Italian Greyhound

An Italian Breed of Small Sighthound

Photo of Grayhound breed

The Italian Greyhound is an Italian breed of small sighthound. It may also be called the Italian Sighthound. Small dogs of sighthound type have long been popular with nobility and royalty. Dogs of this type have often been represented in paintings, notably by Giotto, Sassetta and Tiepolo. These dogs were taken in the first half of the nineteenth century to the United Kingdom, where they were known as Italian Greyhounds. The first breed association was the Italian Greyhound Club, founded in Britain in 1900. Registrations by the American Kennel Club began in 1886. The original function of the Italian Greyhound was to hunt hare and rabbit; it is capable of bursts of speed up to 60 km/h (37 mph). Although assigned to the sighthound or hare-coursing groups by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale and the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana, the Italian Sighthound is – as it was in the past – kept mostly as a companion dog.

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