Hi ebber one.  My name is Ranger, and I is de model dogger for de hound "Pio" in PORTRAIT OF A LADY.  Yep, dat's me on de cover. De man who drew de piktur used a real life piktur of me!  My mom sez I is a better lookin' cover model den Fabio, whoebber HE is!  (Probbablee a poodle, BOL*) 

Anyhows, I is a Italian Greyhound.  Dat is NOT de same thing as a Whippet an' I is NOT a mini Greyhound.  We is our bery own breed.  We has been dogs for a LONG time...way back in de olden days when peoples used us to chase other aminals.  We's came from Turkeys an' Grease (dat sounds good, now I is hungery).  But ebber one liked us bestest back when Leonardo was paintin', so dat's why we is called Italian Greyhounds.

An' my mom sez we are de bestest doggers in de world.  My sister Delta is a Iggy, too.  We gots another sister Rika who is a min-pin an' a big brother who is a Australian Shepherd, but we's just calls him a big fluff-head, BOL!  Here is some pikturs of me an' some stuffers about Iggies.  Habs fun readin' it.  Yer friend, Ranger a.k.a. Pio.

P.S. -- I typered dis all by myself!

*my dogger friend Rudy sez dat means "Bark Out Loud"

Dis is me makin' sure no ones steals my pigger ear!

Dis is my bad sister Rika (Mom calls her de RED ROCKET) sleepin' wid de kitty SUNDANCE and pertendin' to be goods.  Userly Rika is all barky and fighty, ha ha!



Me an' my brudder Ollie-bear (an' Mom an' Dad) raised monies to helps de March of Dimes. 

Dis is me an' my sister Delta sleepin' on a car trip. De cooler makers a good pillows!



This is Ranger a.k.a Pio's mom stopping in for some sad news about Ranger's sister, Delta. Our  beautiful princess pup passed away July 2011. We all miss her terribly. RIP little Delta.

If you wants to learns more about Iggies, my mom said you should see the webpage for the Italian Greyhound Club of America!  An' you can goes to Iggy Planet to talk about Iggies.



My daddy is a "Occupational Dog Bite Safety Trainer"!  Dat means he teaches peoples how not to get bitered by dogs, cause some doggers are BAD or SCARED and deys can hurts you.  He had to put on a funny suit and let a big dogger bite his arm.  De big dogger is called a Tosa and it's namer is Akiha.  Dat means Rising Sun in Japanese but it also is a beer, BOL!  Daddy ain't scared of dis beer dog!

My mom says not ebber one should hab an Iggy, eben tho we IS cute.  We is stubborn an' we is bark-y, an' we has skinny leggers dat can BREAK!  I broked my legger an' it hurted BAD.  Mom said it costed lots to fix it.  Also, we is hard to housebreak.  We think it is funny to pee-pee on de carpet instead of outside.  I don't know why dat is bad.  Would YOU like to pee-pee on de grass?  Mom said dat is why she named me "Pio" in de book, BOL! 

But some mean peoples send Iggies to a badder place called de SHELTER if dey pee-pee inside.  She says do somethin' called RESEARCH if you wants a Iggy.  An' you can gets Iggies at a place she calls RESCUE where's dey find homes for Iggies dat no one wants (*cry, cry*).  Cause all doggers, 'specially IGGIES, should hab foreber homes! 

Luv, Ranger a.k.a. Pio

Here is famous pikturs about Iggies! 

Dis is a piktur of Iggies in de olden days.  We's been around for ebber!

Dis piktur looks like me an' my brudder Ollie-bear!!

 Dis is a Christmas piktur. De Iggy tinks all de gifts are for him!!

Here's another Iggy piktur.  It looks like de Iggy is sniffin' her butt, BOL!



Dis is a piktur dat Leonardo painted of an Iggy! It's called de Mona Leash-a.

Ha, ha, just kiddin'!  Dat is ME lookin' silly