Why an Italian Greyhound, also known as an Iggy? My wife and I had actually never seen one before. We had seen majestic Greyhounds, retired racers, loping around at dog parks near our home, but never an Iggy.
We stopped by the local PetSmart to pick up some dog food for our two mixes and the local animal shelter was there with some dogs up for adoption. Two of the dogs were a mother and son, a pair of Iggies. The mother was very sweet and my wife was taken with her demeanor. The boy on the other hand, well, what can you expect from an Iggy puppy!
We went home talking about how cute the little Iggies were. I was interested in learning more as my wife's long time companion dog, a tiny Maltese mix had passed away. Thinking an Iggy might be just the perfect companion, I spent some time on the internet researching Italian Greyhounds.
On the surface, the breed seemed to meet many of the requirements as a companion dog for my wife. Some of these requirements were/are:
- good companion dog
- no fur shedding (Italian Greyhounds shed but their fur is so short it is not an issue)
- good indoor dogs (that is an understatement)
- not aggressive
- fairly quiet
- tiny in size
For Christmas, after going through a long list of hoops to adopt, we came home with Berkeley. Berk, also frequently known as Poop because he can be a real Poop, certainly is a good companion dog. Berkeley loves his Momma!
Berkeley is a very typical Iggy in so many ways.
He just is not very small like an Iggy is supposed to be. Berkeley is a giant! He weighs in at 22 lbs and towers over most Italian Greyhounds we come across. Berkeley also likes the sound of his own voice.
With the passing of another of our mixes, Nardy, the best dog I have ever had as a companion, we discussed the idea of fostering Italian Greyhounds for the rescue we adopted Berkeley from. Little did we know!
As the result of a "failed foster" we are now have another Iggy member of our family, Little Al, or Alec. Al is quite the character and like Berkeley, is a very typical Iggy in some ways, and not very typical in others.
Al was quite sick when we took him in, weighing a grand total of 5 lbs. and suffering from infected gums and several open sores that were draining. Al is a tough little guy and with a huge vet bill and lots of antibiotics, he bounced back and weighs in at a whopping 8.3 lbs these days! Berkeley and Al have been part of our family now for four years.
Berkeley and Al, along with our very patient Beagle/Border Collie mix Angel, make up our four legged family. Our three human children all love our dogs which is a good thing, considering two of them are Iggies!
