The Irish Wolfhound is one of the biggest dog breeds and is a giant sighthound. G.A. Graham created it in the late 19th century with the intention of resurrecting the old Irish wolfhounds, which were thought to be extinct. These were utilised as guard dogs and for wolf hunting, and their appearance and impressive size served as inspiration for literature, poetry, and mythology. Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, a Roman Consul who received seven Canes Scotici as a gift to be used for hunting lions and bears, made mention to giant dogs in 391 AD when he wrote, that all of Rome viewed them with wonder. A Latin term for the Gaels or early Irish is Scoti. In Irish laws and literature from the sixth century, or, in the case of the Sagas, from the ancient Irish period, AD 600-900, dogs are referred to as Cú. The term Cú was frequently used as an epithet for both kings and soldiers to indicate that they were deserving of the adoration and devotion of a dog. The fabled warrior Cú Chulainn, whose name translates to Hound of Culann, is thought to have acquired this moniker as a youngster after killing vicious guard dog of Culann . He offered himself as a replacement as compensation. The Irish zoo-archaeologist Finbar McCormick however emphasised that no dogs of Irish Wolfhound size are known from sites of the Iron Age period of 1000 BC through to 1200 AD in his discussion of the systematic evidence of historic dog sizes in Ireland. Based on the historical dog bones available, it appears that dogs of the current Irish Wolfhound size are a relatively recent development. Hunting dogs were prized, and wealthy people and foreign aristocrats frequently received them as gifts. In or around 1210 A.D., King John of England gave Llywelyn, the Prince of Wales, an Irish dog by the name of Gelert. This hound was written about in a poem by the poet The Hon. William Robert Spencer. Edmund Campion provides an account of the hounds used to hunt wolves in the Dublin and Wicklow mountains in his Historie of Ireland, which was finished in 1571. The Irish Wolfhound was mentioned in the eighteenth century, and references to it describe its tremendous size, power, and greyhound-like appearance as well as its rarity. Bewick identified it as the largest and most attractive breed of dog in his writings from 1790. It stands approximately thirty-six inches tall, is often white or cinnamon in colour, and resembles the Greyhound but is more robust. He claimed that because of their power and gentle demeanour, they were vastly superior than the Mastiff or Bulldog in battle!
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[Image : Irish Greyhound in a mountainous landscape (1804), Philip Reinagle ]
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