake up, Gina sings her wonderful wolf howl, just one short woawwww! - as if to say - yeah another great morning!

But isn't that perfectly fine? We are surrounded by neigbourhood dogs that really bark excessively, and they are anything but irish setters.

Hello from Downunder
Ilona with Anton & Gina

[Kristina]

Mine barks loudly when door bell rings (but stops as soon the visitor enters), barks when there is no more water in the bowl, when she wants a treat from the table (she never steals it), when she wants to play, when she wants someone to open the door for her, when she is happy running thru the fields, when she wants to warn me about something (once she even "told" me that the milk in going to boil over) etc. Is that a lot of barking? I don't know. All I know is she has always different way of barking for diferent things. A lot of times she doesn't even bark, but makes funny voices - I don't know how to explain it. I know what she wants by the way she barks. I really like that about her. I like it when she "talks" to me. She never barks for no reason - like other dogs on shows for example.

[lyn hathaway]

agree with you kristina layla is very vocal in" talking "to you. its when you dont take any notice of her she yaps.no seriously she as a different bark depending on what she wants.

[Jo Ottinger]

Well my first Irish, Scout did bark alot. He flunked doggy day care as he barked the whole time he was there - two days none stop. He stopped as soon as he heard my voice. He was a real mommy's boy. Hawk, who is 4 months, only barks to get the girls or the cats to play.

[Melinda Auld]

Fionni is not an excessive barker, but he is certainly "opinionated." He will bark whenever anyone comes home, or to the door, and he likes to bark while he's playing in the barkyard - just to make sure the others have noticed him. As soon as they look at him, he stops. He also stops as soon as I tell him, and he doesn't bark incessantly. When he does bark, he is LOUD. Especially in a house with wooden floors and very little furniture!

Maia has never been a barker. She will happily give a mouthful of cheek, and she likes to talk with grumbles and roo-roo sounds. When I came home from work the other day, I asked her if she'd been a good girl, and I swear she said, "Yeah!"

[Kristina]

After I read all the comments, I noticed that allmost all bark when the door bell rings. :)) I wonder why?

Mine barks as if to say: "Someone's at the door, someone's comming, someone's comming,....Go open the door, can't you hear someone is coming" It is a happy barking, knowing someone is going to pat her. She welcomes everyone - even a total stranger.

[beverley mercer]

My dogs are not great for barking, although Redley can have a great conversation with you! Bailey sings like a dream, think she had the xmas no1 this year, mads has been at the royal albert hall doing a solo (a cappello) and morgan just sleeps. So no, no barkers!!!!! Cant imagine irish being in the top 5??

[Karin Diller]

No way!
In our house, Frizzi, the Cockerspaniel, does most of the barking. Giulio, the Setter, hardly barks, but he is kind of a telltale.
The first time I heared his voice was when Frizzi sat on the sofa and he was barking like: look, what SHE is doing! Going where no dog belongs! He is from an animal rescue organisation and was not used to dogs sitting on sofas. ;-) The first six months I thought my dog couldn´t bark at all.
I like this illustration, I can imagine my cocker singing songs the world doesn´t need.

[Speilb]

My Setter doesn't bark much but she does like to make a rolling howl to let you know she is there or if someone fails to greet her to let them know she needs to be recognized. She also barks at her food bowl when it is empty and barks at white cows and white cats. She doesn't bark at strangers as long as they drive up in a car and not walk past our house.

It is clear that the results were not based on a survey from this website but I would not think it would be unlikely for a setter to bark excessively if chained up all day. Setters love attention and if barking gets attention for them I would imagine they could bark a lot or if they have little other stimulation. Mine started barking a little but when we ignored the bark but responded to her soft rolling howl she quickly converted to that.