These two tiny gentlemen are Chester (left) and Piccolo (right), a pair of Italian greyhounds. I met them several weeks ago in Islington, and as none of the photos I took of them were good enough I decided not to publish this entry. Today, I browsed through the photos again and when I saw Piccolo and Chester's little faces staring at me from the screen, I realised that it wasn't the quality of the photos that mattered, but telling their story.
Chester and Piccolo were rescued from a breeder who abused and mistreated Chester so badly that he has only four teeth left. The woman was stripped of her breeder licence and banned from breeding or keeping dogs for 12 years. It is hard to comprehend why anyone would hurt a dog, especially a dog so delicate, defenceless and gentle like an Italian Greyhound.
Despite these traumatic experiences, Chester and Piccolo are both trusting and loving, and are great with children. Chester is a little bit timid, while Piccolo is more daring, especially where food is involved. He jumped up to me the moment he saw the box of treats in my hand. In fact, he seemed to want both his and Chester's share, trying to pinch as many as possible right from underneath Chester's nose. Piccolo's penchant for food may explain his, shall we say, curvier figure.
Italian Greyhound is the smallest of the sighthounds (the group includes greyhounds, whippets, etc), and belongs to the Toy category. The graceful greyhound phisique, paired with a dimunitive size, gives Italian Greyhounds the unusual and exquisite look of a porcelain figurine. They are affectionate, loving and playful, so make wonderful companions.
More about Italian Greyhound: The Italian Greyhound Club
See another greyhound from Islington, called Alfie
