Italian Greyhounds: what about character?

Welcome to the Lupavaro's website Lupavaro.

This site is dedicated to our immense passion for Italian Greyhounds.

I am often asked: "what character do they have?" Our site does not want to be the usual site made up only of puppies, and photos in Expo but we want to share with you our great passion for Piccolo Levriero Italiano, describe in our articles the thousand aspects of these dogs and help you understand if this breed is really for you.

We know the breed well, because all our dogs live in the house with us, they are an integral part of the family. The puppies we choose to keep, as well as their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents, stay with us for life. Please, DO NOT ASK US FOR OUR ADULTS IN ADOPTION, because we don't have the habit of giving away “mares” at “end of career” (horrible terms that don't even belong to us!). All our dogs are an integral part of our family, and as such they participate in full family life. Would you give away a family member? DHere is some information about the breed, character and management. 
Il Piccolo Levriero Italiano, often cited also with the abbreviation "PLI", is the smallest representative of group 10, that is the group of greyhounds. It is a very ancient breed, already present in the pharaonic courts of ancient Egypt. From about the XNUMXth century BC, it arrived in Italy where it was soon appreciated in the court of the nobles. For the breed standard I refer you to “Il Piccolo Levriero Italiano - Comment on the FCI standard "  , written by Bitte Ahrens, with the collaboration of Pierluigi Primavera and Marcello Poli Translations by Pierluigi Primavera & Marcello Poli. On behalf of ENCI, March 2018

It would be easy to think this dog. looking so thin, it is only a delicate lap dog but beware of this appearance: it is not a "dwarf greyhound" or a "mini greyhound", which has only the appearance of the greyhound, as many people believe. Actually the Piccolo Levriero Italiano he is a very active dog, who gladly accompanies his human friend in everyday activities. My dogs love to travel by car and camper, run on the beach or in the green hills of my area, walk and be admired, but also dig holes in the garden (to make a mole envy), chase lizards in the garden, watch over. the herd of buffaloes of my mother-in-law's neighbor and so on and so forth.

Little Italian Greyhounds: how are they temperamentally?

The PLI is a dog extremely attached to his human friend, he loves climbing in his arms, giving passionate kisses (they have an exceptional aim!) It is not a breed suitable for those who do not like to have their dog always on, like a "mussel" . In short, let's face it: the PLI is a glue dog! He loves the heat and if you really don't want him to sleep in your bed (they sleep strictly UNDER the duvet and strangely never suffocate ...), put some fleece blankets or a duvet in his basket, he will appreciate it very much. To this I would add the discourse on the needs of the dog: it is often said that this breed is not easy to educate to be clean at home and that they tend to dirty. Physiologically, small breed dogs have a faster metabolism, compared to larger breeds. This is why they are unable to restrain themselves for many hours as large dogs could easily do. To this is added their innate aversion to cold temperatures and rain, a condition that certainly does not make the task easier! I recommend you read the article 10 reasons NOT to choose a Piccolo Levriero Italiano, article written with a lot of irony but not too much, you know what I mean! Before contacting us to ask for a puppy, I invite you to read it carefully. 

As I have already mentioned, they hate going out when it rains or is very cold; they would much prefer to stay curled up in the warmth in the kennel and manage very well to pity the human friend; in fact, despite having put the new coat on our little one, the human friend sees that the poor, trembling creature seems to have no intention of peeing or poo and so, for the sake of the little one, of course, he decides to go back home very soon, where the little monster will be happy to give you a wonderful still life consisting of a pond and a mound, perfectly centered on the new carpet of your living room, then leaving happy, wagging its tail and not at all shaking!

If you decide to take a small Italian greyhound it is not advisable to leave it alone for many hours a day; they are very sensitive, they hate loneliness and are capable of "getting sick with melancholy" as well as punishing you, for having left them all alone for the whole day, with poop and pee scattered all over the house. You could fix this by taking 2 PLI, they love having the company of the same breed and the wait for the human friend to return home, will be less sad with a friend to play with.

I think that Italian Greyhounds are adorable in character: they become your shadow and basically live for you, for every glance you make, for every caress you give them and they do all this without losing their greyhound dignity. They make you laugh or cry, sometimes they make you terribly angry but when they look at you with those deep and dark eyes they manage to get forgiveness right away. They love YOU and they don't wag their tails at the first person who comes along. These little elves thus create a beautiful, close and confidential relationship with their human friend. It often happens that they don't like being petted by strangers. Many Italian Greyhounds are selective and only give cuddles to a select few. It's up to us to get them used to being around people and other dogs from a young age. However, let's not force them to have to socialize with the neighbor's English Bulldog, as I wrote above, the Italian Greyhound generally prefers to make friends with other representatives of its own breed.

What are your PLIs like? You can leave your testimony in the comments, it will certainly be useful to other people who intend to approach the breed.