Contents

Spinone Italiano

Brown roan

Italy

Females

58–65 cm^[2]

Males

32–37 kg^[2]

Females

28–30 kg^[2]

rough, thick and flat

solid white, white with brown or orange markings, or brown or orange roan

standard

The Spinone Italiano^[a] is an Italian breedofhunting dog, traditionally used for tracking, for pointing and for retrieving game.^[1][3][4][5]

History[edit]

The origins of the Spinone are unknown.^[1]: 250 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 PalaceofMantua, in Lombardy, in northern Italy, a dog of this kind is shown lying under the chair of the duke, Ludovico III Gonzaga.^[1]: 250 Jacques Espée de Sélincourt, in his Le Parfait Chasseur of 1683, says of griffon dogs that "the best come from Italy and from Piedmont".^{[6][7]: xxviii}

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.^[1]: 250 During the Second World War it was much used by the partisans, both to track enemies and to carry food.^[1]: 250 After the War, breed numbers were much reduced; a breed society, the Famiglia dello Spinone, was formed in 1949,^[8] and the breed was reconstituted from about 1950 onwards.^[9] The Spinone was definitively accepted by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1955.^[10] A second breed society, the Club Italiano Spinoni, was established in 1973.^[8]

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.^[3]

Characteristics[edit]

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.^[9]

The coat is rough, thick and flat, with little undercoat; it is about 4 to 6 cm (1.5 to 2.5 in) 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.^[6] It may be: solid white; white with orange speckling or markings; white with chestnut brown markings; or brown or orange roan.^[6]

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.^[11] Neurological disorders that have been identified in the breed include cerebellar abiotrophy^[12]: 308 and idiopathic epilepsy.^[13]

• 
  Solid white
• 
  Orange roan with orange markings

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spinone Italiano.

Further reading[edit]