Spinone Italiano
Template:Short description Template:Infobox dog breed
The Spinone ItalianoTemplate:Efn is an Italian breed of hunting dog, traditionally used for tracking, for pointing and for retrieving game.Template:R
HistoryEdit
The origins of the Spinone are unknown.Template:R Rough-haired dogs of pointer type have been present in the Italian peninsula at least since the Renaissance. In a fresco painted by Andrea Mantegna in about 1470 in the Camera degli Sposi of the Ducal Palace of Mantua, in Lombardy, in northern Italy, a dog of this kind is shown lying under the chair of the duke, Ludovico III Gonzaga.Template:R Jacques Espée de Sélincourt, in his {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} of 1683, says of griffon dogs that "the best come from Italy and from Piedmont".Template:R
The modern Spinone originated in Piedmont, in north-western Italy, in the nineteenth century and was for some time the most important hunting breed of that region.Template:R During the Second World War it was much used by the partisans, both to track enemies and to carry food.Template:R After the War, breed numbers were much reduced; a breed society, the Famiglia dello Spinone, was formed in 1949,Template:R and the breed was reconstituted from about 1950 onwards.Template:R The Spinone was definitively accepted by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1955.Template:R A second breed society, the Club Italiano Spinoni, was established in 1973.Template:R
In the period from 2010 to 2018, new registrations in Italy varied from about 400 to about 650 per year; in every year, the orange-and-white colouring represented slightly over half of the total.Template:R
CharacteristicsEdit
The Spinone is roughly square in outline when seen from the side – the length of the body is approximately equal to the height at the withers. It is a strong, well-muscled and solidly-built dog suitable for hunting over any kind of ground. It swims well and enters cold or deep water without hesitation.Template:R
The coat is rough, thick and flat, with little undercoat; it is about Template:Convert long, rather shorter on the head, feet and front of the legs. Hair on the eyebrows and lips is longer and stiffer, thus forming a thick moustache and beard.Template:R It may be: solid white; white with orange speckling or markings; white with chestnut brown markings; or brown or orange roan.Template:R
A 2024 UK study found a life expectancy of 11.9 years for the breed compared to an average of 12.7 for purebreeds and 12 for crossbreeds.Template:R Neurological disorders that have been identified in the breed include cerebellar abiotrophyTemplate:R and idiopathic epilepsy.Template:R
- 05042333 Spinone weiss.jpg
Solid white
- 05042336 Spinone orange.jpg
Orange roan with orange markings
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
Template:Commonscat Template:Reflist
Further readingEdit
- Carolyn Fry (1999). The Italian Spinone. Havant, Hampshire: Kingdom Books. Template:Isbn.
- Derek Hall (2005). The Ultimate Guide to Dog Breeds. Broxbourne, Hertfordshire: Regency House. Template:Isbn.
- Peter Larkin, Mike J. R. Stockman (2008). The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Dogs, Dog Breeds & Dog Care. London: Hermes House. Template:Isbn.