To leash or not to leash?

Non-iggy dog owner friends say that their dogs must be off leash on walks to get exercise and that many dog owners are overly protective of their dogs. My breeder Gina of Celtic Sighthounds says that iggies should not be off leash unless they are in enclosed areas.

The debate on whether iggies should be on/off leash on walks comes up a few times a year on the iggy facebook groups. I often read through the comments on these debates and here's one that really resonated with me.

I occasionally take D'Oro off leash on short stretches of hikes, for example sections that are a bit rocky/difficult for us to walk together. Never near a road, and never near other off leash dogs that I can see. But I am even hesitant to do that after reading posts like the one above. It's one thing to hear anecdotes from folks who have had a handful of iggies in their lifetimes, and another to hear an anecdote from someone who's heard from hundreds of owners.

When she's off leash D'Oro stays very close to me. If she were to run off after a squirrel or bird, I'm confident she would quickly return. But it's always possible she could encounter an aggressive dog, or find something she shouldn't eat that would get her sick or injured. I don't worry much about wildlife, but coyotes, hawks and mountain lions are something others have worried about (possibly more of an issue in rural areas). While I know it's fun for her to run at full speed, this is also something that she can't do on a walk -- there are too many obstacles and uneven ground. So I think it's helpful to supplement walks with runs in large fenced in areas like schools and some parks. But it's important to have a good view of the entire fenced in area.

One time I let her run in a mostly fenced in area in the middle of a weekday when there are very few park users (also not a dog park). There was a small hill and behind it an off leash pitbull that I could not see. The pitbull saw D'Oro running and immediately chased after her. I thought for sure she would get caught and injured or worse. Fortunately, she was able to run enough to tire out the pitbull and the owner was able to catch and restrain it. But this was an awful, scary experience. I now know to make sure an area is dog free before letting D'Oro run.

Another time I was walking her and she found an incredibly interesting "stick". Since she was on a leash I was able to get most of it from her, and I realized it was a chicken bone! Other things that D'Oro would gladly eat are vomit (who knows what sickness caused the vomit) and horse poop (maybe ok? unless the horse was recently treated with de-worming medications, which are toxic). One time there was a mouse that was hanging out on the trail, which D'Oro gladly would have eaten had she been off leash.

Since holding a leash changes your walking gait, I like to attach a flexi leash to a $10 waist belt to walk D'Oro hands free. The flexi leash gives her some freedom, and I also stop and let her sniff things to make the walk more fun for her. The flexi leash could be an issue if an aggressive off leash dog came out of nowhere, but I guess that could be an issue even with a short leash.

I have a safety pin that keeps a short section of leash out at all times because D'Oro came leash trained. When I walk her wearing a martingale collar she uses the slack in the leash as feedback to know if she is in the correct position by my side. When I walk her in a harness she charges ahead, but she regularly stops and looks back to check in on me.

A leash works best for us, as it follows our breeder's advice, and we live in Salt Lake City where we frequently encounter aggressive dogs and chicken bones. Also, knowing where she is at all times gives me piece of mind. I try to get her to a large fenced in area where she can run 2-3x/week since I know she loves that. I hope it's helpful to be aware of these off leash dangers to help weigh the likelihood of bad things happening versus any benefits that you see for your dog.

Sleepy D'Oro after a good walkie.

D'Oro Cookie's Snowsuits

tldr: Of all the snowsuits and polartec fleece outfits that we've tried (about a dozen or so), our pick is the Dog Gear Ninja Fluffy. But I've also realized that D'Oro Cookie is much more sensitive to the cold than other iggies in her play group. She still gets shivery in her ninja fluffy on cold days, and we even use it in the middle of the Utah summer in canyons. While the ninja fluffy fits her and works pretty well, I'm still in the market for something warmer.

D'Oro Cookie was always shivering when I tried to take her on walks in the 20-30F Salt Lake City weather. It's at least partly out of her disdain for walks, but I figured it would be helpful to at least take the cold out of the equation! My focus was on snowsuits with a built in neck gaiter that would cover her ears, also called a "snood". Her ears are paper thin, and they always feel so cold after our walks! Her fashion jackets didn't have snoods, so prior to pursuing the snowsuits I tried hats and stand alone snoods. While the pom pom hats in particular are super cute, none of the hats/snoods stayed on well -- they seemed best for winter photoshoots rather than longer hiking days. :-) Here's a review of the snowsuits we tried that seemed pretty good, ordered approximately from warmest to coldest days.

For reference D'Oro Cookie is 11.5 lbs (5.2 kg), with an 18" chest (46 cm) and 14" back length (36 cm). And here she is in her cute pom pom hats from azulperrode!


1. Harvoola windproof jumpsuit. This is actually a raincoat or windbreaker rather than a snowsuit, but I've included it because it's well made and fits well. It would work best for a light rainy summer day or warmer spring/fall days. No good photos of D'Oro in this raincoat yet (but she's wearing it with the pink pom poms above), so here's a stock photo from harvoola. There was only this dark grey color available as shown in this photo, and she was between sizes small and medium. We went bigger to allow her to wear a fleece underneath, and the medium fit her perfectly! She seemed to enjoy her walk in this rain jacket, although she was a bit cold (on a windy day in the low 50s).

2. Helios Weather-King Jacket. This snowsuit is insulated with a heat reflective material and it's supposedly windproof and waterproof. We bought the yellow suit on sale from petco for $64, but there's also other fun colors including teal/orange and black/pink. The medium is a bit long (the neck piece/snood seemed to obstruct her view some), but the small was too small for her. Overall it fits her quite well -- she was able to move comfortably in it and the legs stayed on. In the photo she is wearing it with the snood folded down, but it can also be extended to cover her ears and held in place with two drawstring cords. It did seem like the snood was perhaps a bit too long for her, so I will likely have it altered. But too long is easier to fix than too short! Another nice feature is the hole for her harness, which allows us to take on/off the suit while keeping her harness on. Overall, this was probably the best deal of the suits that we tried. In spite of the Dog Gear Ninja Fluffy being warmer, I've decided to keep the Helios since it's helpful to have multiple jackets of varying warmth in SLC. D'Oro hiked nearly 4.5 miles up the Alpine loop road in American Fork, which is a record for her on snow. Temps were about 40-45F and there was some wind. This suit may not be warm enough on colder days because the insulating material is a bit thinner than the next two suits, but we have yet to try it on a colder day.

3. Dog Gear Ninja Fluffy. This snowsuit comes from the Czech Republic and was a bit pricier than the others at $143 after shipping, but it seems warm, well made and is a pretty good fit. It took about 2 months for us to get this suit because after contacting the company about shipping to the US, they put me in touch with someone who purchases these suits and then distributes them to US customers. Overall, that went quite smoothly though, so I have no complaints! The exterior is a wind and water resistant softshell, and the interior is a soft, thick fleece. D'Oro was again between sizes S1 and S2, and the manufacturer recommended the smaller size. The S1 is a bit snug but still fits her well. It worked well enough that she now also owns an S2! We took this out on a 30-35F day and it was the first time she walked on a day this cold without shivering. So that seems like a win! The snood covers her ears and seems like the perfect length to keep her warm without getting in her way. We got turquoise/grey but it also comes in a few other colors. This ended up being the best suit that we tried, both in terms of fit and warmth. I really love how the snood seems like the perfect length and sturdiness to keep her ears warm without bothering her. It's also very cute!

We have now used it for over a year, and this suit really is amazing. I took her out on a day that was close to 0F and she was fine when she was walking but shivery when she was riding in my ski backpack. I'm not sure if there is much out there that is warmer, but if I find something I'll update the blog! Here's an instagram video of her in the S2 size on a ski hike .

4. Hurtta Extreme Overall. This suit comes from Finland and is also made with heat reflective material similar to the Helios suit, but the insulation is notably thicker. The thicker insulation meant that this suit was bulkier than the others, but D'Oro didn't seem to mind and it kept her warm on a 40F day traveling on snow. Since I was looking for a warm suit, I really liked the thicker inslation, which gave it the feel of a real snow suit. I also liked the attachment option for her harnerss, similar to the Helios suit. What I did not like about this suit was the shorter neck piece/snood, which was made of a thinner, stretchy t-shirt like material. It unfortunately wasn't long enough and/or sturdy enough to keep her head and ears covered. I tried cinching down the drawstring to keep it in place, but it fell down before we even started walking. We got it in size 14S, and this seems like a pretty good size for D'Oro. It's a bit big except for the leg cuffs which were smaller than the other suits. The small cuffs coupled with a half zip made this suit tricker to get on than the others. There was only a dark grey color available when we bought off amazon ($107). In spite of being a well constructed suit that seemed very warm, I ended up returning it due to the snood issue.

Fashionable but less functional are the pink Canada Pooch slush suit, the SunteeLong gold jacket off of Amazon, and the Holo jacket by AuroraWilc on Etsy. The Canada Pooch slush suit is just a shell without insulating material, although it looks like there's also a Canada Pooch snowsuit which might be more like the Helios, I'm not sure. I didn't investigate because the slush suit fit was off for D'Oro -- size 14 was a bit too big (legs fall off unless she wears a fleece underneath) and size 12 was too small. The gold jacket (size XL) is a bit snug, but seems warm except that there's no option to cover her ears. Unfortunately, she refuses to walk in her cute gold jacket!! My favorite fashion jacket is her newest jacket from AuroraWilc in size S3. If you're interested in this jacket you might also consider the belly warmer version. There's a short video of her wearing this jacket on instagram (@iggydorocookie from 4/5/22).

First 3 Weeks

I picked up D'Oro Cookie just over 3 weeks ago now (1/27) from the Philadelphia airport. The flight home was a bit challenging for us both! American Airlines wouldn't let us fly with them because she appeared too big for her carrier. I had the Mr. Peanuts carrier, but from the facebook groups it sounds like folks have had more luck with the cheaper sherpa carriers. D'Oro Cookie was only 10.5 pounds, but she's a lot of leg, and she wasn't excited to be in a carrier with someone she didn't know. When she's nervous she freezes with legs fully extended, and I honestly couldn't blame the AA attendents for not letting us fly. They said they require dogs to "stand up turn around and lay down in the carrier", and D'Oro Cookie was frozen with her head cratering one side of the carrier. Fortunately, I was able to get a flight that same day with Frontier, but the downside was an itinerary that required us to spend about 16.5 hours in airports (10 hours in Philly and 6.5 hours in Denver International). On both legs of my flight I slightly opened one of the carrier flaps (once to pet her, 2nd flight to give her a blanket as she was shivering), and she ninja-ed out onto my lap! Take-off was by far the most troubling for her, and she was able to calm down during the flights. But, she also rode on my lap for both flights, so that probably helped too. :-)

D'Oro Cookie's favorite things are cuddles, lap time and napping. Walks are not her favorite, but her paws have now built up some calluses, and she seems pretty happy with 1.5 mile walks. She's great at trying on new clothes and even snow boots don't seem to bother her (as long as they stay on ok). She now has a couple different jacket/snow suits and a performance fleece underlayer. The combination of a fleece and jacket seem to work pretty well, although she still shakes some times.

Other people (including my husband Ken) and dogs make her nervous. Ken's started a routine of feeding her chicken each day though, and that seems to be helping. On our walks, she typically freezes when people approach. It seemed like dogs did not bother her as much as people at first, but then a larger off-leash dog approached her and it was terrifying. And now all dogs are terrifying. We are walking daily, and overall she has improved quite a lot since the first couple of days.

Yesterday she had her first vet appointment, and while I'm sure the experience was terrifying, she was very happy and excited once we returned home. Her teeth have quite a bit of plaque buildup for her age, so we are scheduling a dental with her spay in May.

It has been a lovely first few weeks, and I'm looking forward to turning her into an adventure dog! It will take some time, but I also don't mind if she adventures from my arms or a backpack. :)

How to find an Italian Greyhound?

Italian Greyhound rescue is a great place to start (https://www.igrescue.com/). Adult dogs are easier to care for than puppies, but this breed is notorious for house-breaking issues, so it's likely you will still have some house-training work to do. The next best approach is to support reputable breeders. The IG breed has known health problems such as progressive retinal atrophy PRA (blindness), periodontal disease (tooth loss), bone breaks, epilepsy (seizures) and autoimmune disease. Good breeders perform DNA tests and other health checks prior to breeding their dogs. They also show the parents to get confirmation from the community that their dogs have high quality builds and dispositions.

I'm a bit embarassed to say, but I had a misconception that only people who want to show dogs look for top of the line breeders. Top breeders are not breeding for the purpose of creating show dogs but for the purpose of improving the dog breed. Going with a reputable breeder helps insure a healthier, happier pet, and supports the initiative to further the quality of the IG breed. While it may cost more money up front (possibly $500-$1500 more), it could save money in vet bills! Also, I'm not certain that it is even more expensive to use a reputable breeder, as many of the backyard breeders (ex. on pupfinder) were charging $2,500-3,000. I paid $2,000 for D'Oro in 2022.

How to find a reputable breeder? If you have local breeders, it's much easier to go through them than having to travel with your pup! I was fortunate to have two local breeders who are simply amazing! Holly of Silvani and Layle of Voici Italian Greyhounds were both great resources for me. I met them and their pups, which helped me verify that I wanted to pursue my own pup. Also, Layle was one of the pioneers of the genetic testing for IGs, and she told me about a newer autoimmune haplotype test that she helped develop (DLA I and II haplotype diversity analysis). Unfortunately, they both had waitlists for their pups, which is common for good breeders!

Since I wanted to get a pup soon, the best resource I found was the AKC website. The nice thing about the AKC website is that they tell you who currently has puppies availble for sale, and the puppies posted for sale on AKC also typically include the AKC names of the parents, so you can look them up on the IG breed archive (https://italiangreyhound.breedarchive.com/). You might also cross-check the AKC breeder with the Italian Greyhound Club of America Breeder Referrals . You can also use the "testmating" feature to see what the coefficient of inbreeding (COI) is for their puppies, by putting in the AKC parent names and clicking "pedigree analysis". For example, D'Oro's parents are Piccino Whispering Jack and Maplewood's to the Moon. If I testmate them and click pedigree analysis, I get a COI of 5.23% for 10 generations which met my criteria of a COI of <10% (I found that rule of thumb somewhere online). You can also see if the parents or their relatives have been successful show dogs (prefixes such as US GR CH, US CH, etc) along with photos. While you may not be interested in showing your dog, being a successful show dog is a quality check for both health and temperament. If the breeder won't share the AKC names of the parents, that's a red flag to me!

After finding candidates on AKC, step 2 was to find out if genetic testing had been done on the parents. I asked the breeders if the parents were genetic tested, and what their results were. If you have the AKC names/IDs of the parents, you may be able to find the genetic test results yourself using the Orthopedic Foundation For Animals website. The conventional genetic tests for this breed are: enamel hypoplasia, glaucoma, and PRA. Enamel hypoplasia and glaucoma are single locus recessive diseases, so as long as one parent is homozygous normal, the pups have no chance of inheriting these conditions. PRA is a bit more complicated because there are multiple loci involved, but it is also a recessive condition. For an interpretation of PRA results see: https://vgl.ucdavis.edu/test/pra-susceptibility-ig. Extra credit to breeders with DLA results!

D'Oro Cookie came from Celtic Sighthounds, but was bred by someone who was no longer in the breeding business. From the AKC site I saw that she had champions in both parental lineages, and a good COI. Her DNA is not perfect, as she is at a slight increase in risk for PRA (5x), but that was acceptable to me.

A big shout out to both Holly and Layle, who were super helpful to me in vetting possible breeders!! Holly also recommended obtaining a "show stack" for both parents to help examine structural soundness.