
The Italian Greyhound, also known as Little Italian Hound, Italian Dwarf Hound, Italian Greyhound or Italian Piccolo Hound, is one of the most surprising specimens of the greyhound breed due to its height. It is the smallest greyhound in the world, but it has skills with which it can conquer any family, since it is very social, agile and mischievous.

Despite being the smallest of the greyhounds, its physique allows it to be the fastest of all the variants of this breed. They have many characteristics to make host families fall in love: they are sensitive, affectionate, intelligent and, above all, they offer all the love they feel towards their human references. To find out how to care for an Italian greyhound, its origin, physical and behavioral characteristics of the breed, in we recommend that you continue reading this article.
Origin and history of the Italian Greyhound
The origin of the Italian Greyhound is in Ancient Egypt, that is, more than 5,000 years ago. They were dogs that delighted the pharaohs running around all the rooms of the courts. Subsequently, for many centuries it was a breed especially appreciated in Europe. At the end of the nineteenth century, it experienced its definitive dwarfing when the whippet, that is, a hound of very small size, saw its popularity increase. It was intended that both races were not confused and cynologists insisted on reducing its size until it was achieved, leaving it with the current appearance.
Characteristics of the Italian Greyhound
The physical characteristics of the Italian Greyhound are as follows:
- Its weight ranges between 4 and 5 kilos.
- It has a height at the withers of between 32 and 38 centimeters, its body is slender and compact, the head is elongated as well as its snout.
- His eyes are large and dark. They do not stand out too much because they neither protrude nor are sunk.
- Their ears are small, high insertion and with a fold at right angles.
- The tail is thin and narrow towards the tip.
- The Italian Greyhound stands out for having soft, short and shiny hair. It can be black, slate gray or Elizabethan yellow. There may also be white tones on the chest and extremities.
- Italian greyhounds are submissive, friendly, pleasant and affectionate. They enjoy running, jumping, jumping and climbing. They are very sensitive dogs, so they require a lot of attention. In OneHowTo we recommend that you do not yell at him and bet on positive reinforcement so that he does not stress.
- He feels a great love for his owners and follows them everywhere. You must be careful not to step on it because, normally, it will be on your heels. Having fragile bones, especially as a puppy, it is advisable to take extreme precautions.
- They require a lot of attention and affection. If they don’t have it, they may become depressed and exhibit aggressive behaviors. Also, if you don’t feel loved enough, you might start doing your home-to-get needs. In this article we teach you how to treat separation anxiety in dogs.
Health of the Italian Greyhound
It is a healthy breed in general, that is, it has few problems or congenital diseases. Even so, it has a certain natural predisposition to suffer from the following health problems:
- Patella luxation.
- Epilepsy. We recommend you read How to tell if my dog has epilepsy.
- Fractures in the extremities during his puppy stage for possessing a very delicate skeleton until he is one and a half years old.
- Periodontal disease.
- Vitreous degeneration, that is, defects in sight of hereditary character.
- Hip dysplasia.
- Hypothyroidism, that is, an autoimmune thyroid disease.
Feeding the Italian Greyhound
A good diet is essential for your Italian greyhound to enjoy great health and look good. It is important to provide a quality brand of dry food, especially one of those indicated for toy dogs. Your weight does not usually exceed 5 kilos, so you should follow a maintenance diet appropriate to your weight.
Being a small furry that adapts perfectly to life in an apartment or small city apartment, nutritional values can be modified exclusively in females that go through periods of gestation and lactation. In addition, in specimens of very intense physical activity, their daily food needs increase.
In this article you will be able to know the calmest dog breeds.
Physical activity of the Italian Greyhound
The Italian Greyhound requires several daily doses of exercise, especially when young. They act as puppies until they reach an age between 2 and 4 years of life. They love to go out for long walks: in safe conditions, they enjoy doing some races.
While walking, it is not recommended that you remove the leash because they are able to detect odors at a distance of 300 meters, falling into the temptation of chasing prey such as ferrets, rabbits, squirrels or cats, for example. Although he can keep you company on short runs, he will prefer walks and play with other dogs, but they are not too large to reduce the risk of an accident.
Hygiene of the Italian Greyhound
The hygiene of this breed is not complicated to maintain. It is prone to tartar buildup and the formation of bacterial plaque on your teeth, causing bad breath. Therefore, it is important that you get used from puppy to a good brushing of the teeth at least once or twice a week with a specific toothpaste for dogs.
About the baths you need, it is enough to bathe it once a month so that it stays neat. The Italian Greyhound is a dog that has the great advantage of not smelling or losing hair, as it is hypoallergenic. Its coexistence is also recommended for people with allergy to canine hair. After each bath, you should dry it perfectly because it is very sensitive to cold and, if it does not dry well, it can fall ill.
To make it look a perfect coat, you should rub it with the help of a silky cloth to give it shine quickly. As you can see, your hair has a simple maintenance.
We recommend you read this article about Can I bathe my dog with my shampoo?
Education and socialization of the Italian Greyhound
Being an intelligent, affectionate and lively dog, the Italian Greyhound has a total predisposition to adapt to the life of his adopted home. She loves family company and does not adapt to living in dog houses placed in the garden. They must do so inside the home with their human family.
This breed is easy to educate and train because of its great learning capacity. They are cheerful, brave and brave everywhere. He expects to be rewarded whenever he considers that he deserves it, so if you establish a reward system it will be a great incentive in the education process.
About its socialization, it is a breed that does not present behavioral problems with other pets in the home if it socializes from puppyhood, but its small size makes it advisable to relate to dogs of a similar size so that it does not run the risk of being damaged by other larger dogs due to the fragility of its anatomy.
Your relationship with children should be taken care of especially from the side of the little ones, since they must treat it very carefully so as not to harm you. Also, the Italian Greyhound is ideal for giving company to older people, because they will see their emotional needs covered by people who have more time to turn to their little furry ones.
Now that you know how to care for an Italian greyhound, you may also be interested in discovering another breed of greyhound and you can read this article on educate an Afghan greyhound.
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