Comparison of yesterday's and today's setters: how the ideal of the perfect setter has evolved changing over time.
It is the dog most loved by Italians, hunters and more, a breed that for better or for worse has become famous and which today lives in the spotlight. Yet very few know the breed: talking about it is one thing, really knowing which dog you are dealing with is a different matter. Although some professionals in the sector are of the opinion that the English setter as it was shown decades ago no longer exists, it is more likely that today's breed is not at all worse than yesterday's: therefore, those who go in search of the setter are wrong. lost, to be changed, basically it is only the idea that we have of the race. This does not mean that the setter of fifty years ago was no different from the one today: the trait that most differentiates them is luck. Yesterday's setters were quite lucky since they had the real game on their side, to hunt that has nothing to do with the specimens that today enter their hunting grounds, resigned and stunned. For the rest this hunting dog it has remained roughly unchanged in the traits and characters that are often praised so much that it has made the English setter a real super star who unfortunately strays from reality. It is in fact rather difficult to find an animal that perfectly corresponds to the ideal of breed that has been created over the years. Knowing the English setter means in fact highlighting its merits (which many have already done quite well), but also knowing its dark sides, the defects that are becoming quite common today.
The Achilles Heels of the English Setter. Quite often we hear, with a certain irony, that there is not just one setter, but at least four: one is for show, one is for competition, one is for hunting and the other is for chasing. There is very little talk of the latter type, yet those who love the breed are well aware of its defects which, let's face it, are not few. It is not uncommon to meet particularly fearful English setters: they fear the shot, fear that can be recovered, but which often returns. Often their olfactory capacity does not parallel their speed; it is not often said but not infrequently one encounters stubborn specimens and subject to rebellion during dressage, with increasingly smaller sizes (the problem of gigantism is now far away). More and more specimens are encountered with lack of fringing or with dysplasia problems. Furthermore, not all setters present in the gallop and in the movement that elegant style that is required of them and that has become a standard, a deficiency probably caused by the excessive desire to increase the speed of the breed through unprofitable unions.
Hunting vs race. At the base of this forced idealization of the race it is probable that in recent years the English setter has become, sad to say, a show dog. All the fault of the excessive importance that is given to the races and tests in which setters are registered more and more frequently. The problem is that the tests are one thing, hunting, the real one is a whole different kettle of fish: anyone who has seen an English setter running to hunt this knows quite well. On the other hand, the setter must demonstrate true efficiency when he crosses and experiences difficult, uneven, natural terrain. The hunting days last much longer than the 15-minute test: on the hunting field the setter can find himself and prove his worth. He can then be asked to give his best in any situation and in any environment, but above all to always maintain a close bond with his conductor and on the hunting grounds it is difficult to do so. These are attitudes that he must be able to show off even when he is tired from a day of hunting, tired but genuinely happy.
This is why if you are truly convinced that the setter has been lost and must be found, the best field to do so is hunting and the dog to be praised is the one that really participates in the hunting days and that is entered in the competitions in time. He is a champion because even away from the spotlight he was able to pass all the tests that nature and the wild have reserved for him.
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