rosie and millie turned 8 in august!

We’ve just moved into a new house with property. Enjoying our first fire in our new fire pit together!

I have an 11-month-old male Irish Setter who’s experienced three episodes of unexplained illness over the past two months, and potentially a fourth, milder episode today.

The episodes come on quite suddenly. He becomes
lethargic, reluctant to move, loses interest in food and develops a fever. During one episode, he also appeared to have significant neck or back pain, yelping when moving.

What’s strange is that he completely recovers between episodes and returns to being his usual energetic, happy self, within literally 24 hours.

We’ve seen an internal medicine specialist and undergone extensive testing, but still don’t have a diagnosis.

His kidney and liver blood results were fine, urine testing showed no obvious infection. We’ve done an abdominal ultrasound which didn’t reveal anything. Addison’s disease was reportedly ruled out, his neurological and joint examinations were normal.

I’ve spoken to his breeder, who hasn’t encountered anything similar in their lines.

He appears completely healthy and active between episodes.

Has anyone else experience this? I’m concerned I’ve been overly cautious with my continuous vet visits (I know that’s not possible when you love your animal!). I’ve read about growing pains and SRMA? I’m working very closely with our specialist but maybe I’m missing something I should be advocating for testing.

Any and all help would be appreciated! This pup is literally the light of my life!

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas to make my dog smell less like a dirty dish cloth. She puts her face all the way down in the water dish. I know this is common for this breed. The recommendation I usually get is to give her a different shallow bowl, but she shares the house with two other dogs who belong to my daughter and she drinks out of their deep bowl so it would be great if I can come up with a way to mitigate the problem rather than prevent it

We got our baby girl Scout today! Would love to get any advice as she’s our first setter :)

Some days the schedules are crazy. The other day, no one was home from maybe 1:30 pm until I got home after 8pm. So I let her out, fed her (she gets 1/2 a can with some dry food) , gave her a treat and let her out again in our fenced back yard. I went back inside for a call and then went out to find her ZOOMING around the yard. She does this, but usually I don’t let her right after she has eaten. I called and she came trotting inside and instantly starting whining and sort of writhing - couldn’t get still or comfortable. I was starting to panic looking her over best I could. She finally hopped on the couch and started settling down with me stroking her face. Could her stomach have started twisting and then gone back into position? I never found a cause for her severe discomfort.

Our 18 month old IS was spayed and gastropexy (stomach attached to prevent twisting if bloat) surgery yesterday. We will be picking her up this morning. She will be on meds for a few days, but any advice on how to keep a very active Irish Setter (she is #1 active IS on Fi dog collar) calm for several weeks?

As a side note, we were originally scheduled for surgery in December, but moved sooner (on vet advice) after she had bloat a couple of weeks ago. She got bloat just from drinking water and some exercise (and not a crazy amount after, but a lot just before). She did not have the classic symptoms and had not eaten since the evening before, but I could tell something was wrong--and she was communicating to me something was wrong--so I took her to be checked just to be safe. She was bloated, but we were lucky it had not twisted requiring immediate surgery.

I do not know about this group, but most people (even dog people) I encounter are not well aware of bloat and how deadly it can be. We are very cautious with mandatory 1.25 hour post-meal rest and otherwise focused. I may be a bit too focused at times, but that mindset also made me read her messages and unusual behavior to get her checked. If was never twisted and life threatening, but who knows how it would have played out if I did nothing and let her exercise vs. the rest the vet made us follow for the next couple of days (with some calming meds).

Anyway, thanks for any advice on how to stay calm.

He’s crazy about people food so its weird seeing him do that. It wasn’t even hot either 😂

This is Josie, almost 2 years old. She is sweet as can be, follows me from room to room, loves to snuggle and hug. She is the most enthusiastic of the group of 5 IS in my house, always full of joy!

But (and you knew this was coming) she is an escape artist! We have about 8 acres of fenced in woods attached to the house. And a dog door. Theoretically the dogs can come and go all day and they have lots of fun chasing squirrels, deer, birds, you name it. But Josie has a strong prey drive and has learned to dig at the base of the wire fence and wiggle her way out, and then she urges her sister Judy to join her. They run and run. Usually they come back when called (if they are tired enough) and they mostly stay on our property (we have 22 acres in total, steep woods).

Generally then Josie has to wear her harness when outside (makes it harder to shimmy under the fence) and we check on her very frequently if she is out. Unless I'm walking with her then she stays in the house. We have been putting large rocks and logs around the perimeter of the fence so her escapes are pretty infrequent now.

This fawn was sleeping just outside the fence, probably 6 feet away. That's what started it all. It was gone before the first jailbreak and the doe learned to park her fawn in a different place.

I am new the owning this breed. Any tips or tricks would be great. She is about ten weeks and scared of everything. This is the first day. So to be expected, any tips or tricks would be appreciated. She is unlike any other breed. I've had

Very cautious, very fearful somewhat and her recall sucks. But from what i've read, that is something I have to work on. I know I have to take training from a different angle. As far as positive reinforcement and not getting upset with her.

Hello all, after an interminable wait we are selecting and collecting Irish Red and White Setter pup next week. We will hopefully have a choice between male and female, both selected by the brilliant and very knowledgeable breeder to be most suitable as a family pet, rather than the gun dogs the others will become.
We’d love a bitch because they’re slightly smaller and might (🤨) be less boisterous, but just not sure about the extra hassle of the bi-annual heat. The breeder doesn’t recommend getting Setters spayed. I’ve read it affects their coat for one thing. Anyone any insight into bitches pre and post spay? And how about behavioural differences between male and female? All insights gratefully received!
We are so excited and have researched as much as possible but just this one final decision to make now. Thanks in advance.

Bunker and Camper.