Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Pets

Join our community on the Pet forum to discuss anything related to pets.

Original poster

irish wolfhound?

29 replies

hercules · 14/02/2006 17:44

anyone know anything about them? We have a 2 year old and ten year old and want a dog less likley to cause allergies and is excellent with kids.

OP posts:
Kelly1978 · 14/02/2006 17:47

My BIL had three, along with his three girls. I don't know much about them, but they were very placid and great with the kids.

wilbur · 14/02/2006 17:49

They are enormous though, do remember that some people will be nervous of that. MIL has a deerhound who is lovely (their old one was gorgeous too, very calm and sweet natured) but dd (2) has been terrified of her since day one, as even as a puppy she was huge. Dd like other dogs so I reckon it's the size issue. I'm hoping she gets used to her as she grows up.

ntt · 14/02/2006 17:55

Our neighbour had one who was lovely, but my goodness did it HOWL when they left him alone for any length of time, it was such a spooky sonorous sound - like living near the Hound of the Baskervilles. I felt sorry for their next door neighbours.

Original poster
hercules · 14/02/2006 19:23

bump too

OP posts:
Enid · 14/02/2006 19:24

what about a lurcher instead?

Waswondering · 14/02/2006 19:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Aero · 14/02/2006 19:27

They are huge!!

Wheaten Terriers are good I believe if you have allergy sufferers in the house. They don't moult and are generally good natured. Also, they're no bigger than a labrador.

Aero · 14/02/2006 19:31

My brother has a soft coated in like in the second picture shown here . He's lovely.

Aero · 14/02/2006 19:32

....that's soft coated wheaten terrier (obviously).

Aero · 14/02/2006 19:33

The close-up .

Original poster
hercules · 14/02/2006 19:34

just looked up wheaten terriers and looks promising!

OP posts:
Original poster
hercules · 14/02/2006 19:35

thanks aero - just need to convince DH!

OP posts:
Aero · 14/02/2006 19:36

Anytime.

allyco · 15/02/2006 14:24

oh herc you must have one. We had one and she died last October. We were all GUTTED.

Yes, she was big (obviously)but she was the most gentle dog you could imagine, and we have had all sorts previously. She was happy to go on walks and would plod along for hours with you, but she would only really gallop for a few minutes at most before knackering herself. Mind you seeing her in full gallop was a sight!

As a watchdog she was pretty crap (people used to come and go to the house and she didn't even wake up a lot of the time) but I think the sheer size does frighten a lot of people and if yobbish-looking kids ever used to say "does it bite?" I would always say yes and they would give us a very wide berth.

I can't think of anything bad to say, except perhaps the pet insurance premiums are a bit higher and TBH as a breed they suffer from more than their fair share of ailments, and, as we found, they are not the longest-lived either.

Get one, get one, get one!!

Nbg · 15/02/2006 14:36

My mum and dads old neighbours had one and she was gorgeous. Very friendly.

Great Danes are fab too. Massive but they have a lovely nature.

skerriesmum · 15/02/2006 14:42

You're mad! God they would need SO much exercise! Do you have a big property to let it run? Otherwise it's cruel to have a really big dog like that. My neighbours have two beagles that I walk for them while they're at work; even small dogs like that need space.

Original poster
hercules · 15/02/2006 15:02

Actually Kerriesmum, the bigger the dog the less exercise you can give them. THe neapoitan mastiff should only have about 20 minutes walk aday so we've been told.

OP posts:
Nbg · 15/02/2006 15:04

SM we have a Beagle and he is the most laziest animal ever!

He has a right grumble on a morning when we scoop him up from his bed to take him out!

Spidermama · 15/02/2006 15:05

They are huge, need lots of excercise, do huge poos and very bad farts. Other than that they're absolutely lovely. (If a bit thick.)

allyco · 15/02/2006 15:25

No I don't agree abotu the exercise. As I've said, mine would plod along next to you as long as you wanted but would also quite happily not bother to go out all all, esp. in the rain. IME it is smaller dogs that need more exercise.

Although the farting bit is, sadly, true. Poop never bothered us much.

And yes, they are a bit thick....but they're not mad untrainable nutters like Irish Setters!

jammydodger · 15/02/2006 15:29

ahem, not all setters are mad and untrainable!! (we have one who's sort of intelligent, ish). Just thought I'd mention that!

allyco · 15/02/2006 16:21

OMG I knew that would happen!!

My cousins (in Ireland) have them and theirs really are mad. Like they take them for walks and shout and scream for them to come back and the dogs just keep running the other way..........

Mind you, they are very HANDSOME dogs

Original poster
hercules · 18/02/2006 09:58

Allyco, we're going to see some irish wolfhounds today! Cant wait!

OP posts:
Original poster
hercules · 18/02/2006 11:26

bump

OP posts:
Original poster
hercules · 18/02/2006 11:26

bump

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread