Meet our cute and tiny featured breed this week, the Italian Greyhound! This miniature pooch is super playful and gentle. When they aren’t cuddling up to you on the couch, you can find them bouncing around outside with pure joy!
The Italian Greyhound is the smallest of the sighthound group. The breed originated in Italy approximately 2,000 years ago when Italians started breeding naturally smaller greyhounds. Many experts will debate the origin of this dog actually dates back as far as 6,000 years ago as some drawings on ancient Egyptian tombs have depicted a small dog very similar in resemblance to the Italian greyhound. There is even rumor that an Italian greyhound looking dog was discovered in the remnants of the city of Pompeii. Being from the sighthound group, the Italian Greyhound’s original purpose was to hunt for small game.
With their natural hunting instincts, it’s easy to see why this dog will often chase anything that moves! The Italian Greyhound can be found either bouncing off the walls and wiggling his body like crazy, or nuzzled into a cozy blanket or lying in a sunspot. Because of their high energy spurts, you want to be sure to give your Italian Greyhound lots of time every day to run around outside and let lose some of that energy. Preferably with some doggie friends as the Italian Greyhound gets along amazingly with other dogs, they thrive having canine friends to play with.
Italian Greyhounds makes wonderful family pets and are very suitable for apartment or condo living with their small size (but be sure to get them out to run around every day!). They get along great with kids, and usually tolerant of young kids when socialized properly. As long as the young kids are polite and respectful to the dog, and know not to try to pick them up unexpectedly (Italian Greyhounds are very sensitive to touch and usually dislike being grabbed by surprise) They are very sweet and gentle dogs that also get along well with other pets such as cats. Much like cats themselves as they like to nuzzle up to a warm couch or sleep under a sun beam from the window. Italian Greyhounds will often perch themselves on top of a couch so they can look out the window, much like a cat. But make sure they don’t climb too high, this breed often suffers from broken legs from trying to jump across high places.
This breed is very easy to maintain their good looks. Being short-haired, you don’t need to worry about taking them to the groomer for hair trimming. Just basic maintenance grooming like teeth and ear cleaning, nail trimming, baths, etc. Although not hypoallergenic, they do shed very little so hair all over the house won’t be much of a problem.
Italian Greyhounds are a wonderful choice for a family pet and get along fantastically with other dogs. The have a contagiously happy and playful personality. If you’re looking for a cute little clown that’s also an expert cuddlebug, look no further than the Italian Greyhound.
