Home / Questions / Italian Greyhound
On the evidence of its record, Good with children is the Italian Greyhound's standing with children, supervision assumed as with any dog. Behind the verdict sits a temperament described as Graceful, gentle, independent and quiet at home, plus energy at 3/5 and a stranger record of Reserved with strangers.
With energy at 3 out of 5, neither couch dog nor athlete, the Italian Greyhound fits owners whose routine already holds an hour or so outdoors. The energy score colours the pairing too: at 3/5, an Italian Greyhound joins children's games at a tempo the household should picture honestly.
The growth record behind the breed: an Italian Greyhound puppy weighs 8 weeks at about 1 to 3 lb, 6 months at about 4 to 9 lb, 9 months at about 6 to 11 lb, on the way to 7.0 to 14 lb fully grown at 13 to 15 inches. Standard colors: solid black, grey or isabelline. The breed belongs to the Hound group and its home ground is Italy.
Photographs lie about this pairing both ways; the real evidence is an Italian Greyhound choosing the children's company on ordinary afternoons, free to leave it.
Context from the wider record: the Italian Greyhound stands in the Hound group, originates from Italy, and carries a temperament summarised as Graceful, gentle, independent and quiet at home.
For gentle households wanting a living artwork that is also a cuddle devotee, few breeds compare. An Italian Greyhound is one of the great apartment dogs: tiny, quiet at home, nearly odour free, graceful in small spaces and content with modest exercise. Families that do best give the Italian Greyhound a quiet retreat children never enter, food and chews in peace, and praise when it walks away from irritation.
A Italian Greyhound that is included, exercised and allowed to retreat becomes the dog its Good with children rating describes, and the centre of family memory for years.
Other pets follow the dog record, Usually good with dogs, as their starting point in an Italian Greyhound household, with introductions managed on neutral ground. At 2 out of 5 for barking, the Italian Greyhound announces little and settles fast, one of the easier breeds for shared walls.
Children old enough to ask for the dog are old enough for a share of its routine, and an Italian Greyhound bonds fastest with whoever feeds and walks it.
The candidates share the record on this page: Good with children with children, Reserved with strangers with strangers and trainability to pass the assessments. Plenty of Italian Greyhounds do the work beautifully; the individual dog's enjoyment of it is the deciding test.
Children old enough to follow handling rules, usually school age and up, get the best of a breed rated Good with children. At 7.0 to 14 lb the practical question cuts both ways: small children can hurt a small Italian Greyhound, and a big one can bowl a small child over without malice.
Fetch, hide and seek with the dog searching, and simple training tricks the children teach themselves all work. Games that wind an Italian Greyhound up beyond its judgement, wrestling and chase grabbing, are the ones adults should retire early.
Indoors, usually very happily: most Italian Greyhounds live peaceably with cats they know, and the two often share the warmest spot in the house.
The honest Italian Greyhound budget: food, insurance, year one and the lifetime total, worked out from the breed's own record.
On the evidence of its record, Good with children is the Dalmatian's standing with children, supervision assumed as with any dog.
Last updated: November 6, 2026