Volpino Italiano
Michelangelo’s favorite breed
Original name: Volpino Italiano
Other Names: Volpino
Type: Lupoid
Male size: 10½-11¾ inches
Female size: 9¾-11 inches
Degree of grooming
5
Spitz and Primitive types
FCI
Countries of origin Italy
Did you know ?
Volpino Italianos have a very distinctive coat. The body appears to be swathed in a muff, especially on the neck, where it forms an abundant collar. The skull is covered with half-long hair that hides the base of the ears.
These small, very compact Spitz-type dogs have a square-shaped body, covered with long, stand-off hair. Volpino Italianos are lively, cheerful, playful dogs with a distinctive temperament that grow very fond of their home patch and their family.
Volpino Italiano In a few words :
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Head
Pyramid-shaped, length to the height at the withers ratio 4/10.
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Body
Square build.
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Coat
Solid white or solid red, champagne accepted but not sought after.
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Ears
Short, triangular, pricked, with rigid cartilage, turned forward.
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Tail
Extending from the line of the croup, always rolled over the back.
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Hair
Bushy, very long, standing off exceptionally.
Volpino Italianos belong to one of the breeds descended from the Spitz-type dogs that populated central Europe as early as the Bronze Age. Bone fossils have been found among the stones of lakeside settlements. As such, they have the same origins as the German Spitz, although the two breeds are cognates rather than blood relations. They have been bred in Italy since time immemorial, loved in palaces and hovels alike, especially for their guard instinct and vigilance. Perhaps most famously, it was the breed favored by Michelangelo. In the 18th century it was used by carters in Toscany and Lazio, Italy, barking as soon as strangers approached.
