“My husband likes to say the Italian greyhounds are like greyhounds hit with a shrink ray,” Michelle Price quips.
Price wanted an “Iggy” because they love to cuddle. She had a miniature poodle as a child that hated cuddling, so it was important to find a dog that liked to snuggle up on the couch or bed.
“They call Italian greyhounds the Velcro dog because they are constantly touching you or in your lap or snuggling up to you,” she says.
And her wish came true. Now, her three dogs — Moss, Ivy and Oak — sleep in bed with her and her husband, Tony, under the blanket. “We have a king-size bed, so we’ve room for everyone,” she says.
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Photos by Michelle Price
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Photos by Michelle Price
Price came up with their names because the breed was popular amongst royalty during the Renaissance, known for keeping their royal owners warm at night.
Moss was Price’s first Iggy, who she got while she lived in an apartment. She got Ivy and Oak later, after she and Tony moved into a house.
“Moss is 9 years old now,” she says. “He’s what I call my soul dog — that one dog in your life that you have a special connection with. That’s Moss.”
Price is a registered vet tech and a certified dog trainer, so Moss was the test case for her studies. “As I was learning the anatomy of the dog, he was the one I would do exams on,” she says. “Then as a dog trainer, I worked with him and trained him for the program.”
Like many pet owners on Instagram, Price says she didn’t want to inundate her friends with photos of her dogs, so she started her account, Moss, Ivy and Oak.
“I was posting so many pictures on my own social media. I thought, People have got to be sick of seeing pictures of my dogs,” she says. “I decided to give them their own designated Instagram page. That way, if friends wanted to follow and see all the crazy pictures I was posting, they could do so.”
