Tell me about Spinones! General Chat

I am always looking at dog breeds, considering which might be my next ha ha! I think I have fallen in love with what I have heard/seen of IS's. Can anyone tell me what it's like to own one? I currently have a lab and a wire viz so I'm thinking a Spinone wouldn't be a million miles away from what I am used to

ohh Italian Spinones are fab They are a great breed to own, so friendly and out going. Love nothing more than to run across the feilds then come home and lie at your feet.
Very Intelligent breed, very quick learners. That are always eager to please.
Their soppy, big friendly giants. Our lad Is now 9 and has not one bad bone In his body with other dogs or people. He has been a great compainion with the whole family (so defo family dogs).
He gets on with the Chinese Cresteds & JRT, and any other breeds we have had In for foster

Some people moan about the slobber, and the beard but I like It

It took us along along time to get him 'OK' with cats In the house and ones he would spot on the way to the feild. He would just lung and lung to get to It. we now have two cats and he Is fine with them, but It took alot of time and patients because he really did want to get to them and hurt them. So thats something to consider.

Ditto as above ... have owned or been owned by half a dozen Spinone over the years and they are the most lovable dogs you could wish to meet. With the most human eyes which look deep into your soul.
Slobber !!! you just get used to covering your cup when they shake lol and it hanging from the beams in the kitchen.
They have this bond with kids and are so gentle with them, my daughter was showing ours at the tender age of 7, Rowley was as tall as she was but would do anything for her.
Ours had no problems with cats or any other animals but where brought up on a farm, one other thing you have to take into consideration is that they work in front of you so if you want a dog that will stay at heal all the time forget it.
Mine as soon as off the lead where gone across the field and i spent many a happy hour waiting for them to re-appear from the denses brambles, but they never ran off.
They love water ... the beach was always a favorite so much that one of my boys would stand in the sea and refuse to come out if he knew we were going home, we had to play a game of hide and seek (daughter go hide behind lifrguard hut and get Nico to go find her) to get him out so we could grab him.
Love Italian Spinone so much .. wish i could afford one now.
Id ramble on all day about them.
Only problem i had with one of mine was food .. she even sussed out how to open the fridge to get to it and when we put a child lock on the said fridge she tore the bottom of the door out ..... try the club site for more spinone info http://www.italianspinone.co.uk/

can someone send a pic would like to no what spinones look like thanks

Look on the link to the Spinone club above ... full gallery there

Oh wow, they sounds just perfect! Thanks for the replies

Fable - 24hours old with his mum and litter mates.



13days old



2weeks old - He the orange and white that you can see the wee face of.



Then not long after coming home at 8weeks.







Now

Oh stop it! I can't take the absolute pure gorgeousness! How much grooming do they need?

Fabulous aren't they especially Fable,

I think you need to hand strip them??

haha thanks both, Yes they need hand striping.. which can be hard work.. but worth It.

thanks for info beautiful pictures what a great looking breed and i love the pale coloured one

I've never owned a Spinone but i've come across them in gundog training and agility (2 doing gundog stuff, 3 doing agility). I have to say, each one i've met doing either sport were useless, had no motivation and just no 'get up and go'. I'm not knocking the breed at all as they have amazing temperaments and just seem to love everyone and everything. As far as your lab and viz go, I wouldnt expect them to have the same energy levels but i've no doubt they would make a loveable and entertaining addition.

How bad is the slobber really?! We have a neo mastiff at training and tbh I just couldn't deal with that amount of slobber! It is actual drool? Wet beard? Be honest ha ha!

ETA- I've read that they can be quite smelly too, true or false?!

aw Fable had alot of get up and go before he started to get older, and suffered joint problems.
Spinones are sometimes refered to as clowns
The beard Isnt that bad, Its not so much slobber just when they have had a drink the water will drip from the beard, and god help you when they shake. You could always chase after the dog with a towel every time hes had a drink when In the house
I have never known them to be smelly, Fable defo Isnt!

I have met four on my travels and they are all fabulous tempered, two sadly have a numpty owner (she uses those awful collars:-( ), but that isn't their fault, they are all offlead and so easy going... a dog I would love to own in the future as I think they would be okay with the nutty setters!! I also LOVE Fable!!

What beautiful dogs, I think I may have seen one the other day, my partner asked what breed is that and my geek brain came to the conclusion Italian Spinone. We were driving with the windows open, I think the owner heard as he did a double take.

Also, a bit of slobber never hurt anyone, it just adds to the character

Fable would convert me to spinones even if I didn't already have a serious soft spot for them!! Was thinking about putting myself onto the spinone rescue waiting list before we knew about Griffin's litter so had done lots of research and spoke at length to one of the co-ordinators at crufts this year. She had 5 at the time said they were less scatty than setters with infinitely better recall (like that's hard though!) and they tend to roll in disgusting things a bit like all the other gundogs! The slobber is something learn to live with apparently, the lady i spoke to said she just kept a slobber cloth in the kitchen and welly room!

I love the brown roans, just fabulous. I think I've found me next breed! It won't be for a while though as 2 dogs are plenty for me at the moment Nice to dream though isn't it!

I don't own Spins and they aren't a breed for me at all, but two of my sisters have them. My younger sister just has the one, but my elder sister has four now and has had six in total over the years. She wouldn't have anything else.

They all have great temperaments and are big softies, but I definitely couldn't be doing with the amount of hair they shed (and it is that coarse, almost pig-like hair that gets everywhere), the slobber (it drips off the ceiling when they shake!) and the beard (that gets covered in food and worse and collects slobber too). They are also not really intelligent and active enough for me, although I did know a guy who bred them and he kept his really lean and they were highly trained and seemed pretty motivated too.

aw thanks both he sends you extra wet kisses!
we meet a gorgeous Spinone at crufts 08 her was 11 years old bless him and as fit as a fiddle. I so hope Fable lives a good life to then, but hes already suffering joint problems at 9.
The breeds avarge life expectancy Is around 8/9years. But I have seen many out like that by a couple of years.


I also love brown roans, and If I do go out and get myself a little Spinone In years to come I would be very Intrested In getting a brown roan