The Italian Greyhound is the smallest of the family of gazehounds (dogs that hunt by sight). The breed is an old one and is believed to have originated more than 2,000 years ago in the countries known today as Greece and Turkey.
This belief is based on the depiction of miniature greyhounds in the early decorative arts of these countries and the archaeological discovery of small greyhound skeletons. Due to the antiquity of the breed, there is no documented evidence whether the Italian Greyhound was bred to be a small game hunter or a companion.
Most likely it was a combination of both roles, as a small greyhound-type dog is found in ancient decorative art hunting scenes and family portraits. Sometime between 200 BC and 200 AD, the Romans brought the sighthounds of the Middle East and Greece into their homes and the beginnings of the small Greyhounds of Italy were born.
Evidence of miniature sighthounds can be found in the ruins of Pompeii from 79 AD. By the middle ages, the breed had become distributed throughout Southern Europe and was later a favorite of the Italians in the sixteenth century, usually owned by the nobility. The Renaissance period has paintings and sculptures of the Italian Greyhound breed in a recognizable form. It is due to the popularity in Italy that the breed became known as the “Italian Greyhound.”
One of the first descriptions is given by an Italian nobleman named Francesco Birago in 1626 on his Treatise of Hunting, in which he writes of the Greyhound of Italy as being around 17 to 19 inches tall. Their form and function as companions and hunters is detailed in
these writings.
The breed spread throughout Europe into England in the 17th century. England has had a great influence on the breed. In the 1800’s Victorian era, the craze for small toy dogs and breeding for smaller and smaller dogs became a fashionable pastime. The English considered the Italian Greyhound a companion pet and the breed was not used for hunting, despite their ability to hunt in their native country.
The British Italian Greyhound Club was founded in 1900, and a written Breed Standard was created using Stonehenge’s (John Henry Walsh’s pseudonym) writings. The Italian Greyhound Club of America was founded in 1954.
The Italian Greyhound is not a bred-down version of the Greyhound, rather they share common ancestors. There is no evidence of other breeds being used to create the Italian Greyhound. The breed’s small size is a result of selective breeding.
Today, the Italian Greyhound, affectionately called the IG, is a talented multi-purpose dog. It is not uncommon to see the IG participating in all types of Performance events from Dock Diving to Lure Coursing to Agility, and then going home to be a loving family companion.
