Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Spinone Italiano

Oh, crap, I totally lost track of this.

The Spinone is a very social dog. They want to meet, greet and get to know everyone. Friendly is an understatement.

Since the Spin is relatively new to the US (they weren't even AKC recognized until 2000) they are few and far between. Unfortunately there are a few, very few, actually damn few, careless breeders so the chances of getting a quality dog are rather high.
A vast majority of breeders are truly dedicated to maintaining breed standards, and that includes the natural hunting abilities of their dogs/pups.

If/when you go to meet a breeder (they're going to insist on it), take the whole family. The misses, and children especially, will enjoy getting to meet the dogs.

Now, when I first started researching sporting breeds, for my first one, I had certain criteria that needed met. The most important being I can't go charging off across a section behind a fast and far ranging dog such as a GSP. The Spin was the only breed I found that works close by nature. I also wanted a breed that is not known for biting just anyone who comes inside the fence such as a meter reader or arrant child. I found only one instance of biting, and those two dogs deterred an attempted mugging/rape. Are they a good watch dog that will bark? Yes, just don't expect one to rip a burglars face off as he comes through a window. And last, I wanted a dog good with other household pets since we have cats.



Don't let that pic fool you, they have a very intense prey drive. They simply learn that some small animals aren't prey.

I guess the most important tip I could give is. When you first contact a breeder ask if their dog/s are on the DNA registry. They will either know what you are referring to, or they won't. I'll explain in a moment, but you don't want a breeder who's dogs aren't on the registry. Most all conscientious breeders will have had their dogs DNA run and will, to the best of their ability, avoid breeding carriers.

The registry will tell whether or not their blood lines are CA clear or not.
CA is cerebellar ataxia.
http://www.akcchf.org/news-events/library/articles/cerebellar-ataxia-ca-in-the.html
Do Not let this scare you off the Spinone. It is Not a breed specific condition. Any breed of dog can be clear, carrier or affected. It becomes a problem with the Spinone because there are so few of them compared to the more popular breeds like Wiem's or GSP's. With such a small gene pool, careless breeders pose a major risk.