BRITISH DdGS 



have been absorbed, and with little monetary reward for those who 

 have laboured so long. Still, breeders have manfully stuck to their 

 recreated or regenerated animal, and at the present day are even 

 more enthusiastic over the noble hound than they were in the early 

 "sixties." Fig. 36 is an excellent type of present-day Irish Wolf- 

 hound, and a great winner upon the show-bench. 



It has already been suggested that the Irish Wolfhound makes 

 an excellent companion and guard. The variety, however, is not 

 one to be confined to a lonely backyard, chained to an apology for 

 a kennel. With this and similar breeds the chain should be practically 

 unknown, save that the hound, like any other, should be acquainted 

 with both collar and chain. No young puppy should ever be 

 chained if straight limbs and decent body-conformation are sought. 

 Plenty of exercise is required for all the members of the Greyhound 

 family, and road-walking exercise is especially beneficial for harden- 

 ing the pads. If, in addition to this, young dogs can have access 

 to a meadow, preferably with a hill, this will soon develop them 

 to the full. 



The kennels should be well positioned, roomy, light, and well 

 ventilated. If a range of kennels be not required and a nice loose 

 box is vacant, this will make a capital home for the average Wolf- 

 hound when it is necessary to restrict him in, any way. The more, 

 however, that such a dog, when required as a companion and guard, 

 is allowed to associate with the owner and his family, the more useful 

 is it likely to become. Seclusion and chaining, when carried to 

 excess, either mean a savage or a broken-spirited animal the one 

 a nuisance and a source of danger, and the other a canine fool. 



Although with all large breeds it is most desirable to start 

 with a puppy, yet the novice would do well not to purchase one 

 that is too young. As a matter of fact, the Irish Wolfhound up to 

 the age of four or five months is more than ordinarily delicate or 

 susceptible to certain ailments incidental to that period of a young 

 dog's life. Distemper, and the complications that follow, claim a 

 good many victims. It will, therefore, be politic to look out for a 

 puppy that is some six months old. Breeders of repute always have 

 in their kennels puppies which, while they just miss being show 

 specimens, nevertheless make first-class companions and guards. 

 The Irish Wolfhound is not mature until two years old. 



The Irish Wolfhound is another of the varieties of British 

 dog that vary much in colour as puppies. They may not show 

 such a marked, difference as do the Airedale or the Yorkshire, but 

 it is sufficiently so to be worth recording. We have it on no less 

 an authority than Mr. Hood Wright that the really blues are born 

 black, while the slates are born that colour. There is always a 

 tendency, he says, for them to get lighter. In support of this he 

 instances the case of his old bitch Champion Selwood Callach. 



