The Italian Greyhound – Saved by an Opera Singer

BY LEE CONNOR

So many breed historians make fanciful claims of ancient lineage for their respective breeds but for the Italian Greyhound such boasts could well contain more than a grain of truth. This little dog can claim a common ancestry with the greyhound and the mummified body of a ‘miniature greyhound’ has been found in the tomb of a Pharaoh.

Of course the ancient Egyptians were a highly cultured race living in a complex state of civilization, one in which many of the arts, sciences and crafts were already highly developed. Is it not reasonable to assume that they were also able to operate selective breeding programs on some sort of scientific basis even if the world of genes and chromosomes were completely unknown to them?

I doubt if human nature has altered so much over the centuries and the ancient Egyptians could not fail to show interest in the small greyhounds that would occasionally occur alongside their normal-sized brethren. One could easily imagine how the women would covet these rare tinies and how quickly a demand would arise for these very special greyhounds in miniature… a demand the ancient breeders would do their best to satisfy by selectively breeding.

The breed soon spread (one as- sumes by being gifted or traded) across the ancient world. Greek art presents numerous examples of a very small dog of Greyhound type and this diminutive breed also became a familiar ornament in the atrium of Roman villas, where the frequent motto, cave canem, may have been intended not as a warning against the chained and ferocious mastiffs but more as a caution to visitors to beware of hurting the lady’s treasured lapdog!

In Pompeii a dwarfed greyhound was certainly kept as a pet, and so there is some justification for the belief that the ‘Italian’ prefix is not entirely misplaced.

The Italian Greyhound was probably one of the very first dog breeds created exclusively as a companion. By breeding down from full-sized greyhounds to this diminutive creature, early dog lovers were able to develop a dog which, although it could no longer take part in serious hunting, found its value as a high status ornament around the house.

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Posted by Alex on Feb 26 2021. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.