This past weekend at the FCI Federation Cynologique Internationale World Dog Show 2023 in Geneva was a momentous occasion for Crete and Greece. The legendary Kritikos Lagonikos (Cretan Hound) took the stage at the world’s biggest dog show for the first time as part of a quest for world recognition.
“Peristeris,” a male Kritikos Lagonikos from Chania with a champion bloodline, participated at the World Morphology Exhibition 2023 in Geneva. The hound, owned by Giannis Perrakis, brought several awards to Greece and cleared a monumental hurdle for the rare dog breed.
Handled by the President of the Cretan Hound Club, Nikos Anetakis, and by Charis Arvanitis, Peristeris exhibited well the Breed’s good manners, typical calm, gentleness, and collectedness even among hundreds of thoroughbreds at the event. Peristeris, who won a local morphology event on Crete to qualify for Geneva, was market excellent and named Best Adult Male, Best of Breed, and Geneva World Cup Winner 2023 by the respected Lithuanian Judge Ramune Kazlauskaite.
The Kritikos Lagonikos, for those unfamiliar, is the oldest hunting breed in Europe and perhaps the world. Bred in seclusion by hunters and enthusiasts for nearly 6,000 years on Crete, the dogs are a rare combination of sighthound and scent hound. They are considered the premier hare hounds in the world because of their lightning speed, agility, and stamina.
Known on Crete as the “Living Legend,” the hounds are one of the rarest dogs in the world and possess very unusual capabilities. Sadly, the breed has not been recognised internationally, even though the Kennel Club of Greece (KOE) recognised the species in the early 2000s. Kritikos Lagonikos is also a recognised breed in Germany, where many hunters and enthusiasts work their dogs in the field and in agility trials. The World Dog Show appearance is a major step toward this primitive breed being recognised internationally.
The trip to Geneva by Anetakis, his colleague Charis Arvanitis, and “Peristeris” was the result of the work and contributions of many organisations and individuals, including the Kennel Club of Greece (KOE), The First Hunting Federation of Crete & Dodecanese (AKOKD), the Cretan Hound Club, and many others.
