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Italian Greyhound Dog Breed Height, Weight, Color, History and Description

Description: The Italian Greyhound has wonderful fine bones and is slim. The head is thin but long. The muzzle is long but still at the height of the dog. The nose is brown or black depending on the color of the coat. The bite is scissor. He has dark, medium-sized eyes. The ears of the dogs are folded back to the edge of the head and, when alert, they tilt to the right. With a long neck, which is arched. It has a deep chest, which is narrow.

The Italian Greyhound dog breed has straight front legs and long back legs. It has a long, thin tail that tapers to a point. Their height is 12 to 15 inches, with a weight of 6 to 10 pounds. There are two weight categories of maximum 8 pounds and 8+ pounds. This is a short haired dog with a shiny coat. The coat comes in black, blue, gray, slate gray, red, and white or cream. Brindle and black and tan are not accepted in the show ring, but they make good pets.

History: The Italian Greyhound is an ancient breed of dog, and remains have been found in Egyptian tombs dating to about 6,000 years ago. With evidence dating back to Turkey and Greece for about 4,000 years. There is also evidence of these dogs 2,000 years ago in the Mediterranean, in image form. This dog became popular with nobles during the Renaissance period. There is even evidence of a small greyhound-type dog in the city of Pompeii. This dog is believed to have been brought to Europe by the Phoenician civilization and became popular with James the First of England, Queen Victoria and Catherine the Great of Russia.

During the 1700s, Frederick the Great of Prussia loved his dog so much that he buried his dog, at his death, himself and his last wish was to be buried next to his dog. Sadly, 205 years passed before Frederick’s family transferred his remains, to be placed alongside their beloved little Italian greyhound. This breed has been primarily a companion dog throughout history, but has been used as a hunting dog and is a looking hound, although it is the smallest of this family. This breed hunted rats, mice, and hawks.

The Italian greyhound became a firm favorite of Italians in the 16th century. Sadly this happened at a time when this breed was bred in an attempt to make them smaller, and the Italian Greyhound almost got lost. Then groups of breeders came together to save this charming little dog and, through careful breeding, brought the breed back to its former glory.

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