For the Love of the Breed
I've had English Setters for three years now, but my love affair with the breed began
many years ago, in 1985. That was the year that I met Pee Wee.
Pee Wee was a blue belton English Setter that was one of eight puppies born to Pepper,
owned by the vet that I used to work for. Pepper was the first English Setter that I ever saw,
and I thought that he was the most beautiful dog that I'd ever seen.
When Pee Wee was about a year old he developed unexplained kidney failure and came to stay at the
vet clinic so that we could try to figure out what was wrong with him.
It was my job to care for him. I fed him, medicated him, changed his IV, and cleaned up after him.
There must have been many days that Pee Wee did not feel good, but he never showed it.
Every morning when I came into the clinic I could hear Pee Wee's tail,
thumping out his greeting to me from all the way down the hall.
Pee Wee loved our daily walks. I would hold his leash in one hand and his IV drip in the other.
We would chase butterflies in the meadow behind the clinic and yes, I could run holding that IV drip!
It was during those special times that I knew that an English Setter would be the dog for me.
As sick as Pee Wee got he never, ever, lost his silly, sloppy setter zest for life.
We had him for five weeks there at the clinic before he went to the Rainbow Bridge.
Pee Wee was not technically my dog, but I know he waits there for me.
For the love of one dog, I came to love the breed.
L. Whorff, 2004