Ibizan Hound

Usually quiet indoors, with a strong urge to chase.
An Ibizan Hound
Photo: Tux-Man
Adult male
20–25 kg
45–55 lb
Adult female
18–23 kg
41–50 lb
Lifespan
11–14 yrs
Class · Sport
also Field, Companion

What it's like

By temperament it is even-tempered, loyal and active. It is affectionate with its own household, reserved with strangers and inclined to think for itself. The urge to chase stays strong, though it is usually calm and quiet indoors.

Day to day
Activity
Needs lots of exercise
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Needs steady training
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Bonded to its family
Independence
Decides for itself
Around the home
Sensitivity
Average
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Likely to chase small pets
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
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Living with one

How it sheds and the grooming it needs depend on the coat. It needs a moderate amount of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

An Ibizan Hound is a medium dog, heavier than a Border Collie and lighter than a Golden Retriever. Males end up a little heavier than females. Its weight is an estimate, not a published figure.

In appearance it is fine-boned and deer-like, with a long, narrow head, large upright ears that are highly mobile, amber eyes and a flesh-coloured nose. The coat may be smooth or wire-haired and is white, red, or a mixture of the two. The dog moves with a light, springy action. It can leap high from a standstill, which it does in the field to spot quarry hidden in dense cover.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 3 months, a male Ibizan Hound puppy is already as heavy as a grown Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
11 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight6
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
01020302m4m6m9m12m18m
01020302m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
4.4–5.4 kg 9.7–11.9 lb
4.4–5.4 kg 9.7–11.9 lb
3 months
6.5–8.0 kg 14.3–17.6 lb
6.3–7.7 kg 13.9–17.0 lb
4 months
9.5–11.6 kg 20.9–25.6 lb
9.0–11.0 kg 19.8–24.3 lb
5 months
12.2–14.9 kg 26.9–32.8 lb
11.3–13.9 kg 24.9–30.6 lb
6 months
14.6–17.8 kg 32.2–39.2 lb
13.3–16.2 kg 29.3–35.7 lb
7 months
16.3–19.9 kg 35.9–43.9 lb
14.7–18.0 kg 32.4–39.7 lb
8 months
17.6–21.5 kg 38.8–47.4 lb
15.7–19.2 kg 34.6–42.3 lb
9 months
18.5–22.6 kg 40.8–49.8 lb
16.5–20.1 kg 36.4–44.3 lb
10 months
19.1–23.3 kg 42.1–51.4 lb
17.0–20.8 kg 37.5–45.9 lb
11 months
19.5–23.8 kg 43.0–52.5 lb
17.4–21.2 kg 38.4–46.7 lb
12 months
19.8–24.1 kg 43.7–53.1 lb
17.6–21.5 kg 38.8–47.4 lb
15 months
20.3–24.7 kg 44.8–54.5 lb
18.2–22.2 kg 40.1–48.9 lb

Lifespan

No vet study has measured how long Ibizan Hounds live yet. The 11–14 years shown is a general figure without a published source.

Where it comes from

The Ibizan Hound, the Podenco Ibicenco, belongs to the Balearic Islands and is also widespread in Catalonia, the Valencia area, Roussillon and Provence; the islands probably received it from the Phoenicians, Carthaginians and, later, the Romans. It hunts rabbit without a gun, by day or night, relying on scent and hearing before sight, usually in packs made up of bitches. Island isolation kept its type consistent4,7.

The Ibizan Hound is a lean, long-legged hunting dog shaped by generations of island countrymen who worked it over rough, stony scrub and kept it for usefulness rather than looks. Its likeness to the dogs shown in ancient Egyptian art is often pointed out, but any direct descent is told, not known. The breed became known outside Spain in the twentieth century. Dogs taken to the United States in the nineteen-fifties started interest there, and it became established in Britain in the following decades.

Breed standard

The Ibizan Hound is judged against standard no. 89, in group 5, Spitz and primitive types4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Ibizan Hound figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a medium-sized breed is most likely somewhere in the middle.

Compare with related

Siberian Husky
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Canaan Dog
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Norwegian Elkhound
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Samoyed
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Or compare the Ibizan Hound with any breed you choose
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Sources

Uncited on this page: Lifespan — no reviewed source yet, so it is a general reference figure rather than a published one.
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Parts of this page were written by AI ·