Irish Red and White Setter

Save Our Spaniels

You guessed it, we went off piste again! The truly stunning (inside and out) PHINNEAS is an Irish Setter, that was dumped in Spain and he’s clearly had a very hard life. He is in foster in Carmarthenshire, Wales. He is an utter delight! Instantly friendly with everyone and everything. PHINN is a 30 kg dog and he's strong on the lead and getting a harness onto an excited dog waiting to go for a walk is fun. He loves people and greets everyone very nicely. He's a Red/Irish Setter with a beautiful coat, but does tend to pick up burrs and does need a brush most days. With a gentle hand he loves being brushed, but will walk away when he has had enough! Foster mum says; “PHINN is possibly the nicest dog I have ever met. A true gentleman, apologetic and submissive. He shares a house with one partially sighted dog who can be quite defensive...there were no problems there immediately. He also shares a house with a one eyed dog who can be a bit defensive on his blind side. Phinn is very careful there, no problems. Phinn shares a house with a small bossy cocker spaniel who is concerned about being trodden on and she'll tell him off. He's very apologetic and tries to be very careful about where he puts his feet. He never retaliates at her, though he's 3 times her size. He navigates a complex family life like an experienced diplomat. Cats however.... he's over enthusiastic and doesn't get the hint. I have 4 farm cats who went to the Chuck Norris school of handling dogs. There is generally nothing they can't handle. He will still run up to them expecting them to play and is upset when he gets a spit back. They don't run, they stand their ground and he will just stare at them until I distract him away. He would be fine with a very confident cat, he doesn't appear to mean any harm, he's just cat fascinated. He will chase the sheep if they run and my sheep don't like running unless it's towards a food bucket, so we keep him out of their field. He's very good around the horse, though Mac doesn't run, Phinn would probably chase if he did. We also have six donkeys, Phinn was donkey fascinated when he arrived and did run up and down the fence at them, but Kevin the donkey made it clear he wasn't welcome, so now Phinn watches from the other side of the fence, and doesn't take a huge amount of notice any more. He will lick their noses over the gate.” PHINN is in a fabulous rural setting with his foster family (as you can tell) and he would love that kind of setting in his adoptive home. PHINN does like to be with you! He will cry and bark if you are outside without him and he can also open the front door! But once you leave, he settles. He just thinks he ought to be with you if you are available. He loves his walks, he races around and really covers the ground. He likes to run around the fields. He has excellent recall. He travels well, he jumps straight into the car and settles with no noise, he just goes to sleep. He's very enthusiastic for treats, and needs to be told to sit nicely to wait for a biscuit. He does counter surf. He can reach right to the back of our kitchen worktop, he's a tall dog and he will find anything left out. Once there is nothing there that he can smell though he settles. He's delighted to see you every time, when you wake up, if you walk into the room, his tail wags with delight. He really is a lovely boy, you can give him a big cuddle and he loves it. When he lays down on the wooden floor though, he does sound like a bag of bones, we try to encourage him to lay on his bed. He does have calloused elbows, but foster mum is rubbing cream onto them and they are getting much better. He did have to go to the vets because he had an ear infection and he was a very good boy for the vets, even though they said his ear must have been hurting him. He's a delightful dog, everyone who meets him comments how lovely he is. His head is just the right height to reach down and scratch when he's stood next to do. None of this bending malarkey like with spaniels. You will need to get a big water bowl, he does tend to shove his entire face in to the water and then drips water around the bowl, we have placed an absorbent rug around the water bowls for that reason. He loves water, we got him a paddling pool which he's in and out of, and he loves the pond. PHINNEAS is microchipped, vaccinated, castrated, had recent parasite treatments and has a Spanish Passport.