The Spinone Italiano ITS PAST IS ITS PRESENT BY SUZANNE HUDSON
P icture the slopes of the Italian Alps, long ago. Imagine the aristocracy out on their horses with their hunting companions in the flat, grassy fields below. They will go home at the end of the day, tired and laughing, to enjoy a feast with their friends. Further up the mountains, you will find a different type of hunter, one who hunts for dinner, not for sport. The mountainsides are steeper and more treacherous. The under- brush is dense and thorny, and the winters are hard. Game can be scarce and the birds are wild, wild, wild. Here, the people are poor and must scratch a living in this rocky terrain. If they cannot fill
the pot by hunting, their family will go hungry. These are peas- ants, and here you find the Spinone working beside them. Today, there is a grocery store in every town and most of us hunt more for sport than for necessity. We can drive out to the Dakotas to cross those broad acres, bring our blinds to the water to wait for ducks, or head into the woods to seek the wild Grouse and the elusive Woodcock, the queen of the woods, as we please. Still, we work to preserve the Spinone breed, even though we no longer rely on it to feed our families.
302 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, MAY 2023
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