I io BRITISH DOGS 



been gradually evolved, though close upon half a century has been 

 occupied in the work. Even now the Irish Wolfhound Club and 

 those outside its pale that are interested in the breed, cannot afford 

 to rest upon their oars. There is yet a great deal more to be done 

 before that uniformity of type so desirable in any breed is obtained. 

 One is impressed with these divergencies of type at each gathering 

 where these magnificent hounds are brought together in any number, 

 and probably this will continue until the rival sections of the Fancy 

 are united in a common cause and one type only is recognised. If 

 one looks carefully at the family tree of the majority of present-day 

 champions the particular blood favoured will be at once apparent, 

 and it is this probably that is responsible for the difficulty experienced 

 also in the rearing of present-day whelps. To stamp the progeny 

 with the chief characteristics of the Brian II. type of dog considerable 

 in-breeding has been resorted to this last five or six years, and with 

 the inevitable result in such cases weakness of constitution. Many 

 Irish Wolfhound breeders swear by the O'Leary type of hound in 

 preference to Brian II., but the infirmity that the former suffered 

 from probably prevented the dog being used as much at stud as he 

 otherwise would. At the present time there are not lacking plenty 

 of splendid material on which to set to work and still further perfect 

 the magnificent hound that Captain Graham, Colonel Gamier, Mr. 

 Crisp, Mr. Hood Wright, the Hon. Miss Dillon, Mr. Angelo, Mrs. 

 Williams, Mrs. Compton, Mrs. Gerard, and a few others have worked 

 so assiduously for. 



We will now consider the Irish Wolfhound as a companion and 

 personal guard, as the day has long passed since he can be utilised 

 for any other purpose in these islands. He may, perhaps, be casually 

 employed in other countries as a big-game dog ; but in hot countries, 

 whatever his suitability as regards activity and courage, he probably 

 would not be able to live the year through. In India, at any rate, 

 the closely allied Scottish Deerhound has often been tried, and 

 though for a part of the season the sportsman has found him useful, 

 yet when the hot weather arrives the dog has had to migrate from 

 the plains to the hill country. And this doubtless would be 

 necessary in the case of his bigger relative the Irish Wolfhound. 



As a companion and personal guard we hold this hound in high 

 repute, and for either a lady or a gentleman he is eminently suitable. 

 Dignified and quiet of manner, though of immense strength, may 

 truthfully be written of the Irish Wolfhound; added to which he 

 boasts an excellent temperament. As is the case with all the 

 Greyhound family, they are big dogs but not bulky ones, and they 

 may therefore be kept where the St. Bernard, Mastiff, and such- 

 like huge-framed varieties could not be tolerated. We have often 

 known the dog brought up in a house " quite as one of the family," 

 and any one who has noticed an Irish Wolfhound "curled up ' ; on 



