JUDGING IRISH WOLFHOUNDS
Shoulders well-laid-back that slope inward at the withers.
Short Neck
A hollow, narrow forechest is a serious fault.
“SUBSTANCE MUST BE RECKONED IN CONCERT WITH ALL OTHER IMPORTANT BREED CHARACTERISTICS! THINK ALWAYS OF THE BALANCE BETWEEN SPEED AND STRENGTH.”
The essence of Irish Wolfhound type lies in the balance between power and speed that produces a dog fast enough to catch a wolf and, once caught, strong enough to kill it. Put your hand around a dog’s forearm at the elbow and run it down through the pastern. You should feel thick bone covered with plenty of hard muscle. Your hand, if it is good-sized, should only just reach around the foreleg immediately above the dog’s wrist. The legs should have shape, somewhat broader near the elbow than at the pastern. They should not curve too much; particular- ly, they should not twist. However, forelegs should not resemble tubes or Coke cans; that is, they should not appear round without any curve. Feel the rib cage to determine both the breadth and the depth of chest. Think of an egg shape or oval when feeling the chest. Avoid rewarding dogs with either barrel chests or slab sides. Take special care to look over and feel the hindquarters. The croup should neither fall steeply away nor run flat to the base of the tail. It should gently slope to the dog’s tail. Judges frequently over- look the importance of the croup. Learn to identify the properly sloped croup. It contributes to the galloping hound look; it enhanc- es the dog’s movement. Make sure that you assess the amount and quality of critical muscle in both thigh and second thigh. (See below for more detail on these points.) Some dogs have too much bone and muscle—they are what we call coarse. Hence, they, like the refined “deerhoundy” dogs, lack correct type. However, coarseness is not a breed problem. Indis- criminate breeding leads to refinement, not coarseness in succeed- ing generations. Dogs with too much substance occur sometimes; refinement appears too often. It is much easier to correct coarseness than refinement in breeding. Therefore, if in doubt, prefer a dog with too much substance rather than one with too little. NOTE WELL: Never take this necessary preference for coarseness over refinement to mean that the biggest dogs with the most bone and muscle should always win. Substance must be reckoned in concert with all other important breed character- istics! Think always of the balance between speed and strength.
2. Structure. Assessing structure requires you to determine whether the dog is properly put together. Dogs with the proper structure feel both good and right; your hands should not encoun- ter improperly placed lumps and bumps of bone and muscle as they move down and over a dog’s body. Instead, they ought to glide smoothly from the head over the neck through the shoul- ders, over the back, to the croup and hindquarters. Evaluat- ing structure also requires specifically examining with eyes and hands: Head. In order to judge heads completely, you must take into account its overall shape, and then more particularly the eyes, mouth, teeth and jaws, ears, and whiskers. We do not want either too refined, narrow heads that resemble too much either the Deer- hound on one extreme, or the chiseled Dane head or the broad, thick, short-muzzled Mastiff head with drooping ears at the other. We should see a Greyhound-like head but stronger, a bit thicker and proportionately larger to suit the Irish Wolfhound’s stronger, larger body. Face furnishings, particularly whiskers, ordinarily enhance a dog’s head; they can also conceal weak and exaggerate strong heads. Furthermore, they can soften the undesirable hard expression in some Irish Wolfhounds. The proper Irish Wolf- hound head, combined with a dignified, soft, almost sad, far-off look contributes substantially to correct type. Don’t overrate it, but give it its due. Unfortunately, you will often find unattractively plain or improper heads on dogs that otherwise excel in type. The reverse is also true: beautiful heads filled with type appear on dogs lacking in other respects. As in life generally, don’t allow the beau- tiful face to mar your judgment. Front Assembly - The Neck, Shoulder, Upper Arm, Foreleg, Pastern, and Feet. Relatively long, powerful, arched necks should set into shoulders laid well-back that slope inward at the with- ers. Some say you should find no more than three-fingers width between the withers. Penalize: hounds with short necks set on too far to the front, stuffed into loaded upright shoulders and short upper arms; hounds with narrow, weak giraffe-like necks set on too high; and the ewe-necked hounds that stand with heads uncom- fortably high and necks that break abruptly into the shoulder.
214 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, MAY 2022
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