WOLF KILLERS - THE IRISH WOLFHOUND - Deadly or pet?

Hello and welcome to Animal Watch and today we're meeting the huge and majestic Irish Wolfhound. Tales of old where packs of huge, tall Irish Wolfhounds bound across the rural countryside, hunting down animals such as the now extinct Wolves of Ireland. In fact, stories claim that it was a pack of Irish Wolfhounds who killed the very last Irish Wolf in 1876 on the slopes of Mount Leinster. These dogs certainly look the part, tall, prey-driven and a love of hunting in packs. So are these stories of old true? Did the Irish Wolfhound indeed hunt down the old extinct Irish Wolf? And are they as ancient, large and powerful as Roman stories suggested them to be? Today, Animal Watch will tell you everything about this majestic and gigantic head-turning Wolfhound. The Irish Wolfhound. Ancient, mystical, extremely tall and noble looking. Like a wise old wizard, his story indeed goes back hundreds of years, but it's not as straightforward as you might think. What if I was to tell you that the modern day Irish Wolfhound is in fact a recreation of the sadly now extinct old Irish Wolfhound? The true Irish Wolfhounds did indeed once exist, and in 391 AD there is a reference to seven large dogs from Ireland being received by a Roman consul as a gift to be used for fighting lions and bears, and was viewed in awe by all who laid eyes upon them. But first of all, I'm here today to meet some unbelievably majestic modern day Irish Wolfhounds in what can only be described as one of the UK's most incredible, naturally beautiful areas, the Peak District. A stonely Irish Wolfhounds owned by Clare Morehouse and Jason Mather have some of the UK's most beautiful Irish Wolfhounds, and all are here to meet the Animal Watch viewers today. Hey! Hi Annika! Hi! Welcome to beautiful Yorkshire, one of the most scenic places in the UK, these are Austenley Irish Wolfhounds. They are amazing! I've always wanted to meet a massive pack of Irish Wolfhounds! What a beautiful place! It looks like it could be Ireland. Hello you! We've brought six out today. We've got three boys and three girls. We've got Bigfoot, Geronimo and Ragnar. We've got Hilaret, Lena and back here hiding is Fame. Fame! Fame doesn't want any fame! The dogs were beautiful and oh so huge. We watched them play in the paddock, took them for a walk in the beautiful countryside and I got to pet, walk and play with them, rural Irish style. The Wolfhounds of old were used as hunting dogs by the Gaels and were suggested to be immense. However, Irish zoo archaeologist Finbar McCormick stated that skeletal remains proved that the original old Irish Wolfhound was in fact the size of a German Shepherd and the size of the current huge Irish Wolfhounds seems to be a relatively modern development. This makes sense as working dogs needed to be fit for the job. Many of the large modern breeds are much larger than their historical counterparts who all seem to have been smaller and more athletic. However, the old Irish Wolfhounds were valued and desired immensely. In fact so much it led to their scarcity in Ireland when hundreds were exported to European royal houses leaving numbers in Ireland depleted. The last wolf in Ireland was killed in County Carlow in 1786. It is thought to have been killed by a pack of Irish Wolfhounds. After this, the remaining Wolfhounds stayed in the hands of a few families who kept the dogs as symbols of status rather than used as hunters and these were said to be the last of their race before this old line sadly died out. Thomas Pennant reported that he could find no more than three Wolfhounds when he visited Ireland in the 1700s. So if what we have now is in fact not the true old Irish Wolfhound but a modern creation what is it that we see today? A Captain George Augustus Graham of Gloucestershire was responsible for creating the modern Irish Wolfhound breed in the late 1800s. He stated that he could not find the breed in its original integrity so he needed to find their closest relatives. Graham had formed the opinion that a dog resembling the original Wolfhound could be recreated using the biggest and best examples of the Scottish Deerhound and the Great Dane, two breeds which he believed had been derived earlier from the Wolfhound. Into the mix went the Scottish Deerhound, the Great Dane and the Duchess of Newcastle's poor Zoe who had proved his wolf hunting abilities earlier in his native Russia. For an outbreed a huge shaggy dog was added which may have possibly been a Tibetan Mastiff. The history of the Irish Wolfhound is rich and so very interesting to read but what about their character and what is it like to live alongside so many of them? For this we decided to retreat to a local pub and a few pints of Irish Guinness to find out from Claire and Mav everything there is to know about the breed. Oh my goodness me you can barely see us behind this tower of mountainous furballs. What is the average height then for a male because the males are bigger than the females? Males 34 to 36 and bitches 30 to 32. Do you know how big Geronimo is at the shoulder? Geronimo is about 36 and a half, Bigfoot is about 35. People shouldn't be breeding for height, you should be breeding for balance. As tall as your dog is you want your dog to be wide, length, everything should match. The weight of these guys is pretty astounding too isn't it? So how heavy are they? It's massive. Geronimo weighs 86 kilograms and Bigfoot 88 kilograms. That's very very heavy so that's like a large man. Do they molt like a normal dog or do they hold on to their coat? So they're a double coated breed, if you look right in here you've got a very very soft shorter coat and then you've got this outer coat which are the guard hairs and this is what keeps them dry when it's raining, it's what keeps them warm when it's cold and it's also what keeps them cool when it's hot. We do what's called hand stripping which is exactly what you'd do with a Border Terrier except it takes a lot longer with these guys. When it's ready to come out you literally just grab a little bit of it, a tiny quick tug that encourages new growth to take a little bit more out a week later and then you've got a new coat constantly coming through. So they are a shedding breed, do you find they get a bit smelly? I mean they're a dog they smell, if you want a dog and you don't want it to smell you don't want a dog. Yeah you just don't want a dog at all. But they don't smell as bad as other breeds do and you can get away with not bathing them. Most people don't bath their Irish Wolfhounds because it actually softens the coat, we do bath ours because there are 11 in our house, it's a lot. So twice a year these guys get bathed, they get bathed in spring so they're ready for the summer and then they get bathed in autumn before it gets too cold and then they're ready for the winter. From the moment I've met them they've been pretty chilled out, they've been gentle, they've come to say hi and I've felt very, very safe and comfortable around them. Is that the case with the entire breed or are there some Irish Wolfhounds that will be guard dogs? They're definitely not a guarding breed, they're no good as a guard dog at all, they'd happily let somebody come into your house and watch them as they saw the television being carried away. They are generally a gentle breed but they can be quite keen as well, it's a bit fictitious that they're gentle giants really because they're like any dog, they have their moments. Originally they were a hunting dog, obviously they're going to have a very big prey drive still, so when you walk them what sort of behaviour would you expect? Well I mean obviously if it's in an area of livestock or anything like that or an area where you can't just let them run riot then it's Leeds. So will they chase sheep? Some would, some wouldn't. If they're not trained to not chase sheep. Yeah and the thing is for a giant breed they can move, they can make up some ground pretty quickly. You were saying to me earlier that they've caught quite a few rabbits and quite a few birds so these dogs will go for things. How about Neighbour's Cat, if they don't know? Yeah that's on the menu as well unfortunately. What do they do when they meet small dogs? No generally they're okay with other dogs. As soon as they're fully vaccinated and they can go out we take them to puppy classes, we take them to socialisation classes, they come to the pub a lot, we take them into the centre of town, we do as much socialisation as we can. They're just like every other breed of dog and if you don't put that work in you're going to end up with a very untrained, very unsocial 14 stone dog. If you don't do all of that, what is the worst traits that will happen? They're very destructive. It's not just socialisation, you have to teach them right and wrong in the household, A because of the size and power and B it's in their breed. They're not a dog to be left alone, it's amazing how they can destroy something so quickly. A puppy left alone could destroy a sofa in 10 minutes, easily. They've eaten quite a few sofas. I noticed when we were walking today you called them and they were actually very good, they did come back. If we were in a field and there were a load of rabbits running around. They'd be gone. They won't listen to you then. If the rabbits are within range, they've got deaf ears, very, very stubborn breed. Lots of people think with large dogs that there is a lower life expectancy. What is the average life expectancy of the Irish Wolfhound? Well, unfortunately, large breeds don't live as long, but the average life expectancy for these guys is 6, 7 year old, but they do live a lot longer than that. We've got an 8 year old at home and her dad was 11 and 9 months when he died. Her mum was 10 and 9 months when she died. So, you know, you can potentially get a lot longer than 6 to 7 years out of them. What is the general sort of puppy care that you'd be looking to do with an Irish Wolfhound? So exactly the same as with any other puppet. The difference is, is that these guys grow a lot faster. So you've got to restrict exercise. Now, they do need to be able to have a good run around. You know, they do need to be able to go on walks and what have you, but you've just got to take into account how fast they grow. So they can't be doing long walks. Do you have like heart enlargement problems at all? Dilated cardiomyopathy is one of the big killers. Osteosarcoma, bone cancer and also pneumonia because they're a deep chested breed. Right. So let's say, you know, your Labradoodle gets kennel cough and you'll be told, oh no, it's fine, you don't need to bring it to the vets. If any of these guys get kennel cough, I am straight to the vets and I get antibiotics. Right. As a precaution because it can turn into pneumonia. Right. Very quickly. Do they suffer from bloat? Yes. They're fed on raised feeders, which are 18 inch. We don't exercise them an hour before or an hour after eating. We obviously pay attention to the amount of food that we feed them. We feed half kibble, half raw. We like the raw diet. We prefer raw, but for us, for convenience and cost as well, it just comes in handy to have that kibble there. So these guys get a really good quality kibble and then they get the raw as well. Also, potential owners need to understand that everything's bigger. So you need a bigger vehicle, the biggest bag of food, the biggest bed that you buy from the pet shop. The vet bills are bigger, everything's bigger. But that said, you know, they're a fantastic member of your family and they're a brilliant breed. I think they're very beautiful, docile, gentle dogs. And today they've been absolutely gorgeous. But of course, yes, you need a big car because even your little girl here is big. And she's the little one. Yeah, she's the tiny one. She's the little one. She's the tiniest. Today had been amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Claire and Mav's pack. They are so laid back and relaxing to walk and live amongst. Truly elegant and mesmerising to watch among the autumnal colours and so very loved by all that met them. Perhaps what we see now is a ghost of the original old Irish wolfhound, but I'm still their biggest fan. And what would Ireland be now without this beautiful dog? And if anybody wants to find out more about you guys, you've got like Instagram. Have you got Facebook? All these guys are everywhere. These guys are on Facebook, Instagram. They've got the first TikTok just went viral. So I'm going to put all these links on the screen and then you can find how you can follow these guys and find out more. And if anybody wants to find out about your dogs in particular, what's your website that they can go to? The website is www.austinlewolfhounds.co.uk And you're happy to give people advice if they just want to ask questions about. We will talk about wolfhounds all day long. OK, so there you go. I'll pop the link underneath and you can drop these guys a line if you're interested in these amazing, amazing, amazing dogs. And if you enjoyed this episode, please give us a big thumbs up and remember to subscribe to the channel by clicking the button in the bottom hand corner and tune in every single week where I'll be bringing you more amazing episodes on dogs, wolves, animal rescue and conservation. Bye for now. I'm going to drink my dinners now. Cheers.