“Now with two setters, the experience of owning them grows more precious each day. When strangers ask: “Does that dog shed?”, we wonder why we didn’t ask that same question. Kitchen counter surfing is really not a challenge, it’s a sport. Deafness is not congenital, it’s a choice. Twenty degrees outside, it’s time for a run. Water - well, it’s gold. And seeing a setter’s head buried up to the fourth vertebrae in Helen’s purse looking for tissue - priceless. (This conversation could have no end!) And there are the people that stop their cars and ask through the open window: “What kind of dogs are those? They sure are pretty!” Or those that call from their porch: “That’s a bird dog, isn’t it?” Or “We had an English Setter once - that’s the best dog we ever had.” My personal favorite comment was from a woman making her way up the sidewalk to church as I was walking Gracie. She stopped me and said: “What a magnificent animal.” One moment I feel like I was chosen to guard a treasure. The next moment, saturated flews are resting on my leg. I guess it’s a Setter thing.” 

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J Martin Sondey