i8o The Dog Book 



reared, and developed as other varieties are, the Irish setter would make 

 its mark at our public trials ? It must not be forgotten that at one time the 

 pointer was all but as much out of it as the Irish is now, but cash and brains 

 were put into the business of pushing the pointer, and with success. The 

 most ardent supporter of the present fashionable English setter for field 

 trials could not ask for an opinion that he would not sooner accept than 

 from Teasdale Buckell, the former henchman of Mr. Llewellyn and the 

 exploiter of the Llewellyn setter, and they cannot therefore decry his published 

 opinion to the following effect: 'The Irish are tractable, easily broken, 

 and fast, very fast. I never saw one with the pace of Dan, but as a breed 

 there is none faster. They are exceedingly staunch, and you cannot look 

 at them without their understanding you. There is no false point in the 

 breed. They are exceedingly handsome, of a rich dark red, with more or 

 less white.' 



"Having disposed of the working section of the Irish setter, it is only 

 proper to deal with his show qualities and record, and that I will do in a 

 brief historical manner. The first class for Irish setters was made at 

 Birmingham in i860, and three years later Hutchinson's Bob came out and 

 won there as also at the monumental Cremorne fiasco and at Islington in 

 1864. His likeness is given in an early edition of 'Stonehenge.' Bob 

 was a field dog of well known merit. In 1867 Captain Allaway exhibited 

 Shot, a dog considered so excellent in type and so handsome that he beat 

 the Laverack setter Fred II. at a leading show for the setter cup. In 1871 

 Ranger was shown by Captain Cooper and he did a lot of winning. He 

 was by Bob out of a bitch of La Touche blood. A good deal has been said 

 in the press that some of the La Touche setters were black or had black in 

 their coats, but Colonel Milner, who knew well the setters of his country 

 and has a reputation as a breeder of the Irish setter, wrote me some time 

 ago: 'It would be useless to tell Irish setter breeders here that the La 

 Touche setters had a black strain in them.' Colonel Milner also wrote as 

 to the red and white setters: 'There is and was at the same time as the 

 reds, strains of red and white setters, and prizes are still offered at one 

 show in Ireland for them. They look best when the red and white are about 

 equal. I have never seen one so well shaped as the best reds. They are 

 supposed to be as good in the field.' It is not the red and white dog that 

 has made the breed known world-wide, but the reds, and the Irish setter 

 is now and always will be the red dog. 



