Home / Questions / Irish Red and White Setter
Some, but not a lot. The breed record rates the Irish Red and White Setter at 3 out of 5 for barking, and the honest translation is a dog that speaks on occasions rather than on principle. This is a Sporting breed from Ireland with an Elegant, gentle, energetic and sweet tempered temperament, and its voice is a tool it uses rather than a soundtrack it lives inside. For most households the volume is unremarkable, noticeable on the day the doorbell rings six times and invisible for the quiet weeks between, which is exactly what a middle score is supposed to mean.
Puppies are bright, red splashed charmers; adults are beautiful, devoted partners with a field dog's joy. Owners describe the connoisseur's setter: rarer, older in type and utterly charming. The breed is rare and precious, rebuilt from near extinction; owners describe the thinking person's Irish setter, all the beauty with a working soul. The Irish Red and White Setter is a medium sized setter from Ireland. Silky coat of medium length, flat, with feathering on the ears, legs, chest and tail.
Numbers first, because they explain the voice. The Irish Red and White Setter carries a bark score of 3 of 5, flanked by energy at 5 of 5, shedding at 3 of 5 and grooming effort at 3 of 5. Against that background the bark score, 3 out of 5, is one line in a coherent record. Owners who read the whole cluster can predict the soundtrack of their street far better than owners who read the single number, because the audiences decide when the voice gets used.
Context decides the volume with this breed. In a quiet house on a quiet street, an Irish Red and White Setter can go whole days near the bottom of its range; move the same dog beside a school route or a busy fence line and the 3 out of 5 starts earning its number. The breed's strangers rating, Friendly with strangers, shapes the rest: people it does not know get announced, people it does get a tail instead. None of this is unusual, which is rather the point of a middle score: the Irish Red and White Setter's voice is a normal dog voice, present, purposeful and, on an ordinary day, brief.
Expect elegance indoors, energy outdoors and a dog that regards its people as the center of both. The Irish Red and White suits active rural or semi rural households that want the original Irish setter: elegant, athletic and sweet natured, with a genuine field engine. The setter method applies: teach clearly, proof patiently against birds and scent, and never drill a sensitive dog into dullness.
No score lives alone on the record. Alongside barking at 3 of 5, the Irish Red and White Setter carries energy at 5 of 5 and a trainability score of 4 out of 5, and apartment life rated Not ideal. Apartment suitability is rated Not ideal, which is the line apartment readers should weigh beside the bark score, because a dog can be welcome in a flat for its size and unwelcome for its soundtrack, or the reverse. Its health watch list, Von Willebrand disease (DNA test), CLAD immune deficiency (DNA test) and Hip dysplasia, belongs in the long view: a dog kept sound and lean is a calmer dog, and calm is the raw material quiet is made from.
Look sideways for a moment at the breeds this record finds most similar: the Picardy Spaniel, the Irish Setter and the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. Their bark ratings are not identical to the Irish Red and White Setter's 3 out of 5, which is worth remembering in both directions: do not borrow a similar breed's quiet reputation, and do not lend this one's volume out. Cross shoppers get more from comparing the full records side by side than from any single number, which is why each name on the shortlist carries its own page on this site.
Work on the two predictable stages: arrivals and windows. Arrivals improve when the dog has a job incompatible with announcing, a mat to go to, a toy to fetch, practiced in calm rehearsals long before the doorbell matters. Fix the pattern and the volume follows. An Irish Red and White Setter is not a barking problem wearing a dog suit; it is an Elegant, gentle, energetic and sweet tempered Sporting breed with a middle voice, and most households that meet its exercise and company needs describe the barking the way the record does, 3 out of 5, present, purposeful and brief.
Puppies need socialization, coat handling, protected joints while growing and early retrieving games built carefully. Adolescents are at maximum ranging energy, and field work plus structure carries the household through.
Keep the record's figures in view while you decide. Height 23 to 26 inches, weight 42 to 60 lb, lifespan 12 to 15 years, exercise 60 to 120 minutes a day. Barking 3 of 5, energy 5 of 5, trainability 4 out of 5. A small dog's 3 out of 5 and a giant dog's 3 out of 5 are different acoustic events, which is why the size lines belong on a page about noise: pitch, volume and the neighbor's tolerance all scale with the dog producing them.
Often, yes, and the record's dog rating, Good with dogs, frames why. For the Irish Red and White Setter specifically, a Sporting dog whose exercise needs run 60 to 120 minutes a day, that plays out in daily routines rather than in occasional big fixes. Barking at dogs is usually one of three things: a greeting that overshoots, frustration at a lead or fence that prevents a greeting, or a warning to keep distance. The Irish Red and White Setter's score, 3 out of 5, predicts the volume of whichever it is. A dog that is exercised, 60 to 120 minutes a day for this breed, and taught to settle and look back at its owner owns a volume control that an under exercised dog simply does not have.
Puppies of every breed experiment with their voices, and a young Irish Red and White Setter is no exception. In the Irish Red and White Setter's case the setting matters as much as the rule: this is a breed with very high energy and a bark level of 3 out of 5, so its voice is heard against a fairly specific home backdrop. The adult pattern, the one the 3 out of 5 score describes, settles in across the first two years as the dog learns which events are routine. Households shape that settling more than they expect: puppies whose barking reliably summons company, play or opened doors keep the habit, while puppies whose calm behavior is what pays grow into the economy of voice their record promises. The breed loads the dice; the first year rolls them. They bond deeply, work stylishly and live as elegant, gentle companions.
Sometimes, and sometimes it gives you stereo. With the Irish Red and White Setter, whose typical weight runs 42 to 60 pounds and whose lifespan reaches 12 to 15 years, the honest answer also changes a little across the dog's life, from puppyhood to senior status at about 8 years. A companion can drain the boredom and loneliness out of an Irish Red and White Setter's day, and boredom is a common fuel for barking in a breed needing 60 to 120 minutes of exercise and company to match. But dogs also learn each other's songs: pair a vocal dog with another vocal breed and the duet is a real risk. Choose the second dog for its own record, its bark score included, and introduce it as company, not as a noise treatment with a heartbeat.
Last updated: November 11, 2026