Pharaoh Hound

The Pharaoh Hound, or Kelb tal-Fenek, is a hunting dog from Malta. Its Maltese name means rabbit dog, and that is its traditional work: hunting rabbits over the rocky ground of the islands. It is the only Maltese breed with international recognition.

History

The Kelb tal-Fenek is a traditional dog of the Maltese countryside. Its English name reflects a claim that it descends from the dogs painted in the tombs of Ancient Egypt. Genetic studies do not support this. A 2023 study of seven Mediterranean rabbit-hunting breeds found this one to be the most distant of all from the street dogs of Egypt. Other DNA work suggests the breed is fairly recent, and that it became distinct from the Cirneco dell’Etna of Sicily no more than two hundred years ago.

A Maltese writer of 1647 described dogs called Cernechi that were prized for rabbit hunting in steep, stony country and were in demand as far away as France. Some take this to mean the Kelb tal-Fenek.

The first litter born outside Malta arrived in the United Kingdom in 1963. In the same year the FCI accepted the breed under the name Pharaoh Hound, and the Kennel Club approved a standard in 1974. The FCI places it in its spitz and primitive group, alongside similar Mediterranean breeds such as the Cirneco dell’Etna, the Podenco Ibicenco and the Portuguese Podengo.

Appearance

The Pharaoh Hound is slender and graceful. Males stand 56–64 cm and females 53–61 cm. The head is long and finely chiseled with a slight stop, and the eyes are amber.

The coat is short and glossy, in chestnut or tan. The tip of the tail may be white, but white patches on the back, sides, shoulders or back of the neck disqualify a dog from showing.

The breed has an unusual habit of blushing. When a dog is excited or happy, its ears and nose turn bright pink.

Temperament

This is a working hunter. In Malta the dogs are usually taken out at night, when there is less to distract them, and released in pairs of a male and a female. They find rabbits by scent and then give chase, the smaller and more agile female leading while the male keeps the rabbit from breaking away to the side. A high-pitched bark during the chase brings the hunters and the other dogs running.

The rabbit usually reaches a burrow first. The hunters then net the exits and send in a ferret wearing a small bell, which the dogs can hear as much as 3 meters down in the rock. One dog is left loose to catch the rabbit when it bolts.

Care and health

The breed has little inherited tendency to disease and can be expected to live for some 11 to 14 years.

Facts on this page were checked against Wikipedia and may have changed since.