The Volpino Italiano is a rare but ancient breed of dog that nearly went extinct but is now enjoying a comeback. Also known as the Italian Volpino, Italian Spitz, Florentine Spitz and Cane de Quirinale, the Volpino is an ancestor of both the Eskimo Dog and the Pomeranian.
The Volpino is a small dog usually weighing around nine pounds and just under one foot in height at the withers. Most are solid white, though red, champagne, and mixed colors are sometimes found. It has a typical spitz morphology: a fox-like face, small upright triangular ears, square in proportion, and covered with a long glassy coat that forms a muff around the neck.
Bred as companion and watch dogs in Italy for over 2,000 years, the Volpinos are very attached to their family and wary of strangers. They are a very healthy breed with no known common genetic problems and with an average life span of about fifteen years.
Volpinos were popular with Italian nobility and commoner alike for many centuries. Travelling merchants tied Volpinos to their carts to warn of potential theives, while Italian farmers used them to alert mastiffs and other guard dogs when strangers encroached on their land. Remains of Volpinos, sometimes with ornate collars, have been found in ancient excavation sites and were dipicted in ancient artwork. Michelangelo, the famous Italian artist, owned a Volpino that sat on a pillow and watched his master paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
In 1888 Queen Victoria of Great Britain discovered Volpinos while on vacation in Italy and brought some of them home. She cross bred them with imported German Spitz, close cousins of the Volpino, obtaining the foundation stock for the modern Pomeranian breed.
Italian immigrants to the United States brought Volpinos to the new world, but they were crossed with other breeds and never became a recognized breed in the U.S. The American Eskimo Dog is strongly believed to be a descendant of Volpinos and white German Spitz.
For unknown reasons, interest in pure-bred Volpinos fell in Italy in the early and mid twentieth century. By 1965 only a handful of Volpinos were registered with the ENCI (Italian national kennel club), with none registered ten years later. In 1984 Italian dog lovers set out to rescue and revive Volpinos and other rare Italian breeds. Italian farms, where Volpinos had been bred unregistered for centuries, were scoured for specimens that matched the strict breed standard. These 'rescued' dogs provided the foundation stock for the modern registered pure-breds.
Unknown outside of Italy and rare in its homeland, the Volpino is slowly making a comeback.
For more information about the Volpino Italiano, please visit the Volpino Club of the U.S. at http://www.VolpinoClub.us
By: Kevin Joiner
Webmaster for the Volpino Club of the U.S. (http://www.VolpinoClub.us)
