“The Irish Setter has been termed by artists to be the most beautiful of all dogs. With its flowing, silky red coat, long ears, soft expression, and regal bearing, this dog turns heads wherever it goes.” The Irish Setter Club of America
I know exactly when the Irish Setter breed captured my heart, never to let it go. It was in about the third or fourth grade when I first read Big Red, by Jim Kjelgaard. At that point in my life I don’t know that I had ever actually seen a live Irish Setter, only the wonderful illustrations in this book, but that was enough, I was hooked on the breed! The descriptions of Danny and his beautiful and valiant companion red dog convinced me that this was the best of all dog breeds. When I decided to write about my experiences with this loving and carefree breed, one of the first things I did was to go back and reread the Kjelgaard books. Not too surprisingly, I still found the story and the descriptions riveting, even though my reading tastes have certainly matured and expanded since that day long ago when I first experienced these books.
I was fortunate to be born into a dog-loving family, but the breed of choice around our house was the Dachshund. While I was growing up we had two standard sized male Dachshunds, named Freddy 1 and Freddy 2. When Freddy 1 died, we got Freddy 2; I told you my family wasn’t very creative on pet names; remember Spot the horse? Now I don’t know how much you know about Dachshunds, but they are hounds, originally bred in Germany to hunt badgers, which are not the friendliest of animals. Dachshunds are feisty and can be quite stubborn and difficult to train. Ours were no exception. My Dad, also of German ancestry, was pretty feisty and stubborn as well, which often led to a conflict of wills between the man and the dog.
Now some people don’t give dogs much credit for intelligence and reasoning, but I’m not so sure about that. Freddy 1 appeared to be quite capable of holding a grudge and acting upon it. Two occasions come to mind. The man and the dog had a conflict over something or other, and the dog was scolded and received a smack on the butt. Later that day Freddy jumped up on my parent’s bed, carefully pulled the spread back, and peed on my Dad’s pillow. I don’t know about you, but that certainly seems like a deliberate act to me. I thought pulling the spread back was especially thoughtful! On another similar occasion, Freddy showed his disdain for my Dad by peeing on some freshly laundered shirts just back from the cleaners which were hanging on a doorknob. Needless to say, that did not go over so well!
After Bill and I married, our first dog was a sweet little black and tan miniature Dachshund named Gretchen. It is interesting how when we first leave home and marry, we mimic our parents’ lifestyle in so many ways. Perhaps it takes a while to establish our own married identities and develop our own traditions and lifestyle. I suspect this may be why some couples have in-law issues as both generations strive to adapt and change. Anyway, Gretchen was a sweet and loving little member of the family. In those days there was not the widespread, and appropriate, emphasis on spay and neuter programs that there is today. As a result, Gretchen was not spayed until well into her adult years.
Once or twice a year, she would come into “season,” as it is euphemistically referred to. What we didn’t know was that dogs can have false pregnancies. She looked pregnant with a swollen abdomen and little teats ready to nurse. We had a moment of panic. Did a hopeful male dog somehow get to her? No, we were way too careful, and she was never unattended by one of us. After several of these episodes, our vet suggested getting her spayed, which we gratefully did! Alas, she never completely lost her pregnancy weight gain, a problem shared with many of the human species I fear! Gretchen definitely had a strong maternal instinct. When Chris was born, she would sleep under his bassinet. Remember those lovely bassinets with long eyelet cotton skirts all around? At the slightest whimper from the new arrival, she would come to alert us and would not take no for an answer! There was no waiting to see if the baby went back to sleep by himself. We had to go check him out so his four-legged nursemaid would give us some peace.
Despite her small stature, she had aspirations of being a watchdog. On one occasion she alerted us to a would-be night-time intruder. At that time we were living in a small duplex in Fort Worth close to the TCU campus. Bill was in graduate school, and I was teaching high school English. Gretchen, who always slept in bed with us, awakened us in the middle of the night with a low, guttural growl. Sure enough, there was a rattling at the doorknob on the back door. A thief or worse was trying to break in! Bill hopped up and quickly popped two shells into his 12 gauge shotgun. There is a very distinctive sound to a bolt-action shotgun being cocked. Apparently our intruder also recognized that sound as he made a rapid retreat over the back fence and disappeared down the alley. Gretchen earned herself several treats for her courageous actions!
One of her other watchdog episodes almost had a disastrous ending for the three of us. We were camping at a Texas lake, sleeping on the ground in our sleeping bags with Gretchen between us. In those days, camping was about the only recreational activity that we could afford. Again Gretchen awakened us in the middle of the night with her low growling. Only this time there was no thief, no criminal waiting to attack us; there was a family of skunks parading by a scant two feet from our heads! Just as she was about to erupt into a barking frenzy, I quickly grabbed the truant night watchman and stuffed her into the sleeping bag. Bill and I lay motionless, waiting for our striped visitors to move on while my sleeping bag thumped around vigorously with the guard dog wanting to get out and chase our smelly guests away.
Many years and five Irish Setters later, we still fondly look back on our first little dog. Gretchen, you were a big dog at heart and had the spirit of an Irish Setter!
©2015, the Irish Girls
