Italian Greyhound

The Italian Greyhound (Italian: Piccolo levriero Italiano) is an Italian breed of small sighthound.[2] It may also be called the Italian Sighthound.

Italian Greyhound
Other names
  • FCI: Italian Sighthound
  • Italian: Piccolo levriero italiano
OriginItaly
Traits
Height
32 to 38 cm (13 to 15 in)[1]
Weight
not over 5 kg (11 lb)[1]
Colour solid black, grey or isabelline
Kennel club standards
Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana standard
FCI standard
Dog (domestic dog)

History
Engraving showing two prize-winning Italian Greyhounds in the United Kingdom, from John Henry Walsh, The dog, in health and disease, 1859

Small dogs of sighthound type have long been popular with nobility and royalty. Among those believed to have kept them are Frederick II, Duke of Swabia; members of the D'Este, Medici and Visconti families; the French kings Louis XI, Charles VIII, Charles IX, Louis XIII and Louis XIV;[3] Frederick the Great of Prussia;[4]: 519  Anne of Denmark; Catherine the Great and Queen Victoria.[5] Dogs of this type have often been represented in paintings, notably by Giotto, Sassetta and Tiepolo.[3]

Dogs of this kind were taken in the first half of the nineteenth century to the United Kingdom, where they were known as Italian Greyhounds.[6]: 44  The first volume of The Kennel Club Calendar and Stud Book, published in 1874, lists forty of them.[7]: 597  The first breed association was the Italian Greyhound Club, founded in Britain in 1900.[8][9]: 157 

In the nine years from 2011 to 2019, the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana recorded a total of 2557 new registrations of the Piccolo Levriero, with a minimum of 213 and a maximum of 333 per year.[3]

Characteristics
The Italian Greyhound has a short coat

The Italian Greyhound is the smallest[10] of the sighthounds. It weighs no more than 5 kg/11 lbs and stands 32 to 38 cm at the withers.[1]

It is deep in the chest, with a tucked-up abdomen, long slender legs and a long neck that tapers down to a small head. The head is long and pointed.[1] The gait should be high-stepping and well-sprung, with good forward extension in the trot, and a fast gallop.[1]

The coat may be solid black, grey or isabelline; white markings are accepted on the chest and feet only.[1]

Life expectancy is about 14 years.[11]: 127 [12]: 127  The Ortheopedic Foundation for Animals has found the Italian Greyhound to be the least affected by hip dysplasia of 157 breeds studied, with an incidence of 0.[13]

Use

The original function of the Piccolo Levriero was to hunt hare and rabbit; it is capable of bursts of speed up to 60 kmh/37mph.[14] Although assigned to the sighthound or hare-coursing groups by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale and the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana,[15][3] the Italian Sighthound is – as it was in the past – kept mostly as a companion dog.[16] It is classified as a toy breed by the American Kennel Club and the Kennel Club of the United Kingdom.[17][18]

See also

References
  1. Piccolo levriero italiano (in Italian). Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana. Accessed February 2020.
  2. Barber, Lillian S., The New Complete Italian Greyhound, p. 5 (1993, Italian Greyhound Productions) ISBN 0-9611986-2-1
  3. Piccolo levriero italiano: Storia (in Italian). Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana. Accessed February 2020.
  4. Desmond Morris (2001). Dogs: A Dictionary of Dog Breeds. London: Ebury. ISBN 9780091870911.
  5. "Italian Greyhound". American Kennel Club. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  6. John Henry Walsh ("Stonehenge") (1859). The dog, in health and disease. London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts.
  7. Frank C. S. Pearce (1874). The Kennel Club Calendar and Stud Book, volume 1. London: for the Kennel Club.
  8. Circolo del Piccolo Levriero Italiano (in Italian). Circolo del Piccolo Levriero Italiano. Archived 14 June 2004.
  9. Cecil Gordon Eugene Wimhurst (1900). The Complete Book of Toy Dogs. New York: Putnam.
  10. "Italian Greyhound Did You Know?". AKC.org. American Kennel Club. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  11. [Bruce Fogle] (2013). The Dog Encyclopedia. London; New York: Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 9781465408440.
  12. Kim Dennis-Bryan, Tracy Morgan (2020). The Complete Dog Breed Book. London: Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 9780241412732.
  13. "Hip Dysplasia Statistics: Hip Dysplasia by Breed". Ortheopedic Foundation for Animals. Archived from the original on 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
  14. Piccolo Levriero Italiano (in Italian). Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana. Archived 7 July 2014.
  15. Piccolo levriero italiano (200). Fédération Cynologique Internationale. Accessed February 2020.
  16. Cenni Storici (in Italian). Circolo del Piccolo Levriero Italiano. Archived 15 June 2004.
  17. Italian Greyhound Dog Breed Information. American Kennel Club. Accessed March 2021.
  18. Italian Greyhound. The Kennel Club. Accessed March 2021.

Further reading
  • Maria Luisa Incontri Della Stufa (1956). Il piccolo levriero italiano nell'arte e nella storia (in Italian). Firenze: Sansoni.
  • [s.n.] (2004). Le razze italiane (in Italian). Milano: Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia.
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