468 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



diminutive breed was a familiar ornament 

 in the atrium of most Roman villas, where 

 the frequent motto. Cave Canem, may 

 have been intended not more as a warning 

 against the chained and ferocious Mastiff, 

 than as a caution to visitors to beware of 

 hurting the matron's treasured lapdog. In 

 Pompeii a dwarfed Greyhound was certainly 

 kept as a domestic pet, and there is there- 

 fore some justification for the belief that 

 the Italian prefix is not misplaced. 



In very early times the Italian Greyhound 

 was appreciated. Vandyck, Kneller, and 

 Watteau frequently introduced the graceful 

 figures of these dogs as accessories in their 

 portraits of the court beauties of their times, 

 and many such portraits may be noticed 

 in the galleries of Windsor Castle and 

 Hampton Court. Mary Queen of Scots is 

 supposed to have been fond of the breed, as 

 more surely were Charles I. and Queen Anne. 

 Some of the best of their kind were in the 

 possession of Queen Victoria at Windsor 

 and Balmoral, where Sir Edwin Landseer 

 transferred their graceful forms to canvas. 



At no period can the Italian Greyhound 

 have been a sporting dog. A prancing race 

 after a ball on a velvet lawn is the usual 

 extent of his participation in the chase. He 

 has not the sporting instinct or the acute 

 power of scent and sight which one looks for 

 in a hound. He is a hound, indeed, only 

 by courtesy, and was never meant to hunt. 

 The presence of a rat does not excite him ; 

 a rabbit or a hare might play with him ; 

 even jealousy is powerless to move him to 

 animosity. He is among the most peace- 

 able of dogs, gentle as a gazelle, and as 

 beautiful, differing greatly from his relative 

 the Whippet, whose reputation for snap- 

 ping has been genuinely earned. 



But one ought not to look to dogs so 

 frail, so accustomed to ease and luxury^ 

 to take interest in the pursuit of vermin or 

 of game. They are too small for such work. 

 SmaUness and lightness and symmetry, 

 with good colour and a healthy constitu- 

 tion, are the qualities to be sought for in 

 the Italian Greyhound. No dog over eight 

 pounds is worth much consideration. Molly, 

 for whom her owner, Mr. Macdonald, refused 



a hundred guineas in 1871, weighed a few 

 ounces less than five. Idstone pronounced 

 her the most perfect specimen ever seen ; 

 but it is said that her mouth was very much 

 overshot, which is a serious fault, often 

 noticeable in this breed. The same owner's 

 Duke was larger ; but, then, the males 

 usually are, and for this reason the bitches 

 commonly take prizes above the other sex. 



It is singular that Scottish breeders have 

 frequently produced the best specimens of 

 this variety of dog. Mr. Bruce, of Falkirk, 

 exhibited many beautiful little ones some 

 years ago, and his Bankside Daisy, Wee 

 Flower, and Crucifix are especially remem- 

 bered. Miss H. M. Mackenzie, too, had an 

 e.xcellent kennel, in which Sappho, Mario, 

 Hero, Dido, and Juno were important in- 

 mates, varying in weight from five to nine 

 pounds. Dido was a lovely httle bitch. 

 She was the granddaughter of Jack, whom 

 Miss Mackenzie bought for ten shillings from 

 a butcher in Smithfield Market. There was 

 a curious circumstance in connection with 

 Jack. Years after his death some of his 

 offspring were being exhibited, when a 

 visitor from Rugby, admiring them, re- 

 marked upon their likeness to a dog that 

 he had lost in London. Dates and facts 

 were compared, and it transpired that the 

 lost dog and the butcher's dog were one and 

 the same, and that Jack was really of most 

 aristocratic pedigree. 



The names of the Rev. J. W. MeUor, 

 Mr. S. W. Wildman, Mrs. Giltrap, Mrs. 

 Cottrel Dormer, Mrs. Anstie, and Miss Pim 

 are closely associated with the history of 

 tile Italian Greyhound in Great Britain, 

 and among the more prominent owners of 

 the present time are the Baroness Campbell 

 von Laurentz, whose Rosemead Laura and 

 Una are of superlative merit alike in out- 

 line, colour, style, length of head, and grace 

 of action ; Mrs. Florence Scarlett, whose 

 Svelta, Saltarello, and Sola are almost equally 

 perfect ; Mrs. Matthews, the owner of 

 Ch. Signor, our smallest and most elegant 

 show dog ; and Mr. Charlwood, who has 

 exhibited many admirable specimens, among 

 them Sussex Queen and Sussex Princess. 



The Italian Greyhound Club of England 



