HINDQUARTERS Long, well-muscled thigh, hind legs parallel when viewed from behind, hocks well let down, well-bent stifle. This gives the dog strength and drive from the rear. Although nothing is said about angulation, this should not be so extreme as tomake the rear look out of balance with the front. FEET Hare foot with well-arched toes. Re- moval of dewclaws is optional. The hare foot is long and narrow, the two center toes slightly longer than the others. Feet should never be flat or splayed. Nails should be short, but not trimmed all the way to the quick as is customary in other breeds. TAIL Slender and tapering to a curved end, long enough to reach the hock; set low, carried low. Ring tail a serious fault, gay tail a fault. The tail is typically carried below the level of the back, in a gentle curve. Puppies can carry theirs a bit high. Awagging tail is not a fault as long as it is set on low and is carried low. Length can be measured by holding it along the back of the leg to see if it reaches the hock joint. There is no need to wrap it around Skin fine and supple, hair short and glossy, like satin, and soft to the touch; self-explanatory. COLOR Any color and markings are accept- able except that a dog with brindle markings and a dog with the tan markings normally found on black and tan dogs of other breeds must be disqualified. Note that there is no pre- ferred color and no preferred mark- ings. When judging, personal prefer- ences should be ignored. Sometimes markings can fool the eye, especially on a white dog with colored markings that can make him look down in the shoulder or sway-backed. the leg. COAT
ACTION High-stepping and free, front and hind legs tomove forward in a straight line. Some people have trouble under- standing correct IG movement. This is not a hackney or even a hackney- like gait. In hackney movement there is much up-and-down travel, but little forward propulsion. Often a stiff, “goose-stepping” gait is seen, which may be high-stepping but is not free. The front legs should have lift, but also good forward movement. At its highest, the leg is approximately par- allel to the ground. There is a break at the pastern, with the foot pointing downward. The hind legs should ex- hibit drive from the rear and should land freely. SIZE Height at withers, ideally 13 inches to 15 inches. Under 13 inches or over 15 inches is not ideal. However, most IGs are between 14 and 16 inches, with males tending to be somewhat taller. Height can easily fool even experi- enced persons. A 13 inch dog in the ring withmostly 15 inch dogs can look A dog with brindle markings. A dog with the tan markings normally found on black-and-tan dogs of other breeds. A purebred IG can’t be brindle or marked, for instance, like a Do- berman, a Miniature Pinscher or a Manchester Terrier. There are many seal-colored IGs with some lighter markings in the “armpit” area; howev- er, these are not disqualifying mark- ings. To be disqualified, the dog would have to be black, seal or blue with tan markings in all of the places these markings are found on the mentioned breeds, including a tan patch on the vent area under the base of the tail. Hopefully, this has cleared up some things. The IG is a miniature sight- hound—a dog built and programmed to hunt using keen eyesight and con- siderable speed. Like other Toys, IGs are also loving companions. considerably below the ideal. DISQUALIFICATIONS
“HEIGHT AT WITHERS, IDEALLY 13 inches to 15 inches.”
Hopefully, judging them will be en- joyable. Above all, please remember the importance of seeing what is good about a dog rather than to judge by its faults. ABOUT THE AUTHOR I acquired my first Italian Greyhound in 1966 and have lived with from one to 18 of this breed at any given time ever since. I have bred more than 70 AKC champions under my La Scala kennel name. A dog of my breeding was for several years the top Toy stud in Great Britain and one of my dogs is behind many of the winning IGs in Brazil. In 1989, I was approved by the AKC to judge Italian Greyhounds and have judged breed specialties in Italy, Australia, and Japan as well as several times in the United States, including the National Specialty in 2003 and 2010. I have written four books about the Italian Greyhound, was the IG breed columnist for the AKC Gazette from 1977 through 2018, and have frequently written articles for other dog magazines. I have served on the Judges’ Education Committe for the Italian Greyhound Club of America, was one of the creators of the Illustrat- ed Standard for the IG, and am a past president of the IGCA as well as the Kennel Club of Palm Springs. After my husband passed away in 2018, I had to move from our wild and secluded five acres outside of Murrieta, California, which meant reducing my number of IGs to three. The move into a complex in a very civilized part of Lake Elsinore meant a halt to any further breeding. That, and advancing age, has also kept me out of the show ring. Most impor- tantly, I absolutely adore this breed and can’t imagine living without at least one or two of them.
24 • T op N otch T oys , A pril /M ay 2021
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