. The dog book : a popular history of the dog, with practical information as to care and management of house, kennel, and exhibition dogs; and descriptions of all the important breeds. Dogs. CHAPTER XLV The Irish Wolfhound. HE resuscitated wolfhound of Ireland has been made a stouter edition of the Scottish deerhound, but there is no absolute proof that that was the sole type of dog that went by the name of wolfdog or was used for wolfhunting in Ireland. That there was a smooth dog in Ireland is beyond a question, indeed the burden of proof may almost be said to be upon the sup- porters of the
. The dog book : a popular history of the dog, with practical information as to care and management of house, kennel, and exhibition dogs; and descriptions of all the important breeds. Dogs. CHAPTER XLV The Irish Wolfhound. HE resuscitated wolfhound of Ireland has been made a stouter edition of the Scottish deerhound, but there is no absolute proof that that was the sole type of dog that went by the name of wolfdog or was used for wolfhunting in Ireland. That there was a smooth dog in Ireland is beyond a question, indeed the burden of proof may almost be said to be upon the sup- porters of the rough dog, because all the pictures and most of the information on the breed from 1750 to 1830 runs in favour of a dog of Great Dane type. To claim positively that the rough is the only original is more than the facts warrant, and the doubts which must occur to all who have gone into the sub- ject with an unbiased mind have left us with anything but a decided opinion upon the subject. We seem to have got about as far as to have a theory, and we do not know but that is a better position than the man who starts in to prove what he wants to prove and sifts his information to secure only facts in accordance with his wishes. Those who hold to the rough dog as having been the only wolfhound in Ireland have to ignore the fact that Bewick in 1790, Reinagle in 1800 and Captain Brown in 1839 all depicted the Irish wolfhound as not a rough dog. Reinagle gave his dog a little indication of not being entirely smooth, but the other two illustrations are perfectly smooth dogs. BufFon also said that the large one he saw was like a Great Dane. Colonel Hamilton Smith, writing before 1840, said that there seemed to be various types of these wolfhounds, rough dogs and smooth dogs, besides other differences. We also have the reference to Irish grey- hounds in the " Pennilesse Pilgrimage," quoted in the deerhound chapter. Captain Graham, who has for years been an enthusiast on the subject
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectdogs, bookyear1906
