Grooming

Your breeder should be able to advise you on grooming your Spinone. Coats vary enormously, an easy coat may require nothing more than a regular brush through whilst a coat that is soft and woolly will be very difficult and time consuming to look after. Most fall in between these two extremes and have a coat that needs to be ‘hand-stripped’, literally meaning pulling the dead hair out with your fingers. This is a fairly easy procedure when their coat is ready to come out.  Start doing this when there are very young, nothing will come out then but they get used to the feeling of it.

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A Little History

Opinions vary widely concerning the origins of this dog. Some believe that he is descended from the same stock as the Setter and that climate alone has affected the development of his thick coat. However, since relatively ancient times, we find the Setter and the Spinone prevalent in the same areas, and for this reason this theory becomes untenable. Other commentators believe the Spinone to stem from the Coarsehaired Segugio, well known throughout the Piedmont. Nevertheless some writers claim that the Spinone was prevalent beyond the Piedmont, in Venetia, Dalmatia, Istria and as far as the Danube, which would support the theory that the Spinone came from the East.

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Food Intolerances

Feeding Matters – more!

You are what you eat – so the saying goes – and this is as true for your dog as it is for you.  We are well educated today about the benefits of a ‘good’ as opposed to ‘bad’ diet for our daily and long term health and well-being; evidence abounds about the many illnesses that are caused, and/or irritated, by an improper diet or food imbalance.   It is no different for your Spinone!    An incorrect diet may, at best, cause minimal, short term problems or, at worst, have longer term and more serious consequences.   A healthy diet keeps the whole body working in harmony.

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Feeding Matters

Feeding Matters                                                                    

Diet – according to the Collins English Dictionary – means 1. food that a person or animal regularly eats; and 2. specific allowance of food to control weight or for health reasons.   One of the Oxford English Dictionary definitions is ‘feed on special food as medical regimen or punishment’!

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