Airedale Terrier vs Irish Setter — Side by Side

	Airedale Terrier	Irish Setter
Lifespan	10-13 years	12-15 years
Size	Large	Large
Weight	40-65 lb	60-70 lb
Energy	High	High
Grooming	Moderate	High
Shedding	Low	High
With kids	Good with kids	With supervision

What actually separates them

Less hair on the sofa with the Airedale Terrier. More with the Irish Setter.
Less brushing with the Airedale Terrier. More with the Irish Setter.
Irish Setter tends to live longer — 12-15 years against 10-13 years.
With young children, Airedale Terrier is the safer default — Irish Setter is listed as "With supervision".

The honest downside of each

Airedale Terrier

As the largest terrier breed, the Airedale keeps a full terrier prey drive and stubborn streak in a 50-plus-pound body, and breed mortality surveys put cancer as the cause of roughly 4 in 10 Airedale deaths — noticeably higher than most breeds.

Irish Setter

This is a bird-hunting gundog bred for all-day stamina in the field, and its glamorous red coat and friendly good looks lead a lot of buyers to seriously underestimate the exercise commitment — an Irish Setter that doesn't get real daily running tends to become destructive and harder to live with, not calmer, as it matures.

Read the full pages

Airedale Terrier · Irish Setter
Health problems, origin and what living with each is actually like.