There’s Something About Delores: Stanfordville Irish Wolfhound Wins National Best in Show

On most days, Delores moves through life in Stanfordville with an easy pace and little to prove.

She walks Sister’s Hill with her human Jane Cottrell. She settles into whichever bed, corner, or patch of floor suits her. She stretches out after each long day with the calm assurance of a 120-pound Irish wolfhound who knows exactly who she is.

This month, the rest of the country found out, too.

Delores, Cottrell’s 3-year-old Irish wolfhound, won Best in Show at the Irish Wolfhound Club of America’s 96th National Specialty, held May 18-21 in Gray Summit, Missouri, near St. Louis. The annual show is the breed’s major national competition in the United States, drawing hundreds of Irish wolfhounds from across the country.

The Irish Wolfhound Club of America, founded in 1926, is the American Kennel Club’s parent club for Irish wolfhounds. The club maintains the official breed standard used by members, breeders, and judges, making its national specialty the breed’s marquee annual event in the United States.

Cottrell said over 400 wolfhounds competed this year. Delores’ big win came May 20.

For Cottrell, the victory was not only a ribbon, a title, or the culmination of a long drive west with a giant dog in the car. It was something more intimate: a mutual recognition between Delores and the judge, Pauric Hand of Ireland, that seemed to unfold in the ring.

“What I can tell you for certain is that she had an experience that impacted her and another human being, namely the judge,” Cottrell said. “They connected intuitively.”

Delores is Cottrell’s fourth Irish wolfhound, a breed she first came to love in 2011. Delores joined her in June 2023 after being bred by Taliesin Irish Wolfhounds in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, where Cottrell said breeder Donna Smith is known for dogs with sweet temperaments and strong movement.

For Cottrell, the breed’s appeal begins with its intelligence.

“Their intelligence is about equal to a 5-year-old child,” she said. “That’s pretty smart.”

But the deeper quality, she said, is temperament. A well-bred wolfhound, Cottrell said, is gentle, kind and composed, even in the presence of small children.

Her first wolfhound, McKenna, showed that quality almost immediately. Soon after bringing the puppy home, Cottrell took her to an outdoor public event where toddlers approached her.

“She was cool as a cucumber,” Cottrell said.

Delores has that same steadiness, but Cottrell said she also has something harder to define — a presence that draws people in. One friend described the canine as a healer. Cottrell was careful not to overstate that.

“I don’t know if she’s a healer,” she said. “She’s certainly healthy for me.”

What she does know is that Delores attracts attention. In the show ring, people cheer for her. Judges notice her. Crowds seem to respond not only to her size and gait, but to the way she carries herself.

“I guess what I’m saying is she’s a crowd favorite,” Cottrell said. “There’s something distinctive about her in her connection with people.”

At home in Stanfordville, Delores is less national champion than companion. Like many wolfhounds, she is relaxed indoors. Cottrell said she has several beds around the house and kennel, though she does not always use them.

“She sleeps wherever she wants,” Cottrell said.

Each day, Cottrell takes her to Sister’s Hill, where Delores has room to walk and, when instinct takes over, run. Irish wolfhounds are sighthounds, built to notice and chase movement.

“If there’s opportunity to give chase, to live prey, I mean, that’s just their DNA,” Cottrell said. “But mainly it’s just R&R for us.”

Cottrell is an entertainment lawyer by training who later added mediation to her work because, she said, she believed the court system was broken and mediation offered a better path. She also teaches business law and business and society at Marist University’s School of Management and works in town government, as the secretary to the town supervisor, which she describes as her day job.

“In principle, at least, or in theory, I’m retired,” she said. “I mean, I’m trying to be retired.”

Wolfhounds have become one of the constants in that busy life. The dogs brought her not only a beloved breed, but a community.

“The people that are involved with wolfhounds are, by and large, really great people,” Cottrell said. “They aren’t snobbish about their dogs. They aren’t anything stereotyped. They’re very genuine and you find that you can make, not just acquaintances, but true friends among other wolfhound owners.”

That community helped carry Delores to Missouri. Cottrell drove with the breeder and two friends in two wolfhound-transporting vehicles. Delores’ mother also attended the show.

Cottrell does not know whether Delores recognized her mother in any human sense.

“You know, I don’t know if they recognize a parental relationship,” she said, “but they certainly recognize a pack relationship.”

Delores began showing as a puppy at the same national event, before she lived with Cottrell. Two weeks after joining Cottrell in 2023, she won her class at a show held by the Irish Wolfhound Association of New England. Since then, she has placed at regional shows, including a second-place finish in the hound group at a show in Ballston Spa and a Best of Opposite Sex honor at the Central New Jersey Hound Show.

The national win changes what comes next. Cottrell said Delores can no longer compete in the regular female classes at breed shows. She will now compete at the best-of-breed level, against other top dogs.

The victory also changed something in Cottrell — not the daily rhythm of life with Delores, but her sense of responsibility.

“It doesn’t change the dynamic,” she said. “But it makes me aware, more aware that, you know, I have been given kind of a special charge.”

That feeling comes through in the ordinary acts of care: loading Delores into the car, driving carefully, watching over a creature whose size can make her seem almost mythic but whose life, like that of many giant breeds, is expected to be relatively brief.

“You haul a dog around in a car and you drive carefully because of who is your passenger,” Cottrell said. “It’s not a burden, it’s not pressure, but an enhanced sense of responsibility maybe.”

After the win, Delores got treats. Then, like many wolfhounds after a long day, she crashed.

Asked whether Delores enjoys the shows, Cottrell paused. She thinks Delores enjoys traveling, at least somewhat. She knows Delores has a powerful gait and a commanding presence in the ring. But she is not sure the dog loves the performance of it all.

“On balance, I think she shows, to me, I think she does it for me,” Cottrell said. “I don’t know that she really loves it all that much. I mean, she’s always happy to leave the ring.”

Still, Delores is not finished. She and Cottrell are expected to head next to a New England show in June.

For now, the national champion is back in Stanfordville — walking Sister’s Hill, choosing where to sleep and moving through daily life with the same calm presence that carried her through the ring in Missouri.

“There is something about Delores,” Cottrell said. “She’s a magnet.”