Seminars
As part of our club constitution, we are obliged to educate new owners and future judges about the breed, and we do this through seminars, which are also open to anyone interested in our breed and any problems that may affect it.
The subject of our first seminar was Post Polur Subcapsular Cattaract, or PPC for short. We invited a retired Professor from Glasgow Veterinary College to enlighten us on this fault, which had recently been found in the Irish Red and White Setter. We had a larger attendance than anticipated, as a number of participants from other breeds cam along, taking advantage of the Professor's willingness to answer questions on other eye problems relevant to breeds other than the Irish Red and White Setters.
Our second educational venture was a seminar and workshop combined, covering the showing and working aspect of all four Setter breeds. This event started in the morning with a speaker, accompanied by their breed specimen, explaining what they would be looking for from this dog in the show ring. The speaker for the Irish Red and White Setter was Mrs Joyce Webb, of the Shannonlee prefix. Mrs Webb was the first person to import three Irish Red and White Setter bitches into England from Mrs Audry Kaulbeck's Ardnagashel Kennels in Ireland. When all four speakers had finished their talk, we stopped for a buffet lunch before proceeding to the workshop, which was intended to show the difference between dogs for the show ring and dogs for working.
After lunch Mr Peter O'Driscoll opened the workshop by giving a short introductory talk regarding the working aspect of the Setter and Pointer breeds. As he is also the Chief Training Instructor at our club's training weekends, he was the most appropriate speaker for this part of the programme.
While the morning agenda was a "sit down and listen" approach, the afternoon format was a "hands-on" approach, so to accommodate this part of the programme we introduced four dogs per breed, two from the working aspect and two from the show aspect. The venue was divided into four sections, each representing a specific breed, and the particpants separated into groups, each group working their way around the hall getting an opportunity to handle the dogs and compare any differences between each specimen.
This event was very well received by those in attendance.
Our third seminar was held under The Kennel Club Guidelines, with a Kennel Club Accredited Trainer on conformation and Movement, Mrs Donna McDougall, MRCVS, to speak. Our seminar opened in the morning with our club past President, Mrs June Hill, explaining how to prepare and present an Irish Red and White Setter for the show ring. After lunch, Mrs McDougall spoke on conformation and movement, with the use of videos and then an opportunity to actually handle several dogs. We also had an opportunity to watch Donna's video on growing puppies.
Once again, a successful seminar enjoyed by all in attendance.