EHA Beta Test

9/18/2026

There are probably more organized ways to test an idea. There are probably people who make spreadsheets, develop projections, conduct market research and use phrases like community engagement strategy.

We took two Irish Wolfhounds to a Harvest Festival.

This seemed sufficient.

It was, in fact, the first time Clover and Hooligan had ever ridden together in my car without being in separate compartments. Until that day, the only place they had ever gone together was the park. So while Justin and I were quietly wondering how people might respond to Emerald Hounds Abound out in the community, there was another experiment happening at exactly the same time: Could these two go somewhere completely new together without turning the entire experience into a cautionary tale?

We loaded them into the car. Nobody died.

Excellent start.

Justin and I wore our Emerald Hounds Abound shirts, but otherwise there was nothing particularly official about our first

outing. The dogs’ EHA harnesses hadn’t even arrived yet. We didn’t have a booth or signs, and I had considered bringing some of the little giveaway bags we’ve been planning but decided against it.

That turned out to be one of the smartest decisions I made all day.

Almost immediately, people began stopping. Then more people stopped. Groups formed, and somewhere along the way Justin and I realized we weren’t even standing together anymore. He had people around him. I had people around me. Clover and Hooligan had people everywhere.

This wasn’t casual curiosity, either. People’s faces genuinely lit up when they saw the dogs. They grabbed the arms of whoever they were walking with and pointed.

Vendors stood up inside their booths to get a better look as we passed. People called other people over. One vendor saw the dogs and immediately offered them water. Before I could even answer, she had already pulled out a bottle for them- then had Hooligan drinking out of her hand- literally! She doesn’t know it yet, but she made a friend for life!!

There was this wonderful sense of recognition and surprise happening over and over again. At least four different groups told us they had recently been in Ireland. Two of those groups said they had never seen even one Irish Wolfhound while they were there, which made it especially funny that they had come all the way home and found two together at a fall Harvest Festival in Pine Bush, New York.

The other two groups had seen Wolfhounds in Ireland. They looked at Clover and Hooligan, looked at each other and gave that very certain little nod people give when they have been asked to verify something important.

“Yup. Those are Wolfhounds.”

Then, apparently for the benefit of anyone else standing nearby: “They look just like the ones in Ireland!”

Well, thank God.

Clover and Hooligan were internationally authenticated.

For the next hour and a half, we were surrounded almost continuously. People wanted to know what breed they were, how old they were, how big they would get, whether they were related, what they ate, what they weighed and what they were like to live with. Quite a few people also assumed we were breeders.

We are not.

Although apparently two Irish Wolfhounds accompanied by humans wearing matching shirts creates a very strong these people definitely have a breeding operation vibe.

Most people asked before touching the dogs. Some did not. There were hands everywhere, and Hooligan thought this was quite possibly the greatest development of his young life. Apparently we had been withholding an entire world filled with strangers whose sole purpose was to admire him, pet him and tell him how wonderful he was.

Clover took a little longer. She watched, assessed and considered the situation before deciding that perhaps public appearances were acceptable after all. Eventually she stopped in the middle of the road, flopped onto her back and presented her belly for rubs.

The Queen had accepted her subjects.

At two different points, the attention became so constant that we deliberately took the dogs away from the main festival area so they could rest, decompress and reset. The first time, we turned onto a quiet side road.

Or so we thought.

We passed a pizza place, and behind us someone suddenly came running outside, yelling after us. Confused, we stopped and turned around.

“ARE THOSE IRISH WOLFHOUNDS?”

“Yes!”

“OH MY GOD! I KNEW IT!”

We asked if she wanted to come meet them.

“I CAN’T! I’M WORKING!”

Then, just like that, she ran back toward the pizza place.

Apparently there is no known safe distance from which one can quietly escape public attention while accompanied by two Irish Wolfhounds.

By the end of the outing, we estimated that we had spoken with around seventy people. Two people found and followed Emerald Hounds Abound while they were still standing there with us, and somewhere during all of that happy chaos, something quietly important happened.

For months, I had wondered what would happen when we finally took EHA beyond our own little world. Would people stop? Would they care? Would they see two very large dogs, say, “Wow, big dogs,” and keep walking?

There was only one way to find out, so we took the hounds into the community.

People didn’t just stop. Their faces lit up. They pointed. They pulled their friends over. They stood up from booths to see better. They gathered around us, asked questions and stayed. There was so much interest that we had to take the dogs away for breaks, and enough that the giveaway bags I almost brought probably would have disappeared within the first thirty minutes.

There was also enough interest that, somewhere during the afternoon, Justin began discussing trailers, generators and portable air-conditioning units. Apparently one successful beta test is all it takes for a man to begin designing the Emerald Hounds Abound Mobile Command Center.

Then I made the mistake of saying, “Imagine when there are four Wolfhounds.”

Justin looked at me and immediately said, “No. That won’t work. We’ll need more people. We can only have one dog each.”

And there it was: our first staffing problem.

The funny thing is, we went to the Harvest Festival hoping to learn whether Emerald Hounds Abound might work out in the real world. Instead, Clover and Hooligan spent ninety minutes showing us.

The hounds were wonderful. The people were wonderful. We laughed all afternoon, and our very first EHA community beta test was officially a success.

Possibly a little too successful.

We’re going to need more goody bags.