CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — When more than a dozen red beauties come bounding to the door, it’s expected there should be barking, or at least excited whimpering.
But Jill Taylor’s Irish setters are all perfectly mannered and elegantly self-controlled, their large liquid eyes making these dogs the kind of critter humans fall in love with.
Taylor has long been smitten, having given up a lucrative job as a software engineer 10 years ago, replacing processors with red fur and goofy antics.
“Irish setters are very attached, very loyal,” said Taylor who shares a huge, rambling home on the outskirts of Cambridge with her mother, a breeder of golden retrievers.
Taylor’s parents raised and showed retrievers and went on to become professional handlers, then show judges. Her father handled Irish setters for a time and Taylor recalled insisting the dogs sleep in her room. By age five she was showing dogs in the junior division.
“Because I grew up with it, I started handling early,” said Taylor who is both the breeder and handler of her own dogs, which have been sweeping the dog show circuit winners’ circle for several years.
Though Irish setters were bred as hunting dogs, they really don’t have the heart for it.
Dogs in Canada describes the breed as “Typically Irish, he has a devil-may-care attitude and an undeniable sense of humour,” a dog that “prefers play over work.”
There are two breeds of setters that came out of Ireland in the late 17th century: the Irish setter and the red and white Irish setter. Other breeds of setters include the Gordon and the English.
Taylor purchased her first Irish setter at age 16 and for her 21st birthday, Taylor’s mother gave her a female named Windy, a dog that would become the foundation for her kennel, Captiva Irish Setters (www.captivakennels.com). The kennel received the Irish Setter Breeder of the Year award in Canada in 1996 and 1997.
Taylor said the breed’s popularity rose after the release of the 1962 Disney movie Big Red, which followed the adventures of a French Canadian boy and an Irish setter. Since then, other breeds have eclipsed the setter, which is a shame because of the breed’s many qualities.
“There is a misnomer they are not intelligent, but they are intelligent, they just tend to think for themselves,” she said.
Taylor describes the breed as patient, funny and adept escape artists. Every crate must have extra locking mechanisms, otherwise they figure out quickly how to let themselves out for a bit of a romp and she has to put locks on the refrigerator to prevent the canines from helping themselves to a snack.
These are not apartment dogs, needing space to gallop and she talks about their hunting style, with long legs covering the ground, heads held high, smelling the air rather than the ground.
Taylor still freelances in computer engineering though she spends most of her time travelling North America, pulling a trailer behind a recreational vehicle. Combined, she takes up nearly as much space as a transport truck, hauling dogs, kennels, grooming equipment, everything she needs for non-stop life on the road.
“It’s like a circus,” she admits. “I get a day off every 14 days.”
Such sacrifices are necessary when you’re campaigning a dog for the top spot. In March, she plans to fly to Paris for an international show.
Taylor keeps an average of no more than 15 dogs at her Cambridge kennel, though she has part ownership in several others. She also imports frozen semen from England, Australia and Sweden to enhance her breeding program and she believes she has a pup, 14-month-old Christopher Wallis, who will be the next big thing in the show ring, perhaps outshining her dog Robert.
For breeders, the goal is always to create a dog that most closely matches the breed type, which is a perfectly structured dog.
Also important is the dog’s disposition. Robert loves the show ring but some dogs are less social, less comfortable in the spotlight and if the breed standard specifies a good disposition, then a dog displaying poor behaviour will be judged accordingly.
Taylor, who has a waiting list for her pups, said pet quality puppies usually fetch $1,200, whereas a show quality can cost up to $5,000.
For Taylor, a self-described “road trip queen,” these dogs have brought many new friends and fed a sense of adventure, though their antics have at times tested her good nature.
“You have to have a good sense of humour and a lot of patience,” she concluded.
