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Dogs and All about Them
·
Robert Leighton
109
At
the
time
when
he
entered
into
the
controversy,
Captain
Graham
had
been
actively
interesting
himself
for
something
like
a
score
of
years
in
the
resuscitation
of
the
breed,
and
his
patience
had
been
well
rewarded.
By
the
year
1881
the
Irish
Wolfhound
had
been
practically
restored,
although
it
has
taken
close
upon
a
quarter
of
a
century
to
produce
the
magnificent
champions
Cotswold
and
Cotswold
Patricia,
those
brilliant
examples
of
the
modern
breed--a
brace
of
Wolfhounds
who
bear
testimony
to
the
vast
amount
of
energy
and
perseverance
which
Captain
Graham
and
his
enthusiastic
colleague
Major
Garnier
displayed
in
evolving
from
rough
material
the
majestic
breed
that
holds
so
prominent
a
position
to-day.
There
is
little
to
be
gathered
from
ancient
writings
concerning
the
size
and
appearance
of
the
Irish
Wolfhounds
in
early
times.
Exaggerated
figures
are
given
as
to
height
and
weight;
but
all
authorities
agree
that
they
were
impressively
large
and
imposing
dogs,
and
that
they
were
regarded
as
the
giants
of
the
canine
race.
It
seems
extraordinary
that
so
little
should
have
been
accurately
known
and
recorded
of
a
dog
which
at
one
time
must
have
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,
associated
with
the
harp
and
the
shamrock.
As
regards
the
origin
of
the
Irish
Wolfhound,
more
than
one
theory
is
advanced.
By
some
authorities
it
is
suggested
that
it
was
the
dog
which
we
now
know
as
the
Great
Dane.
Others
hold
that
as
there
were
rough-coated
Greyhounds
in
Ireland,
it
is
this
dog,
under
another
name,
which
is
now
accepted.
But
probably
the
late
Captain
Graham
was
nearer
the
truth
when
he
gave
the
opinion
that
the
Irish
hound
that
was
kept
to
hunt
wolves
has
never
become
extinct
at
all,
but
is
now
represented
in
the
Scottish
Deerhound,
only
altered
a
little
in
size
and
strength
to
suit
the
easier
work
required
of
it--that
of
hunting
the
deer.
This
is
the
more
probable,
as
the
fact
remains
that
the
chief
factor
in
the
resuscitation
of
the
Irish
Wolfhound
has
been
the
Scottish
Deerhound.
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