Cirneco dell'Etna
Breed at a glance
- Origin
- Italy
- Weight
- Males
- Height
- Males
- Coat
- short on head, short to semi-long on body
- Colour
- light sand, isabella, light to dark tan
Name
The first word of the name, cirneco , derives from the Latin : cyrenaicus , related to Cyrenaica in North Africa, and in modern Italian is used for all the small hunting dogs of the Mediterranean islands, including Sicily, Malta and the Balearic Islands . The second part relates to the area of the Etna volcano in Sicily, where it originated. [ 2 ]
intro
The Cirneco dell'Etna [ a ] ( Sicilian : Cirnecu ) is an Italian breed of hunting dog from the Mediterranean island of Sicily . It is named for the Etna volcano in eastern Sicily. It has a keen sense of smell, and is used to hunt small game , particularly rabbits . [ 2 ] [ 3 ] As with many working dogs, registration is conditional on successful completion of a working trial . [ 4 ]
History
The Cirneco is a traditional warren hound of Sicily. It is commonly claimed that it is an ancient breed, with origins in Ancient Egypt or Phoenicia ; [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] according to the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana , coins and inscriptions document its presence in the island from before the time of Christ . [ 4 ] Genetic studies of the relationship of the Cirneco to other breeds have yielded conflicting results: one confirmed the Kelb tal-Fenek of Malta and the Podenco Ibicenco of the Balearic Islands to have the least genetic distance from it, [ 7 ] but also linked it to the Pyrenean Mountain Dog ; [ 8 ] another found evidence of gene flow from the Podenco Canario of the Canary Islands ; [ 9 ] a genomic study in 2021 found it to be most closely related to the Kelb tal-Fenek, the Segugio Italiano a Pelo Forte and the Segugio Italiano a Pelo Raso . [ 10 ] The earliest written description of the modern breed was by Maurizio Migneco, a veterinary surgeon from Adrano on the slopes of Etna, who published an account in Il Cacciatore Italiano in 1932. [ 5 ] This was seen by a Sicilian noblewoman, Agata Paternó Castello, who bought some of the dogs and in 1934 started breeding them. [ 5 ] The breed was recognised by the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana in 1939, based on a breed standard drawn up by the cynologist Giuseppe Solaro of Turin . [ 5 ] [ 11 ] The Cirneco was definitively accepted by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1956. [ 12 ] It is a rare breed; in the period from 2010 to 2018, new registrations in Italy were between about 100 and 150 per year. [ 4 ] Breed registration is conditional on successful completion of a working trial – in this case a specific field trial. [ 4 ] [ 13 ]