Brief history of the breed

Mention is made of the Uisneach (1st century) taking 150 hounds with them in their flight to Scotland. Irish hounds undoubtedly formed the basis of the Scottish Deerhound. Pairs of Irish hounds were prized as gifts by the Royal houses of Europe, Scandinavia and elsewhere from the Middle Ages to the 17th century. They were sent to England, Spain, France, Sweden, Denmark, Persia, India and Poland. In the 15th century each county was required to keep 24 Wolfdogs to protect farmers’flocks from the ravages of wolves.

The Cromwellian prohibition (1652) on the export of Wolfhounds helped preserve their numbers for a time but the gradual disappearance of the wolf and the continued demand abroad reduced their number almost to the point of extinction by the end of the 17th century.
The revival of interest in the breed accompanied the growth of Irish nationalism in the late 19th century. The Irish Wolfhound became a living symbol of Irish culture and of the Celtic past.

At this time, one determined enthusiast, Capt. G.A. Graham, set about obtaining some of the few remaining hounds of Wolfhound type that could still be found in Ireland, and, with the use of Deerhound blood and the occasional outcross of Borzoi and Great Dane, he eventually achieved a type of dog that bred true in every generation.. The results were ultimately accepted as a legitimate revival of the breed.

The Irish Kennel Club scheduled a class for Irish Wolfhounds at their show in April 1879, and a club for the breed was formed in 1885. The Irish Wolfhound now enjoys once again something of the reputation that it had in the Middle Ages. Wolfhounds are now owned and bred in fairly large numbers outside Ireland.