Irish Wolfhound: a faithful friend in the body of a terrible beast (7 photos)

The Irish Wolfhound, Wolfhound or Greyhound is a breed of giant dogs native to distant Ireland. They look scary and stern:





They run to bite the side.

80 centimeters at the withers, 50-odd kilograms of weight, shaggy hair, creepy look from under his brows. This one doesn't even have to bark! In all their glory, wolfhounds look either like wolves, or werewolves or hellhounds. It seems that it is better to stay away from such bobbies. And in vain! At heart, the Irish are very sweet, gentle and good-natured animals.



Yes, I’m not that big! Just a little donkey!

True, they were not always like this. At the very beginning of the formation of the breed, the inner essence of these watchdogs was ideally combined with their appearance. The remote location of Ireland, the local climate and human demands themselves created large and formidable dogs that faithfully served their masters.





Go out onto the porch and see THIS. Your actions?

In the immemorial 300s AD, wolfhounds were used mainly for hunting particularly large game - deer and wolves. Very successfully, I must say! Wolfhounds were distinguished by their high speed, ferocity and malice towards the beast: they caught any toothy-hoofed prey in one or two! It’s no wonder that the king offered 4,000 cows for them - in those years, a really good dog could be expensive.



My services are expensive, you need a piece of meat and a good stick.

The popularity of Irish Wolfhounds began to decline by the 17th century. The reason is simple: there is no game, there is no need to keep and feed healthy hunting dogs. The last greyhounds were left only to the rich, but even those quickly disappeared. In that case, who are we seeing now?



Such a dog will not be able to jump on the sofa. Because she herself is the size of a sofa!

The modern population of wolfhounds was bred by enthusiasts under the leadership of Captain Graham. As he himself wrote, it was not possible to find purebred watchdogs, so the breed was sculpted from what was available. And there were deerhounds - Scottish greyhounds, Russian greyhounds, Great Danes and rare Tibetan wolf dogs.



A clear example of why such giants need training. Try to hold such a colossus without it!

Ultimately, Graham was able to make an almost exact copy of the old Irish Wolfhounds with one small amendment. Today's Wolfhunds are wonderful companion dogs, friendly, peaceful dogs, calm and wise. Yes, somewhere inside them the spirit of their hunting ancestors still lives, but it does not manifest itself so openly - well, perhaps only in a mad tygydyk. Wool cats are very comfortable to live with, they are not noisy and quickly grasp new information.



When your friend is only a year older than you.

Of course, these special dogs also have their downsides. The weakness of the Irish, like many giant breeds, is health. Barbos suffer from cancer, diseases of the heart, blood vessels and joints; they often experience gastric volvulus and other very unpleasant moments. With all this, the average lifespan of wolves is only 7 years. 7 wonderful years full of love, kindness and affection, which the dog is happy to give to the owner and his entire family.