The Irish Red Setter showed up in the early 18th Century and is the result of a mix that likely consisted of: English and Gordon setters, spaniels and pointers. They were bred to be a hunting dog and would point and freeze at game using their snout and would hold position, i.e. be set at the prey. Some early forms of the breed were trained to either sit or lie down in the direction of the game. The original Irish Setter was red and white although the mahogany (so fancy sounding) or chestnut brown are the desired coat color for the Irish Setter while the red and white counterparts are now their own distinct breed. In 1882 the Red Setter Club was formed and shortly after a breed standard was established. The red and white setters were then seen as cross breeds as the red setters gained popularity. After WWI the red and white setters were near extinction. Thanks to a Presbyterian minister named Rev. Huston and his cousin Dr. Elliot, they found a few remaining red and white setters not to far and began breeding them. Rev. Huston was alone in his desire to reinvigorate the breed and the decades between wars did not help. It was not until the end of this life that a woman named Maureen Clarke nursed a sick red and white setter puppy back to health and bred her to one of Rev. Huston’s males. There are working and show lines of the Irish Red Setter and an easy way to tell which one is which is with coat density. The show line has a thicker and longer coat while the working line has a thinner and shorter coat. It is thought to help with thermoregulation and collecting vegetation in the fur while out in the field. In 1962 the Walt Disney movie called “Big Red” debuted and the breed’s popularity went from 4,000 AKC registrations to 60,000+ per year. Due to the “demand” low moral breeders jumped on the trend and in no time at all bred the “…brains and hunting instinct out of what had once been a glorious breed in the field.” The Irish Red Setter gained a new nickname “Irish airheads” during this time. Thankfully for the quality of the breed the trend died down, registrations went down to just above 3,000 pups per year and responsible and genuinely passionate advocates for the breed were the ones solely responsible for the breed once again.

My apologies on being late on delivering this post. Yesterday was a busy day and I just plum forgot that it was Friday. I hope you enjoy. The Weimaraner, or Weimar Pointer, appeared in the 19th Century in Germany and their availability was firmly controlled by the Nobels of Weimar. These nobles were devoted sportsman who also hunted big game. They needed a dog that was excellent at tracking, had speed, was courageous and durable. They implemented a breeding program to develop these specific desired traits. Initially the Weimaraner was bred to take down bear and deer but was later shifted to a “fur and feathers” dog and are now one of the Hunt, Point, Retrieve breeds. In 1928, a man named Howard Knight was keen on acquiring a foundation stock of the breed in the New England states. He applied for a membership in the German Club for the breed and the club sent him two sterilized dogs despite his promise to maintain the purity of the breed. It wasn’t until 10 years later that he was sent 3 females and a puppy. Other enthusiasts joined him and in 1942 the Weimaraner Club of America was formed and in turn a breed standard was formed and the breed was recognized by the AKC in 1943 and began participating in field trials in 1948. Due to the wartime in Europe in the 1940s and the German’s not wanting to lose valuable quality dogs the Weimaraner was sent to the United States. The Weimaraner was a status symbol and with their popularity booming this did also lead to poor breeding practices that resulted in less than ideal temperaments and ugly dogs. Thankfully there were committed breed enthusiasts that would breed and maintain the high quality standards for the Weimaraner. The Weimaraner today comes in two different coat colors but only one is recognized for the show ring and for hunting. The options are silver-grey and blue-grey with the blue-grey variety having black noses and lips. Other than coat color the two look identical but are bred for entirely different purposes: the silver-grey is bred for work and the blue-grey is almost exclusively bred for companionship. The blue-grey option is an automatic disqualification for the show ring as well.

As suggested by @Paul Bunker The English Pointer is also referred to as Pointer and is a gundog from, you guessed it, England. It is believed that the English Pointer may have originated from the Old Spanish Pointer, which were larger and heavier than the modern Pointer. In a book titled “The True Pointer and His Ancient Heritage” writers W. Enos Phillips and William Arkwright theorized that the Pointer is one of the oldest breeds and makes a statement based on a 3,000 year old Egyptian tomb in Thebes that has an image of what looks to be a hunting dog with “…a tail or this particular construction” which he, Phillips, points out is similar to the “…proper specimen of today”. It should also be noted that William Arkwright also has some writings with A.F. Hochwalt about the English Pointer where Arkwright states “The brachs that point (bracchi da ferma) should be spotted and dappled with bright tawny, and have large ears, long muzzle, black nose, feet spurred (spronati), hind legs well bent, and tail fine. To make use of them with the gun, it is necessary that these dogs be steady on point, nor ever flush the game that they have found, so that the sportsman, by carefully circling round his dog with arquebus before the game is sprung, may obtain a shot” (Arkwright, p.53) **I did mention Brachs/Braques in my GSP entry** Then there is Danny Seymour, Judges’ Education Chair of the American Pointer Club, who states that the original Pointer was the Spanish Pointer and existed throughout the European continent. This breed arrived in England around 1650 and before the invention of firearms they were used to locate hares for Greyhounds to further pursue. It is thought that the English Pointer were Spanish Pointers crossed with Foxhound, Greyhound and Bloodhound. In the mid-1800s dog shows were really starting to take off and with that came finding the best of the best within a breed. Due to this efforts were made to refine the breed and part of that refinement was having the breed seek odor in the air rather than on the ground. The slight dished muzzle that is a notable physical characteristic of the breed is commonly called the Arkwright head.

As per request by @Renee Henning - I hope this answers your question :) Training a calm behavior in our dog starts at home. If a dog is unable to be the calm we are looking for at home then it is unfair to expect them to be the calm we are looking for out of the home. I currently live with one retired cadaver pit bull named Lucas McCain who is 12 years old, an oil detection vizsla named Káosz who is 2 years old and a bed bug detection vizsla named Csili that is 4 years old. The vizslas, as you can imagine, are quite wild not just because of their ages but also because of their breed. We live together in an RV where we are blessed to have a yard. So many people with high energy dogs feel compelled to satisfy that energy, that drive and find them jobs. Don’t get me wrong I think jobs for dogs are great and I am a huge advocate for it but unfortunately we don’t make our living with just dogs. Life doesn’t stop for that. We still have bills, groceries, laundry, dishes, vehicle maintenance, house maintenance, etc and so our high energy dog may not always get to go run around and “be crazy”. The good news is being calm is a behavior and behaviors can be taught. One thing to remember that, as humans, we tend to notice the “negative” behavior ignore the positive behavior that we do want. Often times our dogs are performing the behavior that we want when we want but we ignore them. Then the dog misbehaves and we respond with a verbal, leash or physical correction (not hitting but maybe a tap in a strategic spot to try and get their attention). Some dogs may misbehave on purpose since that is when he get the most interaction from you and that is all he want. This is where we need to make sure of a few things: - We are not on our phones particularly during training - We know what we are looking for not just what we don’t want - We set our dogs up for success and don’t push it to far - We use the appropriate reward (something that will elicit a maintenance of calmness but do have higher value for certain situations)

Thanks to @Carol Jarka for this weeks Breed of the Week The Lagotto Romagnolo is an Italian dog breed that has written evidence of its existence as far back at 1600. There are hunting dogs that look very much like the Lagotto Romagnolo that goes back as far as the 8th to 2nd century when the Etruscans lived in Italy that look very similar. It is thought that there is relation with the Lagotto Romagnolo and the Barbet (fresh waterdog) Portuguese and Spanish Water Dog. The Lagotto Romagnolo’s original purpose was to retrieve waterfowl and would do so all day in any weather. They would even dive under ice to retrieve downed waterfowl and all of this from a boat. After the environment where the waterfowl lived had disappeared, due to marshlands being drained and dried up for population expansion, the breed needed a new purpose and so they then switched to specializing in truffle hunting. This transition happened between 1840-1890 and during this time the breed’s desire to predate had been suppressed so they are not genetically inclined to be distracted by critter trails. This new purpose did not keep the breed from almost becoming extinct. As recent as the 1970s a group of gentlemen that included Professor Francesco Ballotta, Dr. Antonio Morsiani, Lodovico Babini and led by Quintino Toshi decided to save the breed. In 1988 the Club Italiano Lagotto was founded and in 1992 the morphological Standard was made by Dr. Antonio Morsiani. Due to the efforts of these gentlemen the popularity, preservation and overall numbers of the Lagotto Romagnolo continue to increase. Some historical written art: In 1591 a poem was written about the Lagotto Romagnolo by Erasmo di Valvasone called La Caccia (The Hunting) and in there he described the breed as follows: Curly fur, not afraid of the sun, water and ice, climber of mountains, wading of rivers. He who know how to overcome thorns bushes and that the waterfowl proudly and happily brings to the handler.