Our Philosophy
Our philosophy is to love and enjoy our dogs. We raise healthy, well socialized puppies, & give preference to companion homes. We obsess over pedigrees and enjoy looking at and going over all dogs. Being students of the breed is important to us. A trip with me, particularly to Europe, has been 1described by my good friend Ginger as a “dog marathon”. We are absolutely passionate about this breed and feel an immense responsibility to keep it healthy and functional: to be both a companion and as a dog that can catch a wolf and kill it.
We interview prospective puppy buyers thoroughly. We expect them to visit and interact with our hounds. We hold hound visitation days where we invite several families in at the same time to visit with the dogs and ask questions. When they commit to a puppy we have them visit several times to see the litter (although it is actually hard to keep them from visiting every weekend at that point). After the puppies leave we spend a lot of time making sure they are doing well in their new homes. Most puppies are sold with a limited registration with spaying and neutering required. In our contracts we have a “bring back to us” clause should the owner at any time not be able to keep the dog.
Our Story
In 1973 I was 12 and I wanted a horse. My parents said that I could take riding lessons but no hay burner at our house. I said then I need a “real” dog. We had always had Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, Beagles and mongrels but not a “real” dog. My dad did the research, he gave me a choice: Kerry Blue Terrier or Irish Wolfhound. I said, Wolfhound, it’s bigger, more like a pony.
Somewhere that very week my dad found an ad for Irish Wolfhounds in Pennsylvania, about 45 minutes away. We were completely naive; we had never even purchased a dog before. We got in the car drove to the address in the ad and said Hi, is Mr. Ewing here we want to buy a Wolfhound.
I will never forget my first encounter. There were herds of Wolfhounds in those fields that day. I was mesmerized. Strange how a seemingly insignificant course of events can alter one’s life course forever.
We did come home with a puppy that day, I had her as my best friend for 10 years (and she did have a cloth saddle although I did not ride her).
When I got out of college my first goal was to get my own Wolfhound. I insisted that the guy I was dating go with me as if he did not like Wolfhounds then he was not for me. Luckily he went and actually picked out the bitch we would bring home (and he did marry me a few years later) Although before I would commit to marriage I made him live through one whelping experience at my mother’s house to make sure he was suitable!
In the ensuing 20 years we spent hours with Sam Ewing; grooming, lead breaking, showing, going over dogs, not discussing politics, traveling abroad, scheming, laughing and crying. He was our mentor, father figure and friend. We will miss him.
So today, my husband Doug is still with me. He now picks which puppies are “his” when they are born. We have built a new house with a kennel/barn attached, which is bigger than the house. We keep about 15 Wolfhounds and they all come into the house every day when we get home from work (we have a very large mud room). The Wolfhounds live in large grassy paddocks with straw beds in wooden boxes in the barn. The seniors live in the house. They all get to run in our fenced field of 12 acres daily (twice on the weekends). We cleverly left a “rough” at the other end of the property to motivate them to go hunt every day. Sometimes they come back with a groundhog or pheasant (once a mangy fox--not good).
We belong to and participate in activities with Wolfhound and all breed clubs. We feel that it is our responsibility to contribute to the well being of the breed by being a part of all breed and specialty clubs.
We are both members of the National Irish Wolfhound Club and Doug is the permanent trophy chairman. Doug is the Chair of the Irish Wolfhound Health Foundation. We both belong to the Irish Wolfhound Association of the Delaware Valley where Amy has served as President and is on the Board. Doug has chaired the Delaware Valley Specialty for several years now. Amy has had the privilege of judging the Sweepstakes at the Irish Wolfhound Club of America and Irish Wolfhound Club of Canada with more assignments in the next few years. We also belong to the Chester Valley Kennel Club. For Chester Valley, Doug is on the board and Amy is the Secretary.