l62 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



ance, being the greatest of tlie dog kind 

 to be seen in the world. The largest of 

 those I have seen — and I have seen about 

 a dozen — was about four feet high, or as 

 tall as a calf of a year old. He was made 

 extremely like a Greyhound, but more 

 robust, and inclining to the figure of the 

 French Matin or the Great Dane." 



Goldsmith, however, was more elegant 

 as a writer than accurate as an obser\'er, 

 and it is not probable that the tallest of 

 the ^\'olfdogs that he or any of his country- 

 men ever saw stood o\-er thirty-five inches 

 at the shoulder. A better judge of dogs 

 than the gentle and credulous author of 

 " The Vic-dT of Wakefield " was the com- 

 piler of the " Sportsman's Cabinet," pub- 

 lished in 1803, who wrote : — 



" The dogs of Greece, Denmark, Tartary, 

 ind Ireland are the largest and strongest 

 of their species. The Irish Greyhound is 

 of very ancient race, and is still to be found 

 in some remote parts of that kingdom, 

 though they are said to be reduced e\"en 

 in their original climate. They are much 

 larger than the Mastiff ; exceedingly fero- 

 cious when engaged." 



In the same work a very spirited repre- 

 sentation is given of this hound, engraved 

 after a drawing by Philip Reinagle, R.A. (see 

 p. 160). Although in some slight respects 

 faulty, the illustration conveys an admirable 

 impression of what the dog was like a hun- 

 dred years ago — an immense rough-coated 

 animal of great power, closely resembling 

 the Highland Deerhound, but evidently 

 then, as now, considerably larger in build. 



It seems extraordinary that so little should 

 have been accurately known and recorded 

 of a dog which at one time must ha\-e been 

 a familiar figure in the halls of the Irish 

 kings. It was no mere mythical animal 

 like the heraldic griffin, but an actual 

 sporting dog which was accepted as a 

 national emblem of the Emerald Isle, asso- 

 ciated with the harp and the shamrock. 

 Proof of its recognised nobility is shown 

 in the circumstance that Irish Wolfhounds 

 were formerly depicted as supporters of 

 the armorial bearings of the Hibernian 

 kings. They were usually collared Or, with 



the appropriate motto, " Gentle when 

 stroked, fierce when provoked." 



In the Dublin Museum there is pre- 

 served the skull (jf one of the old Irish 

 Wolfhounds, but this is of little help to 

 those who would inquire into the nature 

 and character of the original hound. It 

 is short and round, and could not possibly 

 have been taken from any but a medium- 

 sized dog. Contributory evidence as to 

 the size of the Wolfdog is perhaps better 

 sought by considering the size of its quarry. 

 The Irish wolf was probably no larger than 

 the wolf of any other country ; but it is 

 certain that tlie hound was a contemporary 

 of the extinct Irish Elk (Mcgaceros hiber- 

 niciis), and that this immense animal was 

 commonly hunted by these dogs. Skeletons 

 of the Irish Elk are to be seen in most 

 museums. It stood about six feet high 

 at the shoulder, and the antlers often 

 measure from ten to eleven feet from tip 

 to tip. with a weight of eighty pounds.* 

 Such an animal would require a very power- 

 ful hound indeed to pull it down, and we 

 may therefore assume that the original Irish 

 Wolfdog was no pigmy. 



It is interesting to note that the Irish 

 Wolfhound was legislated for in the days 

 of Cromwell. A declaration against the 

 transporting of " Wolfedogges " dated Kil- 

 kenny, April 27th, 1652, reads as foUows : — 



" Forasmuch as we are credibly informed 

 that wolves do much increase and destroy 

 many cattle in several parts of this dominion, 

 and that some of the enemy's party who 

 have laid down their arms and have liberty 

 to go beyond the seas, and others do at- 

 tempt to carry away several such great 

 dogges as are commonly called Wolfe 

 Dogges, whereby the breed of them which 

 are useful for destroying wolves would, if 

 not prevented, speedily suffer decay, these 

 are therefore to prohibit all persons what- 

 soever from exporting any of the said dogges 

 out of this dominion." 



As regards the origin of the Irish Wolf- 



* My friend Mrs. Clement K. Shorter possesses 

 a well-preserved skull of an elk, dug up from a 

 bog in Ireland. The stretch of the antlers is 

 S foct 2 inches from tip to tip. — Ed. 



