THE IRISH SETTER. 



BY MAX WENZEL, 



Secretary the Irish Setter Club of America, and 



B, F. SEITNER, 

 Vice-President the Pointer Club of America. 



LD writers have advanced the theory that our Setter, 

 as a species, is the product of the mating of a Span- 

 iel with the Hound; and this seems to be as plausible 

 as any other that has been offered. The bird-chasing 

 instinct of the Spaniel, mixed in the offspring with the love 

 for fur which is inherent in the Hound, may have had the 

 effect, at the earliest age, of an undecidedness in the pres- 

 ence of game. Being at first unable to decide whether, 

 according to Spaniel instinct, to bark and jump the game, 

 or whether to be ruled by his Hound ancestor and follow 

 the foot-scent, he may have stopped suddenly; thus estab- 

 lishing the first point on game. A genius of a sportsman, 

 seeing the usefulness of such a quality, probably encouraged 

 and perfected it by further training, giving us the long and 

 the short haired pointing bird-dog. This theory may 

 appear to some readers as lacking in the matter of authen- 

 ticity, and yet to me it appears reasonable. 



All breeds of Hounds and Spaniels have no doubt been 

 used in these numerous crosses, accounting for the great 

 variety of our pointing dogs; but as regards the Irish 

 Setter, I am inclined to believe that the Red Spaniel, 

 crossed on the old English Bloodhound, has formed the 

 parental stock. I have seen many Red Spaniels; have 

 examined them closely as to color and coat; I have com- 

 pared the characteristics of the Bloodhound with the Irish 

 Setter, also in many individuals, and have plainly met the 

 points of either one or the other in nearly every speci- 

 men so examined. Not to appearance alone need we con- 

 fine ourselves in this investigation, for the Bloodhound 



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