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 A WOLFHOUND owner in British Columbia has taken me to a well-known but unpopular destination - namely, to task - for suggesting that latter-day representatives of the breed are in some way lacking the vigour of their ancestors.

Emma Ross says she must "respectfully disagree" with my suggestion that the modern Irish wolfhound is a pale version of its fearsome forerunner, celebrated in legend. And she should know, because she has 17 of them at her home in the Canadian Cascades. All "superb hunters", she writes, and worthy of the breed's motto: "Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked." That motto can sometimes also apply to Irish Times readers, I've found. So I'm glad that Emma is respectfully inclined. I hiked in the Cascade Mountains once and hope to return sometime. It's reassuring to know that if I trespass on her property by mistake, Emma will not set the dogs on me by way of proving a point.