Italian Greyhound Colors, Patterns, and Markings
People often do not know what color or pattern their dogs have, or the markings which can help identify their dogs if lost or found. Sometimes it is tricky to determine, but more often than not it is pretty straight forward.
The Rainbow of Italian Greyhound Colors
Although IGs do not come in green, yellow or purple, there is a wide variety of colors you will see for Italian Greyhounds, and each is shown below with pictures demonstrating that color. We have tried to organize similar looking colors together to hopefully illustrate the differences between them.
- Sable - A red Italian Greyhound with a stripe of darker hair down their back.
- Red - A burnt orange color tending to be more reddish in color.
- Red Fawn - A cream or light brown color tinted slightly reddish.
- Fawn - A cream to light brown color.
- Blue Fawn - A cream or light brown color with a blue hue.
- Blue - This is kind of a greyish color with a hint of blue to it. Most commonly when people think of the color blue in dogs, the Weimaraner breed comes to mind.
- Chocolate - Similar to the color of a milk chocolate candy.
- Seal - Seal can sometimes be hard to distinguish from black, but it is lighter with more of a grey or brownish hue when viewed, similar to a dark chocolate candy.
- Black - Best described as "jet black" with no hint of brown, red, blue or seal colors. One of the less common colors seen in Italian Greyhounds and usually quite striking looking.
- White - A pure white, not cream or tan colored, often accompanied by a pied or ticking pattern, and hardly ever solid white.
Italian Greyhound Patterns & Markings
- Solid - Where the entire body of the dog is either completely one color or with very little white showing on the lower part of their chest, tummy or feet.
- Irish - The white pattern has created a collar of white that extends up around their neck, but not on to the sides of the body, or too far up the legs.
- Wild Irish - The white parts of the pattern have gone crazy, and have extended past the neck, to a higher position on the sides of the dog's body, and/or covering the dogs legs completely.
- Pied - Basically the dog will have spots or splashes of a color on a base coat of white. The spots can be large or small across the entire body, or limited to just one area of the head or torso.
The patterns above may or may not have each of the following features...
- w/Ticking - Ticking marks appear underneath the coat and appear to be birth-type marks but do not affect the color of the overlying hair.
- w/Solid Colored Face or Head - A solid colored head or face with no disruptions in the color, other than maybe grey hairs that develop with age.
- w/Split Face - A face that has two sides each with a different color. Not just a fine line that goes up their nose, but two different colors on either side of the head.
One color NOT seen in Italian Greyhounds is brindle, which is commonly seen in their larger cousins, the Whippet and (full-size) Greyhound...
And for Fun...
- Old Dog Masks - Yeah, dogs get grey too. Those with white faces tend to age more gracefully though.
- Not an Italian Greyhound...
