questions about my uncle's dog

**Genny** · 09-09-2007, 03:44 PM

Hi everyone,

My uncle got an irish setter months ago, and she's 9-10 months old now. I was wondering about her size. She's not any taller than a full grown cocker spaniel. Is something wrong with her? She's also very skinny...not from not eating or anything, and I know normally they are slim dogs but she just looks so young....

Is that a normal size??? Is she just really small...I don't want to ask my uncle about it, he acts so proud of her and I don't want him to think I thought something could be wrong with her?

thanks for any replies !!!!

**Karen** · 09-09-2007, 03:46 PM

No, that's not normal, an Irish Setter should be tall enough for a cocker to walk beneath. Is she a purebred dog, with papers, pedigree? If not, I'd guess she's a mix. They are slender dogs, even full grown, and as she's not even a year now, I'm not surprised she looks skinny-skinny.

**Genny** · 09-09-2007, 03:58 PM

Hello Karen,

He has papers on her and saw the mom and dad. So she is a pure bred dog I'm sure, but her size just got me to wondering was something wrong? I just got a great pyrenees puppy a few months ago and she's 5 months now and she is taller than his dog...

His dog acts ok and eats fine. She acts very very hyper like I think a normal irish setter should act, but it's just her size that makes me wonder????

**mike001** · 09-09-2007, 07:17 PM

This is not normal size for a 9 mo.old Irish Setter, if she is registered you could get in touch with the breeder and talk about the size and your worries. If your uncle is planning on showing her, she will be too small. Is she gauranteed for health issues? Something is stunting her growth. How tall were the parents?

**luvofallhorses** · 09-09-2007, 07:21 PM

do you know if she was the runt of the litter? Irish setters are supposed to be really tall.

**Genny** · 09-10-2007, 10:29 PM

Hi everyone,

Mike, he doesn't plan on showing her or anything like that; he just got her for a pet. He thought about breeding her for a while there but decided not to, so about a month ago he got her spayed. I didn't see the parents, but from what my uncle said the dad was a regular size and the mom was really small.

luvofallhorses, he said that she was the biggest girl left when he went to get her. So nope, not a runt

**Genny** · 09-11-2007, 12:52 AM

Hey, she looks a whole lot like this....her face and everything favors this dog and she is about the same size...

**Genny** · 09-11-2007, 12:54 AM

and she also favors this one some....so what do you think? I know these aren't her but this is pretty much what she looks like and she's 9 months!!

**Giselle** · 09-11-2007, 01:26 AM

Are you sure you're using the right comparisons? A Cocker is a very small dog, probably 15" at the withers at most. An Irish Setter is almost twice that. At 9-10 months, the average Irish Setter puppy should be around 23"-25". Are you SURE you got a very good look at the puppy's size and you're *positive* that it is an Irish Setter?

By the time the IS puppy was 6 months, she should've been 15" already. The fact that she hasn't grown between 6-9 months is very very odd. ETA: Some lines of dogs take a longer time to physically mature (I know some breeds can take upwards of 2-3 years), but they almost always reach their full height by 12-15 months, with very rare exceptions.