Birdie is 6 months old and a very, very, very active and birdie field Setter youngster. She is solid black with the exception of a small white patch on her chest. In our experience all black Setters indicate that one of the parents was an Irish Setter. In Birdie’s case her previous owner told the shelter she is a Setter, that both of her parents were Setters, and one was a Gordon. So we are posting her as an Irish/Gordon with the possibility of English Setter instead of Gordon or the possibility that only one parent was a Setter. Whatever she is, she acts and looks like a Setter, and she will be an active, busy handful with the same needs of a field English Setter youngster.

Birdie is intelligent and sweet. She’s treat motivated and learns quickly. She loves people and other dogs. She’s never lived with cats. Her doggy social skills are immature and she is at a critical age/stage for her adopter to work with her to develop appropriate dog social skills before she is an adult. She desperately wants to play with the older Setters in her foster home and they aren’t keen on her physical and continual efforts to play. She is currently spending some time with two active and playful Irish Setters where she is very happy and she wants to play and interact with them constantly. She has shown us that she definitely needs an active, playful doggy sibling (or two) that will play with her for hours on end and help teach her social skills. Even though she’s energetic and playful, her playmates will matter. A pushy, bulldozer, dominant type dog might overwhelm and scare her, killing the confidence she is building. She’d prefer another dog who plays fair, like the Irish Setter in the video above.

Birdie crates but often with barking that can last more than a few minutes if she’s not been thoroughly stimulated and exercised by playing with a doggy sibling before crating. She barks at noises or when her person leaves her sight and she’s not confident that you will come back. She is a youngster that has not been trained, learned routines she can trust, and has people and dog siblings she can count on to be there for her. The opportunity to run/play for hours a day with a doggy sibling will go a long way to stimulate and help Birdie get the energy outlet she needs to be more calm when inside and crated. Crating is important because she is still in that “get into everything, chew up things” stage of life and she will be for some time. Birdie’s foster parents say she will do best in a home where there isn’t extensive crate time (3+ hours at a time), so a stay/work at home person is what she is looking for. Longer crate times will amplify her barking issues and pent up energy.

Experience training puppies would be helpful. Depending on the experience level of her adopter, she may need a professional trainer to assist with her social skills and barking/separation issues to make sure they don’t become life-long behavior.

Birdie eats well. She was 33 lbs at the shelter and just a couple of weeks in a foster home her weight is up to 40 lbs so she is still growing into her beautiful body. 

Birdie will need a home with a good-sized physically fenced yard (5+ feet/no climb) that is Setter-interesting where she can run and play and work off some of her boundless energy. She is wearing a Fi GPS collar and logged almost 100k steps in one day when she had two Irish Setters to run/play with. She had multiple escapes at her previous home before rescue. We know that she does not escape 6’ privacy fencing. This busy girl will require supervision when outside in the yard for quite some time. If you are patient, experienced, looking for puppy antics, currently have an active/playful dog, stay/work at home, and have the energy to train and guide, this sweet girl could be just the one for you. She will delight you with her beautiful Setter personality.