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Irish Setter — BetterBred Breed Page – BetterBred.com
BetterBred Breed Profile

Irish Setter

Temperament: Outgoing, affectionate, and high-energy. Irish Setters are athletic bird dogs who need substantial daily exercise and stay puppyish longer than many breeds. They are friendly with people and other dogs but require patient training and early socialization.
Height: Males: 26-28 inches (66-71 cm), Females: 24-26 inches (61-66 cm)
Weight: Males: 65-75 pounds (29-34 kg), Females: 55-65 pounds (25-29 kg)
Life Span: 11-15 years
Outlier Index ?
0.48
Born before 2016: 0.49 Born after 2024: —
Avg Genetic Rel. ?
0.54
Born before 2016: 0.54 Born after 2024: —
Internal Relatedness ?
-0.15
Born before 2016: -0.18 Born after 2024: —
#NameGender OIAGRIR
1 Pole Position of the Red Empire M 0.43 0.58 -0.15
2 Zoom in On Me of the Red Empire F 0.47 0.50 -0.02
3 Puppy #4 F 0.52 0.53 -0.34
4 Puppy #3 M 0.49 0.59 -0.17
5 Puppy #1 M 0.42 0.58 -0.31
6 Puppy #8 F 0.69 0.52 -0.11
7 Puppy #7 F 0.49 0.54 0.03
8 Puppy #6 F 0.33 0.50 -0.17
The Irish Setter as a distinct solid-red breed came together in Ireland in the 19th century, refined down from earlier red-and-white working setters. Early breeders selected heavily for the rich chestnut color, and by the late 1800s the solid red had pulled well ahead of the red-and-white variety in popularity - a divergence that pushed the Red and White Setter nearly to extinction before it was rescued decades later. Irish Setters hit peak popularity in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, which brought the usual consequences of a popularity surge: heavy use of a small number of popular sires, rapid expansion, and a narrowing of the effective gene pool. The breed also split along show and field lines, with the field type retaining more working stamina and a somewhat different build than the flashier show dog.
The main genetic concerns are progressive retinal atrophy (rcd1, DNA test available), canine leukocyte adhesion deficiency (CLAD, DNA test available), hip dysplasia, hypothyroidism, and gastric dilatation-volvulus (bloat). Epilepsy, osteosarcoma, and lymphoma also show up at elevated rates compared to mixed-breed dogs.
VGL has reported Irish Setters carrying an average of around 5.30 alleles across the 33 STR loci, with an effective allele count near 2.76. Both numbers are on the lower end, consistent with the breed's 20th-century popularity surges and heavy use of a small group of influential sires. The gap between average and effective alleles means preserving every uncommon allele still in circulation is especially important. VGL testing has reported Irish Setters with observed heterozygosity higher than expected, producing a negative inbreeding coefficient. That would suggest active selection for less related pairings in the tested population. Individual IR scores vary considerably, so the breed-wide number alone does not tell the whole story.

A 3D genetic map of enrolled Irish Setter dogs in the BetterBred database, based on allele-sharing distance across 33 STR loci. This is not a complete picture of the breed — it reflects only dogs whose owners have enrolled them. Drag to rotate · scroll to zoom · hover for dog names (public profiles only).

Historical founders — oldest 25% of enrolled dogs     Current gene pool — most recent 50% of enrolled dogs
Building plot… this may take a minute for larger breeds.

The Dog Leukocyte Antigen (DLA) region controls immune function and is the most polymorphic portion of the canine genome. Every dog carries two sets of DLA haplotypes — one from each parent — which almost never recombine across generations. Frequency percentages reflect how often each haplotype appears across all allele copies in the breed, not the percentage of dogs carrying it.

Class I Haplotypes

HaplotypeFrequency
1069
43.8%
1211
31.3%
1210
25.0%

Class II Haplotypes

HaplotypeFrequency
2045
43.8%
2005
31.3%
2015
25.0%

Class I & II Combinations

Class IClass IIFrequency
1069 2045
43.8%
1211 2005
31.3%
1210 2015
25.0%

The Canine Diversity Test from UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory is the foundation of BetterBred’s breed management tools. Testing your dog adds to the breed database and gives you access to the full suite of breeding analysis tools.

Order from UC Davis VGL →
OI
Outlier Index

The Outlier Index (OI) measures how unusual a dog’s allele combination is relative to the tested population of its breed. A higher OI means the dog carries alleles at lower frequencies across the breed — genetic variants that are underrepresented in the population as a whole.

Dogs with high OI are genetically valuable because they carry diversity that most other tested dogs don’t share. Breeding them thoughtfully into the broader population helps redistribute lower-frequency alleles rather than allowing them to become even rarer over generations.

The breed average shown here reflects all dogs tested in the BetterBred database. The senior and youngster comparisons show whether diversity is trending up or down in recent generations.
AGR
Average Genetic Relatedness

Average Genetic Relatedness (AGR) measures how similar a dog’s DNA is, on average, to every other tested dog in the breed. It reflects the dog’s mean kinship — how closely related it is to the population as a whole.

A lower AGR means the dog is more genetically distinct from the majority of the breed. Dogs with low AGR carry alleles at lower frequencies across the tested population, making them higher-priority candidates for inclusion in a well-managed breeding program.

AGR is conceptually related to mean kinship used in conservation genetics for managed species populations. A declining AGR average in younger dogs suggests the breed is successfully redistributing genetic diversity across generations.
IR
Internal Relatedness

Internal Relatedness (IR) measures how much identical genetic material an individual dog inherited from both parents. IR is a useful indicator of inbreeding: lower IR generally reflects lower inbreeding, and it is widely used and reported in the scientific literature.

A high IR is not the cause for alarm it might appear. Elevated IR can often be resolved in a single generation by pairing with a dog whose ancestry is less represented in the breed. It is a signpost, not a sentence.

BetterBred reports IR for reference, but it is not our primary breeding guidance tool. OI and AGR together give a more complete and actionable picture of a dog’s genetic value to the population.

AGR tells you which dogs are genetically unusual relative to the population. OI tells you which dogs are most valuable to preserve. OI specifically weights mid-frequency alleles, identifying dogs whose ancestry is underrepresented in a way most likely to benefit the breed.