Despite a delicate appearance, Italian Greyhounds are swift, hardy hounds who have survived the upheavals of two millennia. Archaeological evidence suggests that IGs were bred as noble companions some 2,000 years ago in the region that is now Greece and Turkey, when the mighty Roman Empire held sway in the Mediterranean.
The miniature Greyhound was a popular companion, and perhaps a small-game hunter, throughout southern Europe in the days of the Empire, but the breed came into its own in Renaissance Italy, where owning miniature versions of popular breeds was a status symbol among aristocrats and wealthy strivers. IGs can be seen in the paintings of various Renaissance masters, embodying the grace and balance so important to the era’s aesthetics. IGs found their way onto many of the noblest laps in Europe. James I, Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great, Anne of Denmark, and Queen Victoria were among the royals who augmented their majesty with an IG or two by their side. An African king named Lobengula once swapped 200 head of cattle for a single Italian Greyhound.
The AKC registered its first IG in 1886. The depredations of the two world wars nearly wiped out many of Europe’s breeds, including the IG. After both conflicts, American breeders, an ocean away from the ravages of war, kept the breed alive and helped repopulate its numbers in peacetime Europe. In modern times IGs do their share of winning in the show ring, and lure coursing gives them a chance to rev up their small but powerful engines.