Setters and Kids

[Teresa]

Once we get to know the breed, mixing a setter and a kid is surely a recepy for tons of fun to them!
However, my girls don't get to play with kids all that often...Now a bit more since we live near a playground, but they don't get the joy of having a tiny human next to them everyday!

Today, my neighbours' son came buy with a friend, to cool themselves of in our pool. Pitanga was the star of the afternoon! There was a lot of fetching and diving and fun. For 3 hours she ran up and down the stair with her toy, cooling herself in the "doggies pool" and coming back for some more fun with the kids. She is now "off" and sleeping like a rock from all the playing, but there is still a smile on her face.

Romã does not like to play so much, and she does not like the running and shouting, so she kees to herself, but once everyone is tired and settled down, she very much enjoys the cuddles and the hugs.

Looking at them today, I wondered how many kids+setters stories there must be, and how funny some of them surely are! Anyone has a story to share?

[Melinda Auld]

Setters are the best dogs to have with kids.  My dogs play so gently with my 3 year old - much more so than they would play with anyone else.  Sometimes, she will throw a toy for them to fetch, and it will barely land beyond their feet, but they will dutifully pick it up and bring it back to her, tails wagging.

And then there was Red, the dog who made me fall in love with the breed when I was a child.  He used to turn up at our door every morning and wait for us to come out and play with him.  If we weren't on time, he'd bark to remind us to get a move on.

[Angela Clarke]

My girls are realy great with children,I have grand-children and they come to see the dogs not me! they have always been gentle, Abbie would steal food every oppertunity but she has never taken anything from a child ( she has looked, OH! SHE HAS LOOKED.) Sofie is so funny she is the jester and the bull in one, but if I say " baby" when a toddler goes up to her ( and they do, if only to pull her ears)  she sits and goes submissife sliping gentle to the ground.When they are gone straight back to the grazy tornado that she is.

The other thing that I noticed about my two is that if they have food, toy, treat whatever I can take it away and they never grab at it. This also makes the combination even more workable, as small children WILL take what they want. <:0)   

[Dee Rance]

When I first got my setter bug I had two very small children, and thought that they were good with kids because I had them running through my house in their hundreds....and now that I am retired I was worried that my dogs would not mix with small kids....but hey how wrong can a person be...my youngest granddaughter learned to walk with the help of my lovely late Jasmine, she would grab hold of two handfuls of Jasmines back and Jas would get up and start working slowly away, and so Elodie learned to work....

And all of my four legged kids mix really well with my two legged ones...

They also make wonderful pillows and hot waterbottles for children....ha ha

[lyn hathaway]

dee this has made me chuckle how you describe elodie with sweet jas. our new grandaughter eva now 9 months makes a beeline for layla ( not lucy ) she loves stroking her fur.i wouldnt let her pull her but layla quite happily lays there while little fingers are exploring .

[Ellen Turberfield]

My first boy was 7years old when i had my first daughter i was worried he would be jealous as he had me to himself for so long, but as soon as i brought her home he wanted to see he was so gentle i knew he would be fine, he would sleep beside her cot, lie beside her on floor and sit bolt upright by her bouncy chair, Emma also learned to walk by pulling herself up by holding on to his tail, these are such lovely dogs to have with children, and tomorrow Emma will be 25, where has all the time gone?

[Julia Grace]

They are wonderful dogs to have with children. I have some lovely photos of my friend's little girl with my Setter, Harley and he loved playing with her as much as she did with him. When I walk him home, unless he's had a very long walk, he is on his toes and wanting to get home for his dinner, when my friend's little girl walked him home last Summer, he was as gentle as gentle. He didn't pull at all, didn't mess around and kept pace with her. She was six and she is a small six year old, very petite so Harley is definitely big enough to have pulled her over if he wanted but he was so gentle.

I also have arthiritis and on days where I am struggling walking, he is shockingly good. He will keep pace with me and at times has even stopped for me to catch up with him. Even on good days I struggle with a very steep hill near us that I have to navigate to get him to his favourite park and he will take baby steps for me, half-steps then and occasionally stop and wait for me to catch up.

That's not to say than on my good days he won't act the clown and challenge me but on the bad days, when it really counts, he is an absolute star :-).