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| CRETAN HOUNDS | |
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Cretan Hounds is another interest of mine! |
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The Cretan hound is the most significant representative of the autochthonous Cretan fauna. It has been with us for more than 4000 years and is probably related to an ancient Egyptian pointer breed. It is believed that the gyptian pointer was transferred to the island of Crete by ancient Cretan seafarers to evolve into a genuine breed of hounds, the oldest in Europe. The Cretan hound is part of the hitory of Crete, a true representative of its age-old fauna. |
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| The "Kritikos Ichnilatis" is a type of primitive hound, that hunts by a combination of scent, sight, speed and probably hearing also. The Cretan breed, scents, sees, probably hears its quarry and once it has detected it, pursues it by running, catching, potentially killing and bringing it back to the hunter. |
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"Kritikos Ichnilatis" (Cretan Hound) belongs loosely to a wide family of primitive hunting dogs distributed throughout the Mediterranean. They tend to have erect ears and combine sight, scent, coursing (running), pointing and retrieving abilities. They all vaguely originate in North Africa and are very ancient, though Kritikos Ichnilatis is potentially an even older breed and with a somewhat different combination of bloodlines. For example K.I. has a rather curled tail and tends to come in a wider variety of colours than its distant relatives that are usually fawn (various shades of yellow) or fawn and white and have straighter tails. |
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Unfortunately, the inexorable socio-economic development of the island left its indelible marks on this species as well. However, the Cretan hound managed to survive in Eastern Crete, on the heights of Mirabello and Ierapetra (Dikti range), the range of Sitia (Thrypte area) and on the Zeros plateau, in the company of shepherds ad sportsmen. Currently, the number of Cretan hounds is approximately 150. |
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Cretan Hound Video Tape
For people that don't believe that Cretan Hounds have been around for thousands of years there is an excellent video documenting their history. |
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We always have puppies available from our Cretan Hound dogs and are always looking for good owners/home for them. When we sell the dogs we like to keep in touch with the new owner and be updated on the dogs progress throughout it's life. So if you are a serious prospective Cretan Hound owner please get in touch. |
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