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    The Irish Wolfhound - A Complete Anthology of the Dog
    The Irish Wolfhound - A Complete Anthology of the Dog
    The Irish Wolfhound - A Complete Anthology of the Dog
    Ebook144 pages1 hour

    The Irish Wolfhound - A Complete Anthology of the Dog

    By Read Books Ltd.

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    About this ebook

    The Irish Wolfhound - A Complete Anthology of the Dog gathers together all the best early writing on the breed from our library of scarce, out-of-print antiquarian books and documents and reprints it in a quality, modern edition. This anthology includes chapters taken from a comprehensive range of books, many of them now rare and much sought-after works, all of them written by renowned breed experts of their day. These books are treasure troves of information about the breed - The physical points, temperaments, and special abilities are given; celebrated dogs are discussed and pictured; and the history of the breed and pedigrees of famous champions are also provided. The contents were well illustrated with numerous photographs of leading and famous dogs of that era and these are all reproduced to the highest quality. Books used include: My Dog And I by H. W. Huntington (1897), Dogs Of The World by Arthur Craven (1931), Hutchinson's Dog Encyclopaedia by Walter Hutchinson (1935) and many others.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateSep 6, 2016
    ISBN9781473352704
    The Irish Wolfhound - A Complete Anthology of the Dog

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      The Irish Wolfhound - A Complete Anthology of the Dog - Read Books Ltd.

      1938.

      THE IRISH WOLF-DOG.

      This animal is entirely extinct. I only mention the breed to prove what astonishing results careful selection in breeding can produce. There is even some doubt as to what variety this famous dog belonged to, but it is certain that to have caught and coped with the wolf, he must have been of the greyhound form. Indeed, both Ray and Pennant have described him as a tall, rough greyhound of extraordinary size and power. Ray says it was the greatest dog he had ever seen. Evelyn, when describing the sports of the bear-garden, says, The Bull-dogs did exceedingly well, but the Irish Wolf dog exceeded all, which was a tall Greyhound, a stately creature, and did beat a cruel Mastiff. Oliver Goldsmith, no very reliable authority perhaps, says, in his loose way, that he once saw about a dozen of these dogs, and that one was about four feet high, or as big as a yearling heifer. Another account represents them as sufficiently tall to put their heads over the shoulder of a person sitting down.

      But the most singular, and perhaps the most reliable proof of the gigantic size of this extinct breed, is a skull, eyidently, from its shape, that of a greyhound, discovered by Mr. Wylam at Dunshauglin. This skull, now preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, measures 11 inches in length. As the skull of a common greyhound is not more than 7 inches long, the ancient dog, if his height was in proportion to the size of his skull, would have been upwards of 40 inches in height at the shoulder, a size exceeding by one-fourth part that of the tallest Deerhound, and quite justifying the descriptions of Ray and Pennant.

      MR. GRAHAM’S IRISH WOLFHOUND SCOT.

      THE IRISH WOLFHOUND.

      BY GEORGE A. GRAHAM, DURSLEY.

      IT is with a certain amount of diffidence that this essay is entered upon, as there is a widely-spread impression that the breed to be treated of is extinct. That we are in possession of the breed in its original integrity is not pretended; at the same time it is confidently believed that there are strains now existing tracing back, more or less clearly, to the original breed; and it also appears to be tolerably certain that our modern Deerhound is descended from that noble animal, and gives us a very fair idea of what he was, though undoubtedly considerably his inferior in size and power. Had it not been for these facts, the courage to write this chapter might have been wanting; but they appear to be so clear to the writer, that he can proceed, with the feeling that most of his readers will perceive that he is amply justified in undertaking a history and description of this very magnificent example of the canine race—that, indeed, may be said to have been its king.

      There have been several very interesting and clever essays written on this subject. Two of the ablest and most valuable were written by Mr. A. McNeill of Colonsay, in 1838, and Mr. H. D. Richardson, in 1841. These treat exclusively of the Irish Wolfhound, though in Mr. McNeill’s case it is more to show the identity of the breed with the modern Deerhound that he writes. Richardson, on the other hand, proceeds to show us that, though undeniably of the same stamp, the Irish dog was far superior in size and power, and that from him is descended, in these later days, the modern Deerhound. Both these authors have shown considerable ability and ingenuity in their arguments, and no one can deny that they are worthy of every consideration. Richardson would appear to be in error on some points, but in the main his ideas would certainly appear to be reasonable and correct. That Richardson was highly qualified to offer a sound and most valuable opinion on the subject is proved by the very admirable manner in which he has treated of and described almost every known breed of dog, whether British or foreign. That we have in the Deerhound the modern representative of the old Irish Wolfdog is patent. Of less stature, less robust, and of slimmer form, the main characteristics of the breed remain; and in very exceptional instances specimens occur which throw back to and resemble in a marked manner the old stock from which they have sprung. It is not probable that our remote ancestors arrived at any very high standard as to quality or looks. Strength, stature, and fleetness were the points most carefully cultivated—at any rate, as regards those breeds used, in the capture of large and fierce game. It is somewhat remarkable that whilst we have accounts of all the noticeable breeds from a remote period, including the Irish Wolfdog, we do not find any allusion to the Deerhound, save in writings of a comparatively recent date, which would in a measure justify us in supposing that the Deerhound is the modern representative of that superb animal.

      It is a matter of history that this dog was well known to and highly prized by the Romans, who, we are led to understand, frequently used him in their combats in the arena, for which his great size, strength, and activity, eminently fitted him. It has always been a moot point whether the Irish Wolfdog was, strictly speaking, a Greyhound, or was of a more robust form, approaching the Mastiff. Let us, then, proceed to investigate the question.

      Richardson tells us that Pliny relates a combat in which the dogs of Epirus bore a part. He describes them as much taller than Mastiffs, and of Greyhound form, detailing an account of their contests with a lion and an elephant. This, he thinks, suffices to establish the identity of the Irish Wolfdog with the far-famed dogs of Epirus!

      Strabo describes a large and powerful Greyhound as having been in use among the Celtic and Pictish nations, and as being held in such high estimation by them as to have been imported into Gaul for the purposes of the chase.

      Silius describes a large and powerful Greyhound as having been imported into Ireland by the Belgæ, thus identifying the Irish Wolfdog with the celebrated Belgic dog of antiquity, which we read of in so many places as having been brought to Rome for the combats of the amphitheatre.

      Sir James Warr, in his Antiquities of Ireland, thus writes regarding the Irish Wolfdog about 1630 (?):—I must here take notice of those hounds which, from their hunting of wolves, are commonly called Wolfdogs—being creatures of great size and strength, and of a fine shape, &c.

      Warr also gives as a frontispiece to his book an allegorical representation of a passage from the Venerable Bede, in which two dogs are introduced bearing a very strong resemblance to the Irish Wolfdog or Scottish Deerdog, in those days doubtless the same animal. The Venerable Bede was born 672, died 735.

      We are informed by two very eminent authorities—the Venerable Bede and the Scottish historian Major—that Scotland was peopled from Ireland. We know that by the early writers Scotland was styled Scotia Minor, and Ireland Scotia Major, and it is scarcely necessary to make any remark as to the native languages of the primitive inhabitants of the two countries. The colonisation therefore of Scotland from Ireland under the conduct of Reuda being admitted, can we suppose that the colonists would omit taking with them specimens of such a noble and gallant dog, and one that must prove so serviceable to their emigrant masters, and that, too, at a period when men depended upon the chase for their subsistence? True, this is but an inference, but is it not to be received as a fact when we find that powerful and noble dog, the Highland Deerhound, a tall rough Greyhound, to have been known in Scotland since its colonisation? Formerly it was called the Wolfdog, but with change of occupation came change of name. In Ireland wolves were certainly in existence longer than in Scotland, but when these animals ceased to exist in the former country, the Wolfdogs became gradually lost. Not so in Scotland, where abundant employment remained for them even after the days of wolf-hunting were over. The red deer still remained, and useful as had these superb dogs proved as Wolfdogs, they became perhaps even more valuable as Deerhounds.

      Richardson then goes on to show us, from Ossian’s poems, that such dogs appertained to the chieftains regarding whose prowess, &c., he sings; but the writer does not apprehend that any real value can be placed on Ossian’s accounts prior to the date at which they professed to be issued in a collective form by Macpherson, viz., about 1770, as in the judgment of many persons competent to form a just opinion, those poems almost entirely owe their origin to the prolific brains of the supposititious translator. Ossian is supposed to have flourished in the third century.

      In the ninth century the Welsh laws contained clauses entailing heavy penalties on any one found maiming or injuring the Irish Greyhound, or, as it was styled in the Code alluded to, Canis graius Hibernicus, and a value was set upon them equal to more than double that set on the ordinary Greyhound.

      Camden, about 1568, says: The Irish Wolfhound is similar in shape to a Greyhound, bigger than a Mastiff, and tractable as a Spaniel.

      Holinshed’s, or rather Stainhurst’s, description of Ireland, about 1560, contains this short account of the noble Wolfdog: Ireland is stored of cows, excellent horses, of hawkes, fish, and fowle. They are not without wolves, and Greyhounds to hunt them bigger of bone and limb than a colt.

      Gough, in his edition of Camden, published 1789, has this passage on the Wolfhound: "Bishop affirmed

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