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Some, but not a lot. The breed record rates the Irish Setter at 3 out of 5 for barking, and the honest translation is a dog that speaks on occasions rather than on principle. Its temperament is Elegant, gentle, energetic and sweet tempered, its strangers rating reads Friendly with strangers, and both shape the barking: this dog reacts to what is actually happening around it. Owners in houses with normal street life find the level easy to live with; owners beside a busy footpath will hear more of it, and should plan the management below from the start.
Few breeds are this beautiful and this silly in the same afternoon. Irish Setters are famously slow to grow up, exuberant and affectionate, bonding completely and greeting life like a celebration. The Irish Setter suits active, outdoorsy households with countryside access, secure space and a sense of humor about a dog that matures at the speed of fine wine. With enough running they are gentle, quiet house dogs. American breeders follow the AKC standard for the breed, which the club recognizes today.
Numbers first, because they explain the voice. The Irish 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 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. A dog passing the house, a noise in the night that does not resolve, a squirrel at close quarters: reported, briefly. What a middle score means in practice is that the list is short and the reports end. The Irish Setter's Elegant, gentle, energetic and sweet tempered temperament and its 60 to 120 minute exercise need set the baseline, and a dog that has had its exercise and its company files fewer reports than one that has had neither.
Elegant, gentle and sweet tempered, good with children, good with other dogs and friendly to everyone, it makes no guard dog at all and a wonderful family companion. Owners who pay in miles and patience get the red setter of literature: joyful, kind and impossibly handsome. Socialize widely to keep the sweetness confident.
For completeness, the record's remaining lines: the Irish Setter comes from Ireland, in the Sporting group, and its color line reads: The standard accepts a range of colors and patterns, and individual markings vary a lot. Its coat is recorded as Silky coat, flat and fine, of medium to long length with long feathering on the ears, chest, legs and tail. The breed's known health watch points, Progressive retinal atrophy, Hip dysplasia and Hypothyroidism, quietly shape the noise question in the senior years, when senior status arrives around age 8 years and hearing, joints and routine all change how a dog experiences its street. The barking verdict on this page describes the typical adult; the whole record describes the dog whose barking it will actually be.
Start with the first name on that shortlist, the Irish Red and White Setter, and the difference is already instructive: two breeds can share a build, a coat and a working past and still sit a full point apart on barking, because the score follows the breed's recorded temperament and heritage, not its silhouette. The Irish Setter's 3 out of 5 should therefore be read as a measurement of this breed alone. The Irish Setter's 3 out of 5 is its own: judge the noise by it, not by a lookalike's reputation, because two similar breeds can be very different neighbors.
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 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.
Adults enjoy a vigorous prime: keep the coat combed, ears checked and weight lean. Puppies need socialization, gradual exercise building and early recall work while the world is still more interesting than birds.
A few record lines deserve a place in this decision. The Irish Setter is a Sporting breed from Ireland, carrying a silky coat, rated 3 of 5 for grooming effort and 3 of 5 for shedding. Food for a typical 65 lb adult runs about $40 a month on this site's cost record, and insurance is recorded at $55 to $90 a month. Read the bark score, 3 out of 5, against those figures and you have the whole decision: the voice, the dog it is attached to, and the daily routine that decides how much of the voice you hear.
Sometimes, and sometimes it gives you stereo. With the Irish Setter, whose typical weight runs 60 to 70 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 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. Expect exuberance, mud, red hairs of glory and a dog whose beauty stops traffic.
Read two lines of the record together: barking at 3 out of 5 and apartment suitability rated Not ideal. The Irish Setter's own numbers frame it: shedding at 3 out of 5, grooming at 3 out of 5, and a height of 25 to 27 inches, which is the household this voice has to fit into. A low score with a good apartment rating is the easy yes. A high score means the honest answer depends on your walls, your neighbors and your willingness to run the management program on this page every day. What never works is hoping the dog did not get the memo about its own breed: an Irish Setter will be exactly as vocal as its record says, in whatever building it lives in.
Often, yes, and the record's dog rating, Good with dogs, frames why. For the Irish 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 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. Apartments are not ideal in the record's rating, because the exercise, size and joie de vivre push outward.
Last updated: November 11, 2026