The Irish Red Setter is a breed of gundog which gets along very well with other dogs, any household pets, and with children. A very active breed, Irish Setters love playing with dog toys and spend lots of time running. Lack of activity can lead setters to become bored, destructive and hyperactive dogs. It is not a breed that can be left in solitude for long as they thrive on human companionship.
One of the earliest references to the setting dog is located in Caius’s ‘De Canibus Britannicus’, published in 1570: “The Dogge called the Setter, in Latine, Index: Another sort of Dogges be there, serviceable for fowling, making no noise either with foote or with tongue, whiles they follow the game. They attend diligently upon their Master and frame their condition to such beckes, motions and gestures, as it shall please him to exhibite and make, either going forward, drawing backeward, inclinding to the right hand, or yealding toward the left. When he hath founde the byrde, he keepeth sure and fast silence, he stayeth his steppes and wil proceede no further, and weth a close, covert watching eye, layeth his belly to the grounde and so creepth forward like a worme.” Whilst Caius is not referring to a red setter as we now know it, he is referring to an ancestor of the setter.