What is the name of that TV show?

Someone I know mentioned a TV show that was on Australian TV (ABC: equivalent of UK's BBC), which had the overture from "The Italian Girl from Algiers" as the theme music, and the show involved some type of performing dog, I think I recall a greyhound... it is bugging me now, I have been thinking about it on an off for about a month, now I must know.It must be a little obscure, I can't find any mention of it in any search engine. I think it had a kind of rhyming Italian name as the title??
Anyone please let my brain rest!