Cretan Hound

The Cretan Hound is a hunting dog of Crete combining sighthound and scenthound traits — one of the oldest European hunting types still working.

History

Dogs of this outline appear in Minoan art, which puts the type on Crete for thousands of years. It hunts hare using scent to find and sight to course, a combination unusual enough that Greek hunters have kept it distinct from imported breeds.

Temperament

The breed is known for being agile, intelligent and independent, gentle with its household and reserved with strangers, with a strong and genuine prey drive.

Care and training

It needs a great deal of exercise and very secure fencing — it jumps and climbs remarkably well. Training must be interesting rather than repetitive. The short coat needs little.

Health

Shaped by function over millennia, it is generally robust with nothing widely documented as breed-specific. These are patterns for the breed rather than a forecast for one dog; the measured facts are in the panel.