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Irish Wolfhounds: Angus and FergusThe Gus Brothers, of Clan McHUGE More than Enough, we say! Once upon a time I decided to import a set of Irish Wolfhound pups from Ireland. My previous hounds had been bred in the United States, but I knew the Kellys, of Nutstown Kennels in Holywood, Dublin, and they told me that they had a litter with a black male pup. Ever since my first Wolfhound I'd dreamed of having a black one. Their stud Milennium had now sired a worthy pup..... so I went to fetch him. And being of a mind that too many is better than not enough, I brought back one of his littermates also.  So there they are, 12 weeks old and off to a fresh start in America, after traveling across the world in a sky kennel to their new home in Santa Barbara. 
 At work they serve as the security force and escorts. They are my personal trainers, always up for a walk or a chance to investigate somewhere we've never been yet. Like all of their breed, they are gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked. So their companionship allows me to travel in confidence down any road, just as their ancestors protected the bards and mendicants traveling the roads of ancient Ireland. They are the ultimate companion animal, not a child substitute, a being of power and grace who has agreed to a life of service.
In the Icelandic Saga of Njal, set approximatey 1,000 years ago, a wolfhound is given as a gift -- with these words: "I will give thee . . . a hound that was given me in Ireland; he is big, and no worse follower than a sturdy man. Besides, it is part of his nature that he has man's wit, and he will bay at every man whom he knows is thy foe, but never at thy friends; he can see, too, in any man's face, whether he means thee well or ill, and he will lay down his life to be true to thee . . ."
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