Irish Setters Keep Middletown Woman On Her Toes

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Story and Photos by Art Petrosemolo
MIDDLETOWN – Anne Smith has two children and seven grandchildren but it is her four Irish setters, all from championship stock, that keep her the busiest.
Smith shows three – O’Malley, Shannon and Carley – of her canine family locally, regionally and nationally and will be adding the puppy, Colleen, the 1-year-old daughter of Shannon, to the mix soon.
“It’s almost a full-time job,” Smith laughs, “and it doesn’t give you a chance to slow down – and maybe that’s good!”
Smith, a Little Silver native, got her first setter – Rusty – while in fifth grade when she and her sister convinced their dad to let them have one of these beautiful hunting dogs. It was instant love and something that has carried through for seven decades. However, only in the last 20 years has Smith taken to training and showing the Irish setter breed.
Has she been successful? A house full of colorful show ribbons and photos of her dogs with actress Brooke Shields in print advertising are the answer.
“It takes time and dedication and lots of patience if you want to train a champion,” she says with a smile.
None of Smith’s children took to training and showing dogs. Although one of her young granddaughters took up the sport a few years back, she did not stay with it as Smith had hoped.
Always a pet person, Smith has a particular fondness for the classic Irish setter breed. References to “setters” can be found in literature back to the 1500s. The Irish setter was bred specifically for hunting – setting or locating and pointing game birds. Using their excellent sense of smell to locate the mark, the dog will then hold a pointing position, indicating the direction in which the bird lies hidden.
Smith has shown the dogs herself, “when I was a little younger,” she reminds friends, “and could lead in the precise line prescribed.” Today, Smith uses a professional handler, who, like a thoroughbred jockey, specializes in exhibiting dogs to their best in front of very picky judges. But the training, that’s all Smith.
Dogs compete in show and performance events. Show dogs are judged for their look as compared to the standard for the breed. Obedience is always important for show dogs who must be able to respond in an instant to the judges’ desire as translated through the handlers whether it be to move forward (heel) stop and or sit. In performance events, dogs may compete in obedience, agility, rally, hunting, tracking and herding exercises. Smith’s setters compete in performance events.
Hunting breeds, like the Irish setters, also compete in field events where their ability to scent, locate and point to game birds – working and gaining experience with another hunter dog – is judged and rewarded with field qualifications. Smith’s three mature dogs are all certified Junior Hunters and as well as breed champions, based on points scored at American Kennel Club (AKC) shows.
During the AKC Memorial Day Weekend Cluster event in Freehold, some 1,300 dogs competed at the fairgrounds over four days.
Smith takes her dogs to events locally and across the country, traveling most weekends with a friend who helps her manage her charges.
Three of Smith’s Irish setters were bred by the Kubacz family from Jackson at Ramblin’ Acres Kennel. They are breeders and handlers of championship Irish setters and good friends of Smith.
“Champion dogs, like thoroughbred horses, are usually bred by animals with championship bloodlines, a good disposition and a history of successful show appearances,” Smith says.
Irish setters are big dogs with the females in the 50- to 60-pound range and males closer to 80 to 90. They stand between 25 and 27 inches. “They have an excellent disposition,” Smith explains, “but need a home with a big yard to allow them plenty of exercise.”
Smith’s dogs are both family pets – her family – as well as fierce competitors in performance events.
All shows can be stressful and move quickly. In a breed show, she says, “Dogs don’t get a second chance. You have about three minutes to show the judge what you have. You bring the dog into the ring and run him or her in a circle. Then the dogs stand and pose while the judge looks. He then touches each dog to feel bone and muscle structure,” Smith continues. “Finally you get to gait the dog forward and back and around the ring and it’s over when the judge shouts the one, two, three and four finishers.”
In breed shows, dogs are judged in classes with criteria that include age, past performance and sex. At the end of a show, the winners of each breed come together and the “best of show” is picked. “We all get hooked,” Smith says, ” as we work hard with our animals and we want them to be recognized.”
Smith says professional handlers know the judges and have years of experience showing different breeds of dogs and know how to exhibit particular dogs for judges. Handlers are paid by owners to show their dogs and a close relationship is formed, over time, between handler and owner and the dogs they show.
According to Smith, Irish setters were overbred in the 1960s when the dogs became a very popular family pet helped partly by a movie called “Big Red” and the fact that then-President Richard Nixon had an Irish setter – King Timahoe – at the White House. Irish setters then became a favorite of inexperienced, backyard breeders.
In recent years, however, professional breeders have been more conscientious in protecting the Irish setter bloodline to assure good behavior and physical attributes. Today finding a registered Irish setter pup isn’t as easy as it used to be and potential owners need to convince breeders that they have a commitment to the breed and the space to raise the dog properly.
AKC-registered Irish setter pups can sell for hundreds of dollars and the average life span is 12 years. The dogs continue to be favorites for families and children.
“They are just beautiful dogs,” Smith says, “and give me a great deal of pleasure as companions and when they show their intelligence in the performance events. All four of my dogs bring me a great deal of pleasure.”
Smith has no plans to stop training and showing her setter family although, she says, Shannon’s litter a year ago would probably be the last she raises. “That really is a full-time job,” she smiles, “and I won’t miss it.”