Mythen Irish Setters

Welcome to Mythen Irish Setters! 

At Mythen our focus is on raising healthy, loving, well-adjusted, long-lived Irish Setters with excellent temperaments. We are a Canadian Kennel Club Registered kennel and in keeping with the Principles of Integrity of the Irish Setter Club of Canada Mythen strives to protect and enhance the natural qualities of the breed. Our dogs are shown in the Conformation ring, exposed to field training days, scent detection and some have even participated in Sprinter events and dock diving. Our girls love to swim and are raised in home with us.. Our dogs are often in the yard while our chickens are free-ranging and the chicken coop and run purposely borders on 30 feet of our dog run so our puppies have plenty of experiences to many different situations. We hope to do our part in dispeling the myths about Irish Setters being "crazy" dogs - hence part of the reason for our kennel name. We find Irish Setters to be highly intelligent, fairly active dogs that need to have limits set in a loving but firm way because they take longer to mature than some other dogs. Like children, if you give them an inch, they will take a mile! :)  Once they learn something they remember it forever.

If you are considering an Irish Setter please do your homework. Read up on them. Talk to more than one breeder. Attend a dog show and ask questions. Familiarize yourself with potential health issues. Ask yourself if you are prepared to groom and exercise them. We also highly recommend that you purchase Pet Insurance. Irish Setters are notoriously silly and playful (and somewhat careless) during play. One of our girls ran into a 2 x 4 we had holding up a peach tree branch for over 8 months (so she knew it was there) and suffered from a concussion and a broken tooth. A few days later another one slid into a large raised bed planter box while running in the snow at full tilt and her flank swelled 4 times it's normal size. She required x-rays of her hips, pelvis and leg. Thankfully it was "just" a severe soft-tissue injury but between the emergency vet visit, x-rays and pain medication the costs mounted up quickly. Also, please be aware that Irish Setters are very social dogs. You can't just tie them outside or leave them in a run all day. They NEED interaction and their brains and bodies love to be working. A dog that misbehaves is a bored dog; not to say that your Irish Setter might test you from time to time! :) Irish Setter owners must ensure that their dog is mentally exercised in addition to physically. I find that scent work is great for exercising your dog's brain.

Please check out our entire site (which is always a work in progress) and if you have any questions don't be shy - please ask. Please understand that we are responsible breeders. Our girls will not be bred without extensive health testing and we choose our sires only after deep consideration. You can read more about our health testing on our site. Also be aware that the Animal Pedigree Act (a Canadian Federal statute) requires that when a person sells a dog as "purebred" they MUST furnish a Certificate of Registration together with a fully recorded transfer of ownership to the purchaser. According to the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) by-laws this is to be done at the seller's expense. Don't allow yourself to be taken in by a "breeder" that says the pups are purebred but aren't registered. There is a reason they aren't registered. Sadly, it often shows in the health or lack of longevity of the dogs. It also can appear in temperament. 

Finally, at some point we will be pleased to discuss puppy prices with you. I assure you that you will not be paying designer dog prices. Generally speaking, as of 2023 our puppies will be sold for approximately $2,400 (and up) based upon our costs/expenses for each litter. There is no difference in price if you request a "pet" or a "show dog". We are attempting to breed to Conformation standards so all of our dogs should have the ability to do well in the ring. However we also breed to maintain their lovely disposition and intelligence, so I expect all of them to be excellent companions. A great deal of thought goes into the choice of a mate for our girls and we do not "overbreed" our girls. Please be aware that I do want to know who you are; how much homework you have done; what you want in your dog; what is a deal breaker for you? For instance: will you hunt with your dog? Do you plan to expose her/him to events such as Sprinter/Agility/Dock Diving/Scent Detection? Will it primarily be a family pet? Are you interested in Conformation showing the dog and/or would you be willing to try? Do you plan on breeding? There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. It will just guide us onto the correct path. Beware, though... once a Setter lover almost everyone remains a Setter lover. We do encourage our puppy buyers to try showing their dogs. We are prepared to offer advice if you go this route and even names of handlers in your area if you aren't comfortable doing it yourself. It doesn't have to be a lifetime committment, but seeing how our dogs are judged in Conformation helps us to know if our breeding programs are on target. We want our dogs to be conformationally correct. There is no point in breeding a dog if they are throwing puppies with incorrect bone sizing, etc.  

Enjoy browsing our pages and we look forward to hearing from you!