The Piccolo Segugio dell'Appennino is a small hound

Hound

A hound is a type of dog that assists hunters by tracking or chasing the animal being hunted. It can be contrasted with the gun dog, which assists hunters by identifying the location of prey, and with the retriever, which recovers shot quarry...

 that is relatively common along the appennine mountain range of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is a variety of the Piccolo Lepraiolo Italiano.
This hound stands at most 48 centimetres to the withers

Withers

The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height .-Horses:The withers in horses are formed by the dorsal spinal processes of roughly the...

 and is found both with smooth and rough coats. It is mostly used for hunting hare

Hare

Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...

s, although it can occasionally hunt wild boar as well.

The Società Italiana Pro Segugio (Italian Association for Scenthounds) gathered 1450 specimens of this dogs in the year 2000 by scouring the Italian countryside and registered a total of 824 dogs as breed

Breed

A breed is a group of domestic animals or plants with a homogeneous appearance, behavior, and other characteristics that distinguish it from other animals or plants of the same species. Despite the centrality of the idea of "breeds" to animal husbandry, there is no scientifically accepted...

 founders, thus guaranteeing ample genetic variability

Genetic variability

Genetic variability is a measure of the tendency of individual genotypes in a population to vary from one another. Variability is different from genetic diversity, which is the amount of variation seen in a particular population. The variability of a trait describes how much that trait tends to...

 within the breed. The breed was eventually recognized by ENCI, the Italian kennel Club.

The standard is as follows

• Small hound, a specialist for hunting hare.
• Height at withers: males 42–46 cm. Females 40–44 cm
• Mesocephalic head, whose length is 4,5/10 of the dogs height at the withers. The skull
  Skull
  The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates...
  
   is a little longer than the muzzle
  Snout
  The snout, or muzzle, is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw.-Terminology:The term "muzzle", used as a noun, can be ambiguous...
  
  , with the top being slightly convex
• The trunk can be inscribed in a rectangle
• The croup
  Croup
  Croup is a respiratory condition that is usually triggered by an acute viral infection of the upper airway. The infection leads to swelling inside the throat, which interferes with normal breathing and produces the classical symptoms of a "barking" cough, stridor, and hoarseness...
  
   is angled at most 25°.
• Rough or smooth coat which can be brown, black and tan or grey
• Triangular ears with a large base, the ears have a rounded point.

Of the utmost importance in the selection of this dog was its ability to hunt.

Others Segugio dell'Appennino's varieties

In the Lombardy and Piedmont regions, a variant of these dogs is known as "ciaplen" amongst local hunters and has almost mythical status due to its intelligence and ability on the hunt. The others official varieties are:

• Cravin Piemontese
  Segugio Cravin
  Originating in Piedmont, Segugio Cravin is a variety of the Piccolo Lepraiolo Italiano, specialized for hunting hares.It is probably the result of crossbreeding of Italian scent hounds, like the “Ciaplen”, a very skillful small short-haired scenthound. In the past these dogs were bred by hunters...
  
  
• Montanino delle Alpi

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  Segugio Italiano
  The Segugio Italiano is an Italian breed of dog of the scenthound family. It comes in both short-haired and wire-haired varieties. It is thought to be an ancient breed, descended in pre-Roman eras from progenitor scenthounds in ancient Egypt....
  
  
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