How much exercise does an Irish Setter need?

Adults typically need around two hours of exercise a day, including a chance to gallop off leash in safe, enclosed areas. Setters shine at long hikes, field training, hunt tests and, once fully grown, canicross or running with you on trails. Scent games and retrieves add mental work that a simple walk lacks.

Their bird drive is strong, so recall needs practice from the first week, using a long line in open spaces. Too little exercise shows up as restlessness, chewing, jumping on people and nonstop attention seeking. A setter that has had a proper run is usually calm, affectionate and happy to sprawl across the sofa for the evening.