Dugan the Dog as he leaves the breeders house July 2006
Dugan the Dogs first day at our house in July 2006Many years ago we had a problem with coyotes in our neighborhood. They would come into our yard and kill our chickens. Because we are inside the city limits, I could not shoot them with a rifle, and I am not clever enough to get close enough to shoot them with arrows. I was telling a friend about the problem with coyotes and he said I should check out the Irish Wolfhound. I thought to myself they must be a fierce and mean breed if they can kill wolfs, (the Irish Wolfhound was used to eradicate all wolfs in Ireland, there are none left) even the name sounds fierce! I started reading everything I could find on them. An interesting thing you will find in almost all books about Irish Wolfhounds, they all start with this description - “THE GENTLE GIANT”. It’s hard to believe that this dog that was trained to kill wolfs and pull men off of horses in battle could be at heart a gentle giant, but it is true!
Anyway, as my study of the breed continued through the years, my admiration of this great dog grew. Unknown to me, my wife was saving money so we could get one. Finally in the year 2006 Cheryl suggested we should get one for my birthday and surprised me that she had the money to do it. The coyote problem had abated because of housing development in our neighborhood. Still, I wanted one, even if we no longer had a practical reason to have one. I put up a good fence and we traveled south to Tucson to get our Hound.
Having Dugan is a treat. You get a special feeling being close to him. I liken it to the special feeling people get when playing with dolphins. The Irish Wolfhound and Dolphins are animals with a higher intellect, and you can tell there really is a “light on in the attic” when you look them in the eye.
2 comments:
He is HUUUUUGE! He is even big as a puppy!
He looks like a super fun dog. I think that would be a fun breed to have. Of course, he'd NEVER fit in my apartment, so...
I am so impressed with how diligent you are about taking good care of him, like brushing his teeth. We used to brush our pets' teeth, but eventually got lazy and then slacked off until were just didn't do it anymore and then they didn't like it once we tried to go back to being good pet owners.
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