Dr. Daniel J. Fletcher of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Dept of Emergency and Critical Care, recently contacted the IWF with a proposal to evaluate the extent and possible causes of excessive bleeding, both post operative and as a result of trauma or other causes in the Irish Wolfhound. He has done several studies on hyperfibrinolysis, as has been described in greyhounds and has developed an assay to test for that problem. While excessive bleeding doesn’t appear to be a major cause of death, according to mortality studies, there may be more dogs affected than we realize because the bleeding may not be lethal in many cases. Dr. Fletcher has proposed a study to determine whether hyperfibrinolysis may exist in our breed. The first step in that study is to determine how common bleeding problems are and how many people would be willing to participate in a study. The Irish Wolfhound Foundation is asking people to participate in the survey, especially if you have observed excessive bleeding in any of your dogs. All information will be used by Cornell for research purposes only. The results of the survey will be used to decide if further research is warranted. All information will remain with Cornell University and be used to develop a grant proposal. Contact information will be used if a grant is initiated. Statistical results will be published in an upcoming issue of Focus.