Irish Doodle dogs: everything you need to know

Friendly, loving and seriously intelligent: ever heard of the Irish Doodle? If not, you might have heard the names Irish Setter Doodle, Irish Poodle, Irish Poo Setter, or Irish Setterpoo thrown about. 

Despite the confusion around their name, we can safely say that these (sometimes) curly-haired cuties take after their Poodle and Red Setter parents on the brain box front. Whether it’s their sprightly approach to life, love for their two and four-legged friends or their paw-to-water approach to training, we can see why they’re becoming one of the most popular hybrid breeds out there.

So, whether you’re welcoming one of these cuties into your home or you’re on the lookout for an in-home dog sitter near you, find all the info (and more) on this light-hearted, loyal pooch below.

Irish Doodle dog breed characteristics 

• Origin: What is an Irish Doodle? They’re a hybrid breed of the sleek-coated Red Setter and curly-haired Poodle. Red Setters are most often bred with Standard Poodles (resulting in Standard Irish Doodles), but there have also been cases of Toy and Miniature Poodles being bred with Setters, which results in the Mini Irish Doodle..
• Size: They’re medium-sized dogs, with male Irish Doodles growing up to 28 inches tall and weighing between 50 and 75 pounds. Females can grow up to 26 inches tall and weigh between 45 and 60 pounds. This all means the Irish Doodle size is considered medium in the canine world.
• Character: Friendly, energetic and playful.
• Health needs and grooming: If they’ve taken after their Poodle parents, they’ll need regular brushing and trimming. If they’re more like a Red Setter on the fur front, they just need brushing. Scroll to find out more about the Irish Doodle’s health needs.
• Training: Easy to train.
• Energy levels: Moderately energetic. They need daily exercise and a yard to run around in.
• Intelligence: Highly intelligent.
• Lifespan: 10-13 years.
• Noise levels: Rarely barks.

Irish Doodle appearance

You can’t help but melt slightly when locking your eyes on these (sometimes) red-locked cuties. While they don’t always inherit the texture of their Red Setter parents’ coat, the color (often) passes on, resulting in a strikingly red Doodle coat (which is one the reasons they’re becoming so popular in the designer dog world). 

Like many other Doodle breeds, you can also find Irish Doodles in cream, brown, black, blue, silver and gray. And if you hadn’t guessed, sometimes these fluffballs inherit their Poodle parents’ coat of fluff (like Cavapoo dogs), which means they can be on the high-maintenance end when it comes to grooming (take a look below for some info on grooming these cuties).

Even though the Irish Doodle coat isn’t anywhere near the slick, light-reflecting jacket of their Irish Setter parents, the coats of these cuties can vary from dog to dog. Why? Well it’s down to the coat of their parents, who have seriously contrasting fur jackets. In fact, they’re almost at opposite ends of the spectrum. Poodles have a single layer of hair that grows almost like human hair - it needs to be cut regularly to keep it tidy and clean. Then flip to the Irish Setter - they’ve got a glossy yet dense double coat with thick undercoat that’s covered in the glossy top coat we all know and love.

While we’re borderline obsessed with the Irish Doodle coat, more can be said about their looks. Like their four-legged parents, Irish Doodles are of a medium build with full-grown Irish Doodles reaching between 26 and 28 inches tall. They’re usually found with a relatively narrow head (they’re no Borzois, of course!), and brown-black almond-shaped eyes (otherwise known as adorable, shiny buttons to us dog lovers).

Irish Doodle personality

Irish Doodles are known for their happy-go-lucky approach to life, with bags of energy to burn and lots of love to give. Like their parents on both sides, Irish Doodles are great with children and adore playing with their Sapien sidekicks. 

Like their parents, Irish Doodles are highly intelligent - that fluffy coat and those adorable button eyes aren’t to be mistaken for lack of wit - they’re as cute as they are clever! They’re fast, obedient learners which is ideal for new pet parents. Their ability to pick up your house rules with ease, learn your boundaries and even a few tricks makes them great family pets and fun to be around. 

Like with any dog though, their sprightly approach to life is fostered by the balanced lifestyle that’ll keep them happy and healthy. Irish Doodle puppies (and adults) should be socialized with other pets and humans on the regular - their parents were used to having a strong bond with their human companions, so these pups need that as well. 

With their great minds comes a need for lots of mental stimulation - without it, they’ll become agitated, a little destructive and anxious (we can say we blame them). So, make sure you and your pack give your fluffy cutie the attention, fun and stimulation they need to keep them happy and healthy.

When it comes to Irish Doodle temperament, they’re pretty tolerant of their human pack, as well as their four-legged one. Like their Poodle parents, Irish Doodles are pretty sensitive to loud sounds, chaos and unexpected touch. So, despite their love for their human buddies, Irish Doodles are better suited to families with older children who are less likely to startle them. It’s super important that they’re calmly socialized, as with too much chaotic stimulation, they could become depressed.

Ways to mentally stimulate your Irish Doodle

Irish Doodles are super intelligent pups who need a lot of mental stimulation to keep them happy and healthy. Along with the classic game of fetch, there are other ways to wake up those clever brains.

1. Puzzle toys. While in an ideal world, you might frolic with your furry best friend every hour of every day, we know that sometimes that just can’t happen. So, for the moments when your pup needs some play time but you’re busy cooking or need to dash out for a short while, get those brains ticking with a puzzle toy or two. 
2. New tricks. Along with sit, stay and all that jazz, teach your pup a few exciting tricks and reward success with their favorite treats.
3. Doggy obstacle course. If you’ve got space in your garden, fab. If not, plan a fun day out with your pooch at a dog park with all sorts of stimulating activities (like obstacle courses!).
4. Nose work. Challenge your pooch to sniff out biscuits or toys from hidden places - it’ll keep them focussed and be seriously rewarding.
5. Swimming. You might know that Poodles were once water-based hunting dogs, so take your Irish Doodle for a splash in a lake, local river or the sea to keep that mind and body happy.

What’s the ideal home for an Irish Doodle?

Both sides of the Irish Doodle’s parentage are known for being great with packs complete with two and four-legged members. Like with any dog, it’s always worth giving your pup the experience they’ll have for life from puppyhood. What do we mean? Well if you’re planning on welcoming a feline friend into your clan, it’s worth doing so before or at the same time as when you bring your Doodle home. They can get along with cats and other dogs, but the longer they see their pack as the norm, the better. 

If you’ve got birds at home, we’d advise avoiding the Irish Doodle. As sad as this news may be, it’ll be even worse to realize your pup has hunted down your beloved feathered friends. Irish Setters were bred to hunt birds, so there’s a high chance your Irish Doodle will have the instinct to do the same. 

When it comes to children, we’d advise only adopting an Irish Doodle if the children who frequent your home are on the older side. Younger children (like toddlers) can move in a slightly more jerky manner to those who are a little more developed, and your pup will appreciate a space where each cuddle, pat on the back and noise is expected.

On the subject of noise, if your home is a particularly loud one, we’d advise against welcoming an Irish Setter. These pups love a chilled environment where they can kick back with their pack in peace. For those unavoidable moments where things get a little loud though (like drilling, for example), take your pup away from the home or create a safe space in a quieter part of the house with all their favorite toys and blankets surrounding them.

And what about the sort of home? Well while Poodles won’t be upset by apartment living, Red Setters are happiest in homes with a garden due to their high energy levels. So, to account for this side of the Irish Doodle’s lineage, only adopt if you’ve got a yard space for your pooch to burn off all that energy.

What’s the ideal human for an Irish Doodle?

When deciding whether you’re the right human for an Irish Doodle, consider their four-legged parents. Both the Poodle and Red Setter are clever dogs, needing regular mental stimulation to stay happy and healthy. Also both social beings, they need lots of time with their human pals to live their best life (so lots of walkies and cuddles are a must- no complaints from us). And when it comes to energy levels, these pups are no lap dogs. While Poodles aren’t the most active pups in the canine world, Red Setters are on the more energetic end. So, make sure you’re up for lots of walkies, retrieval games and cuddles, and you should be onto a winner.

Tips for training Irish Doodles

Let’s start with their Poodle parents - they’re one of the easiest dogs to train and respond well to commands. So, if you’re a first-time pet parent and your pup’s inherited some of these traits, you should have a relatively easy ride. In fact, Poodles are so clever that they lap up the chance to learn new tricks, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have a go with your Irish Doodle.

And when it comes to the Setter side, they’re equally brainy but much more stubborn than their curly-haired cousins. How to get around the stubborn streak? Train your pup from a young age and keep it consistent. Pick your house rules before you adopt and make sure every two-legged member of your pack is aboard.

Stick to positive reinforcement - with consistency, a happy life outside of training (so lots of exercise, cuddles, peace and quiet, and mental stimulation), and a positive approach to puppy training, you, your pup and your pack should get along just fine.

Alongside tricks and basic house training, what else could your Irish Doodle get up to? Well as it turns out, quite a fair bit. See if your fluffy buddy can turn their paw to retrieving (which by their parentage, they should be pretty good at), agility, dance and advanced obedience training.

Grooming Irish Doodles

When it comes to grooming your Irish Doodle, consider which parent they take after the most on the fur front. Are they curly-coated like their Poodle parent or more sleek and shiny like the Red Setter side? And does their hair shed like a Setters’ or grow like a Poodles’? If your pooch resembles their Poodle parentage, they’ll need a lot more grooming, trimming and clipping to steer clear from matting and dirt-collecting. If your pup resembles their Setter parents, trimming will be less regular (but a trip to the groomers’ every once in a while won’t hurt), and brushing will need to be regular to avoid your pup shedding all over your house. Whichever parent they take after on the fur front, make sure their ears are kept clean, nails trimmed and the fur between their paw pads is short.

Irish Doodle history

As you’ll know by now, the Irish Setter is a hybrid breed of the two well-known hunting dogs - the Poodle (originally a German retriever dog), and the silky-coated Irish Setter (traditionally a field hunting dog). So, while the Poodle side of the family may look simply like cute bundles of fluff, they were in fact once heavily relied upon in a work environment. And if you’re particularly interested in Doodle breeds (can’t say we blame you), you might know that many originate in the USA, and the same is thought for the Irish Doodle. 

Let’s start with the most popular pup to breed others with - the Poodle. Despite their French fashionista reputation, these curly cuties are ex-hunting dogs from Germany, according to the American Kennel Club. Known for their intelligence (one of the best in the canine world), bags of energy and friendly nature, we can see why heaps of new Doodle breeds are popping up in the designer dog world. 

And what about the Irish Setter? Well the clue is in the name - they were originally bred in Ireland. But what you might not know is that this happened in the 1700s. Firstly bred for field-based bird hunting in Ireland, their popularity grew all the way across the British Isles in the following century. It’s all a bit of a mystery as to the Irish Setter’s roots before this though, with some experts thinking that they originate from the Irish Water Spaniel, Gordon Setter and Irish Terrier. And where does that signature red coat come from? Well it turns out that the Setters chasing across the fields of Ireland in the 1700s weren’t known for their all-red coats like the Setters of today. The breed’s ancestors rocked red and white or yellow and white coats instead. It didn’t take long for people to fall in love with the red coat we know today, though (can you blame them?). By the mid 1800s, their well-known red hair became the breed’s ideal, and were then recognised by the American Kennel Club in the late 18th century. 

Irish Doodle breed health

While like any dog, Irish Doodles can be prone to a few health issues, many agree that crossbreed dogs are in fact healthier than their Pedigree parents. Why? Well hybrid breeds have more genetic diversity, being from two separate breeds rather than the much narrower genetic pool of Pedigree pooches. So, what are the health conditions to watch out for in your Irish Doodle?

• Hip dysplasia
• Bloat
• Eye diseases and disorders
• Osteosarcoma
• Von Willebrand’s disease
• Addison’s disease
• Epilepsy
• Color dilution alopecia
• Skin diseases and disorders

Getting an Irish Doodle

If you’ve decided you’re the right human for an Irish Doodle, congratulations! What are the next steps for welcoming one of these cuties into your home? Firstly, check out the dog shelters nearby to see if there are any Irish Doodles waiting for a forever home. If not, you could consider waiting until one turns up. And if this doesn’t feel likely, would you consider welcoming a Poodle or Red Setter into your home? Either way, if adoption doesn’t suit your situation, just make sure you approach a reputable breeder who’s following all the right steps for healthy and happy pups and parents.

Want to find out more about Doodles?

Check out this Australian Labradoodle breed guide to get your daily Doodle fix.