The Gentle Giants.

My parents have owned 4 Irish Wolfhounds. The top picture is of me with their first one Darragh. She was a cool dog but was very territorial of my mom. One time when my friend Beth came over, she bit her on the arm (pierced thru her shirt and drew blood!) for no apparent reason. Beth wasn't even looking at her! She was just walking past. So, that was it for Darragh. She was on the next flight out of town.

Guinness was the second IWH that my parents got. He was the true Gentle Giant. He had hip displasia as fast growing puppy and many other health problems along the way. His highest weight was 210lbs and by the time that he died (1 week before his 5th birthday) he was probably around 140lbs.

The third one was Malachai. Man was he hyperactive! He had a weird thing that went on with one of his leg joints and had to have a drain in it all of the time. It was pretty gross. He wasn't around for too long because he went after a postal carrier and bit her on her hip. He was gone that next weekend.




And finally, this brings us to Finnegan. He is about one and a half years old. He's quite the spunky dog and very sweet.....and needy! He ALWAYS has to be next to you. He and my Dad are basically conjoined twins every night of the week. His major problem has been with his tail (as do most IWH's.) When he gets excited, he wags his tail....soo hard that it breaks the end open. Some even completely break their tails. At any given time my parents house (especially the kitchen) looked like an episode of CSI. Blood would be splattered EVERYWHERE! This is not an exaggeration! You would also have to be cautious whenever you would go over because the blood would splatter all over you and your clothes as well! So, Finnegans tail would just NOT HEAL. It ended up with gangrene and had to have several inches amputated. Poor guy. He was a show dog, but I don't think so anymore. The picture below is my cutie petutie mom giving Finnegan a bone.



Right after Finnegan had surgery. :(