Elegant, silent, intelligent and faithful: the Cirneco dell'Etna is a breed as ancient as it is fascinating, instinct and skillful, used in the hunt for the shrewd and quick wild rabbit sketch.
It is a dog breed that we don't hear much about, yet one of the oldest we know. As often happens when it comes to breeds with a mysterious and evocative past, there have been many suppositions regarding its origins and yet the most plausible seems to be the one that binds the Cirneco with a sort of Asian or African greyhound that due to some of the most common factors disparate, environmental and climatic first of all, has undergone a certain reduction over the centuries.
To corroborate the theory, Egyptian archeology was also bothered: there are several pictorial, sculptural and rock beauties in which dogs that closely resemble our cirneco dell'Etna are depicted alongside the pharaohs. The canine protagonist, a cousin of the species we know today, is defined as a hound of the pharaohs, an African cousin who will later be depicted in the coins of Mozia, a Phoenician city.
No less fascinating is the theory that the Cirneco originated in Sicily from the beginning, a supposition supported by the discovery of an ancient statuette that reproduces the profiles of the Cirneco or of a dog that closely resembles it. Whatever the origin of this proud and wonderful dog breed, the credit for having been able to protect it goes entirely to the Sicilians who have always used it for hunting wild rabbit. Those who have had the good fortune to admire a cirneco in action will have been amazed: it does not seem to run but rather to fly on the lava slopes of sharp stone, the ideal habitat of the sagacious and intelligent wild.
The dog, elegant, light, very agile, is endowed with temperament and character, particularly loyal to its master and that with strangers can make friendships or inmates dictated exclusively by the instinct of the astonishingly intelligent dog.
This intelligence and this instinct puts them in the field during the hunting action. Usually this takes place following a very specific script: the cirneco is unleashed and the dog begins to move in all directions. He is not confused he is simply looking for a track which he just found follows with surprising precision, chasing the rabbit like a cat, silent and shrewd. It is clear from the start that the cirneco has not lost its component as a natural predator.
During the pass of the rabbit the dog does not utter any voice, excellent quality to hunt the rabbit to the sketch. On the other hand, the hunter is required to know precisely the habits of the wild which he hunts in the company of his dog: the wild rabbit is in fact a gregarious creature, which lives in quite numerous communities and which digs underground burrows which it can access thanks to complicated corridors. This is why it prefers to create its burrows in sandy areas or in locations with light soils.
It is rare that the wild rabbit makes its appearance during the day: it rather prefers to remain in the den and only when it does not perceive dangers does it come out of its safe haven never straying too far.
It goes in search of food preferentially at night, even going far away from its den, safe and protected from the dark and returning no later than dawn. The secret of the sketch hunting with the Cirneco dell'Etna basically lies in the knowledge of the habits of the rabbit. The hunter must necessarily reach the area in which the rabbits are known to feed very soon and with his dog he begins to explore the area. As soon as the track is sniffed, the dog begins to move its nostrils in an unmistakable way, with its muzzle attached to the ground, its ears flat and its tail waving in the air.
At this point the hunter will have to carefully observe his dog: when it flexes its legs, it will be close, in a few moments, to the sketch. It is not only the sense of smell and agility that make it an excellent predator, but also a precise sight and an enviable hearing: if we also take into account its natural instinct, we understand why the Cirneco dell'Etna is considered so special. He knows perfectly well that during the pass he must not breathe, to prevent the rabbit from running away as fast as a lightning bolt, he rather prefers silence followed by the unmistakable sketch.
Moreover, the wild rabbit, with its restlessness, helps the hound during its search, informing it of its position and its movements. Less common but no less interesting is the hunting technique with the use of the cirneco dell'Etna and a couple of ferrets. In this case the dog's task will be to find the inhabited burrows. He will be able to do this by introducing his nose into the corridor and scratching, snorting or making sounds. If the den is inhabited, a ferret will be introduced to it and will force the wild rabbit to come out into the open. The dog will keep an eye on the exits ready to go after the rabbit.