The Irish Wolfhound has sometimes been referred to as a “resuscitated” breed. What does that mean?
To explain, we refer to Captain George August Graham whose keen inquisitiveness about the Scottish Deerhound segued into an interest in the ancient Irish Wolfhound. He got his first Wolfhound, “Faust,” in 1859 as a 26 year old living in Gloucestershire and became determined to bring the breed back from extinction. It wasn’t that he thought the breed had died out, but that it hadn’t been bred true to its original standard for some time, in part due to lack of natural prey. Others disagreed, but the fact remains that in addition to seeking out dogs that went back to the original wolf dog, Graham’s belief that the Scottish Deerhound was the Irish wolfhound in most ways but size and bone, led him to breed with them, mainly those of the Glengarry strain. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Today’s Wolfhound is said by some sources to have the DNA of not only Deerhounds, but Great Danes, and maybe even some Tibetan Mastiff. A resuscitated breed, then, can mean not only reviving a breed on the brink of vanishing, but also of resuscitating its old style. We always defer to breed experts and welcome input, but you may also want to read this article.
Our image is of Mrs. I. H. Barr’s daughter, Jane,” seen with a team selected from of Mrs. Barr’s kennel near Dorking, in Surrey. This print is reprinted from Hutchinson’s (England, circa 1935) and prints are available for purchase here.
Irish Setter! Oh boy – so excited!