Segugio Italiano (Short-haired)
🧠 Temperament & character
The short-haired Segugio Italiano is passionate, enduring and focused on the hunt, but at home shows a gentle, affectionate and even-tempered nature. He bonds closely with his family and is friendly and sensitive towards them. His pronounced scenting and hunting drive clearly determines his behaviour outdoors. Strangers he usually meets calmly and without excitement.
📜 Origin & history
The Segugio Italiano is one of the oldest hunting dogs of Europe; its ancestors probably go back to ancient running and pack hounds of the Mediterranean region, as depicted as far back as Roman times. For centuries it served throughout Italy for hare hunting, singly or in a small pack. The short-haired variety is registered by the FCI under no. 337. In Italy it is to this day one of the most popular hunting dogs, but outside the country it is rarer.
✂️ Grooming, care & training
The short-haired Segugio Italiano's short, glossy coat is decidedly easy to care for and needs only occasional brushing. As an athletic hunter, on the other hand, he needs a great deal of exercise and plenty of scent work to be physically and mentally content. He is intelligent and, with gentle consistency, easy to train, but on a fresh trail he follows his strong instinct. Recall training and secure terrain are therefore indispensable.
🩺 Health
The short-haired Segugio Italiano is a robust, athletic breed with a life expectancy of about twelve to fourteen years and few strongly pronounced hereditary diseases. He owes his sporty, natural constitution to the long selection for hunting performance. As with all scent hounds, the drooping ears should be checked regularly and, after hunting outings, attention should be paid to injuries and ticks. Responsible breeders rely on healthy, high-performing and sound-tempered parent animals.
🏡 Who is this breed right for?
The short-haired Segugio Italiano is first and foremost a hunting dog and suits best active people with a connection to hunting or to endurance sport. Thanks to his gentle nature he can also be a good family dog in an active, rural home, provided he is given enough to do. For a pure city flat without occupation he is unsuitable; ideal are a house, a garden and plenty of exercise. In Switzerland he is rare and found above all among owners interested in hunting.