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Coleen McGee
I acquired my first Irish Setter in
June "82 who no doubt was named "Ace" AM & CAN Ch. Mar Dee's New Age Aceonair -
CD. I learned alot from my mentor and dear friend Marita who was gracious enough
to trust me with him. Marita taught me alot about the breed, how to handle and
groom then I went on to finish the majority of Irish Setters she produced. Ace
was bred to a lovely little girl from O'Dorsey kennels (Ruth White - a founding
member of GTISC), so from that I acquired my second success in the show dog
world - Ch. Winsong's Son O' Success - CD a/k/a "Sonni" who was my soulmate.
Both these boys took Highest Scoring Irish Setter at Independent Specialties. So
not only were they beautiful, but they had brains, too. Losing Sonni was the
toughest thing in life that I had to go through. Fortunately for me, he was bred
to yet another one of Ruth's girls which she inturn bred producing Sonni
grandbabies so I ended up bringing homeanother boy when Sonni was around nine
years old.
This now took me up to Irish Setter
#3 - O'Dorsey's Vision Quest - "Quest" who is like a carbon copy of his
grandfather more and more each day. Quest is now nearing the distinguished age
of 10 this April "08" and has never set foot in the ring but sure makes a great
navigator sitting in the passenger seat while we drive all over the country to
shows and I love him just as much without having a title in front or behind his
registered name.
In October of '03, I acquired another
male from a local breeders Patricia Cox & Shirl Dippolito in the Butler,
Zelienople area of Western Pennsylvania. Creed, who was just a major away from
his championship when I discovered he has epilepsy. Unfortunately, him
having seizures has ended his career and of course any breeding potential -
Sirius Bad Moon On The Rise a/k/a Creed (named after Creedence Clearwater
Revival). I am still researching the severity of his condition but none the less
he will not be bred because of this horrible genetic condition.
In Spring of '04, I decided that
Creed needed a little sister and purchased a lovely little girl from a breeder
in New York - Kirsten Wilson "Touchstone Irish Setters', but she was lost due to
veterinarian negligence while in his care for Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy -
another breed health problem that seems to be surfacing too frequently these
days. I miss my little "Dora" and so do her two brothers. Trying to fill that
void in our lives we contacted another breeder in New York - Patrice Clawson of
"Ballymera Irish Setters" and brought home a lovely girl Ballymera's Walkin' On
Water - "Glorianna", who has been with me for over a three years now and has
finished her championship in Cleveland, Ohio "2006". At present March "08"
she will be bred to a male of Patrice Clawson's choice which will add yet
another Irish in my home - how exciting - finally this will be one that I was
instrumental in producing.
In May of 2007 I inherited one of our
rescue progeny that we place with Bill White from the Claysville area "Wagner"
who is now around 13 was turned into a shelter at the age of 9 1/2 for
separation anxiety and then another 8 months of his life was wasted in a kennel
in Butler until I finally stepped in and took him to my home to evaluate and of
course all the horror stories about this poor ole boy were not true. That was in
September of "05" then we placed him with Bill in November of that same year up
unitl May 26th, 2007 when Bill passed away. Bill had a wish that should Wagner
pass away he will be cremated and his ashes along with a headstone that Bill had
made for his beloved buddy will also be placed on Bill's grave site. This is a
promise that I made to Bill and since Wagner spent a some of his time with me in
the first place and when Bill traveled he made the adjustment quite well - I
guess Wagner knows that one day he will be re-united with the one who cared
enough to offer him a second chance at life since his first owners discarded him
like he was just a piece of old furniture. I just hope there is no breeder out
there foolish enough to sell Wagner's first owners another Irish Setter.
But then again, we do have our share of backyard breeders in the PA area that
are actively breeding and only see dollar signs.
I have handled a multitude of
Sporting breeds in over 25 years in the dog show world, not to mention showing
some Working & Herding breeds. In "2000" an "2001" I handled a friends English
Cocker Spaniel to the tune of 4 Best In Shows. There is a lot of heartache and
physical labor in this sport but it is a labor of love and I wouldn't trade it
for all the tea in China.
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