Irish Wolfhound

The tallest of the major breeds, a Wolfhound can rest its front paws on a tall man's shoulders, yet adults are soft, quiet and undemanding in the house. The hard part is the timescale: most published estimates put life expectancy between 6 and 9 years, and the breed has high rates of dilated cardiomyopathy and bone cancer, so yearly heart screening is money well spent. As a sighthound it will chase, which makes a securely fenced field more useful than long walks on the lead.