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ONE CONSEQUENCE of the extinction of the Irish wolf, about which we read earlier this week, was the near-extinction of his nemesis, the Irish wolfhound. Near-extinction is putting it mildly, perhaps. Some would say the real wolfhound has in fact gone the way of the dodo. And certainly it’s hard to equate the big, gentle, lolloping versions of today with the fast, ferocious hunting dogs of history and legend.

Is the modern show-dog, pet, and regimental mascot really a descendant of the packs that saw off Ireland’s wild wolves and boars? Or of the seven wolfhounds sent to Rome in AD 391 by Quintus Aurelius, transported in cages for the safety of an awestruck public, and deployed in gladiatorial arenas to fight “lions, bears, and captive saxons”? It seems even less likely that any latter-day wolfhound might contain the DNA of the mythical guard-dog killed in action by Setanta, in whose stead the latter became Cuchulainn.