"Irish setters are first and foremost a gundog"

It is the primary requirement for which the breed was developed, but this one fact has resulted in more confusion than any other fact of the breed.

If the dog you possess is not able to fulfil that most basic function, then you are denying a base truth about the breed. 

Accepting this simple truth, it is logical that the dog must be built, so that it can perform the tasks required of a gundog that locates gamebirds using air scent, in areas where game is widely spaced.

The ideal Irish setter approaches perfection on two planes. The primary plane is that of its sporting heritage, the manner in which a setter hunts for, finds sets and produces game defines its purity of blood. This instincts and conformation of the dog were developed for this work and the style developed through generations of selective breeding, is as instrinsic to the breed, as its distinctive colour. The second plane of excellence is how closely the individual animal approaches the bodily form defined in the breed standard. The authors of the original standard were precise in that definition, but since the time of writing, there have been many, who interpreted the standard to suit a very different type of dog to that developed in Ireland.

Those who wish to do justice to our beautiful breed need to examine the ideas and opinions that they have formed, so that, their perception of the breed, allows for it's fulfilment as a beautiful working dog. One without the other cannot ever be considered to be complete.