Beauregard of Rebel Ridge - My Setter Pup

[Gary Laudermilch]

Yes, a beautiful setter. He gets his height from Bo. It takes a leggy dog to run the Grand National. You will have many fun years with that guy. Let him run!

[Ed Norman]

What a beautiful setter. Dave I live up near BigD, in northern lower michigan. If your over this way during grouse season, get a hold of me, I would love to watch that dog hunt.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Dave Tatman

Beau is my first setter, having been a lifelong Lab guy. Labs are like the Swiss Army knife of dogs and I've used mine for ducks, upland birds, and grouse, but I am sure enjoying have my first true English Setter bird dog
Dave

I’m sure Dave is learning this fact more and more each day and as the pup gets a year or two on him it will become more and more apparent that setters are in no way like labs and it is unfair to either breed to compare them.

Grace is my first setter after having a couple of labs and a couple of Brittanies.
I love my Gracie dearly but she is not a lab and I made the mistake in her first couple of years of wondering why she wasn’t more like Tobie, my lab of almost 14 years and why Tobie couldn’t have been more like Gracie in other ways.

They are all wonderful dogs. Yes - I would definitely get another Twombly Setter and yes, I would definitely get another lab. They’re just different.





.

[Kentucky Bird Hunter]

Dean, I so agree. Thank you. You have captured the situation perfectly. Labs and Setters are both wonderful dogs in their own right. They both do what they were born to do wonderfully, even though those tasks are not necessarily the same. Different breeds and temperaments, for sure, but worthy of our love and attention (and access to our furniture!) no matter the breed.

And I'm fairly certain that there will be another Lab in our future to pal around with Beau.

Dave

[esetter - Gerry Addison]

He looks really nice. Big Boy!

[Marty K.]

Dean,
I have been a Lab guy my whole life but I'd love to have a Setter as you chose after your Tobie..I wondered if you would expound on the specific differences you have found having experience with both......

Thanks, Marty

[Big D]

I'm not Dean, but... I've been a Lab/Springer guy fro the last 30 years or so. To me, the difference is that flushers/retrievers understand that hunting is a team sport. Pointers/setters, not so much

[Dean Romig]

I wouldn’t necessarily subscribe to that. It has mostly to do with the training/trainer on how
a dog sees himself in the hunting picture. Maybe instinct tells a pointer/setter to be a ‘self-hunter’ or maybe not, but if recognized early a wise trainer can overcome such a trait.

I think labs are generally speaking, just more biddable, more easy-going and more susceptible to consistency in training.

But each dog is different regardless of the breed. I’m just speaking from my own experience. Grace is stubborn - Tobie never was.
Grace thinks she knows what she should be doing, where she should be going, how close she can get to a bird... better than I. I need to remind her sometimes just who the boss is. But I only need to remind her once. We may always have our differences of opinion but I blame myself for not getting her on to birds often enough in her first couple of years. We were on Grace’s first live bird training weekend when we learned of Kathy’s health situation.... Everything in our lives changed from that moment on.

We love Grace passionately and she is almost the grouse dog I want, and with patience and consistency we will get there soon - this year hopefully.





.

[Twombly setters]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

I wouldn’t necessarily subscribe to that. It has mostly to do with the training/trainer on how
a dog sees himself in the hunting picture. Maybe instinct tells a pointer/setter to be a ‘self-hunter’ or maybe not, but if recognized early a wise trainer can overcome such a trait.

I think labs are generally speaking, just more biddable, more easy-going and more susceptible to consistency in training.

But each dog is different regardless of the breed. I’m just speaking from my own experience. Grace is stubborn - Tobie never was.
Grace thinks she knows what she should be doing, where she should be going, how close she can get to a bird... better than I. I need to remind her sometimes just who the boss is. But I only need to remind her once. We may always have our differences of opinion but I blame myself for not getting her on to birds often enough in her first couple of years. We were on Grace’s first live bird training weekend when we learned of Kathy’s health situation.... Everything in our lives changed from that moment on.

We love Grace passionately and she is almost the grouse dog I want, and with patience and consistency we will get there soon - this year hopefully.





.

I have hunted several times with Grace and all she needs is a season with above average bird numbers, don't worry she will be great.

[Dean Romig]

That, from a man who knows setters better than anyone else I know - Thanks Legh!




.