Fun time. What top five things do you constantly get asked about your dog?

[Sue and Cash]

We have lots of fun with this topic on my all breed dog forum. We don't have many irish setters in the suburban area I live in. This dog has brought more comments, good and bad, than any other I have owned. And they same ones over and over again. Not a day goes by that I do not get comments from someone and questions also. I was raised if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all! Now mind you most people who say things don't really know the breed and only see an IS on the dog shows which isn't what I think most really even look like as family pets. So here is my list to start with.

1. Is that a Golden Retriever? (OMG I hate that one most of all)
2. Wow is he skinny, feed that dog. (He eats like its his last meal three times a day, plus treats, I like him lean and lanky, healthy for an active dog)
3. He has such long legs. (I didn't give birth to him, I am only 5'2")
4. Is that a pure bred Irish Setter or is he mixed with a greyhound? (sigh, he does run fast as a whip I guess, but seriously a greyhound?)
5. Is he really hyper? I hear they are super hyper. (I need a cattle prod to get him going by noon most days)

Okay that is my five but I really do hear just as often....how gorgeous he is. How regal he is. And how sweet he is. He leans against people to pet him whether they want to or not. He decides who he likes and when he does like you, he is the most affectionate dog. People at our dog park absolutely adore him. Everyone knows him and he is the only irish setter who plays there. And we have the most used parks in our county in the state of IL. I can't wait to hear some of your funny ones.

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[Melinda Auld]

Slightly off-topic, but I once had someone compliment me on my lovely Afghan...only it was a Cocker Spaniel lol...

Seems the general public have issues with breed recognition all over the world!!

[Margaret Sierakowski]

Most frequent question about an IRWS is " What is it? Is it a Welsh Springer/English Springer/English Setter/Basset Hound/Cavalier/cross breed etc ?" Followed by "Is that really a breed?" ie is it really some kind of crossbreed or mismarked Setter? I have been told that there is no such breed as an IRWS, I had been conned by whoever sold me the dog!

Second most frequent " Are they as mad/loopy/stupid/crazy as an Irish Setter?"

And from people who know a little more about the breed "Does he/she come back when he is called/whistled?" (VBG)

And very sadly from many working gundog and field trial men "Is this really a working one? I know somebody who bought one, and was told it would work, but it was useless /untrainable/ hadnt a clue what it was supposed to do"

[Pat]

'Is that an English Setter or it must be a Welsh Springer. Maybe it's a cross spaniel. I have one like that at home - he is of mixed parentage as well'
This is some of the remarks I get when people see my Irish Red & White Setter, Ray. Other comments, as the other ES members have said, are of their lunancy, daft, crazy, untrainable. These mostly from people who think they know everything there is to be known in gundogs.
Pat

[Angela Roberts]

People always think Irish Setters are skinny even when I have mine on a diet! A friend of mine who has 3 is so fed up with people saying that one is thin that she tells them she can only afford to feed 2 of them and that's why one is thin. Off the subject slightly here but the sad thing is because the public are naive and cannot recognise pure bred dogs from cross breeds some are paying more for a cross breed than they are for a pure bred dog. In our local paper this week someone had for sale 'Terripoodlles' the advert said a cross between a Jack Russell (which is a cross breed to start with), and a toy poodle, they claimed they will not moult (they will if they turn after the Jack Russell) and were asking £650 sterling which is twice as much as a friend of mine has just had for her show quality pure bred English Springer spaniel puppies.

[Jelena Kreitmayer]

LOL i like that answer. I got yelled once when Lego was still a pup for starving my dog. By a homeless person. :-\
yeah, i still get "he is so skinny" even this spring when he was 5 lbs overweight ( laura has seen photos, he looked fat) :))))
I might use that answer next time :D

[Laura Kolbach]

i confirm: he looked extremely fat!!! :-)

[Jo Ottinger]

I quess I have been lucky everyone I have come across so far knows what my Irish Setter is. I hear alot that they or someone they knew had one in the 70's. I had one lady stop her car and get out just to pet Hawk and then tell me about her neighbor's Irish when she was a little girl. Before I got Scout everyone I knew could not believe I was going to get one as you know they are not very bright. Yet I have been told by several people when we are out walking how bright theirs was when they had one. I alwas hear how sweat Irish are.

[Sharyn Latchford]

...........these are so funny...

I get the same as most of you... Irish are hyper, mad, scatty......but I just smile.....but best for me is....can't be a pure bred as they are too quite...:-)))).......

Sharyn

[Kristin]

This is such a funny topic. I get the same comments too - is he a golden, he is so skinny, I had one when . . . But most of the comments are complimentary ( or maybe we are just nicer here in Texas) and Kelsey seems to charm most everyone he meets. A friend of mine calls him "the Cary Grant of the dog world" (and I agree) :)