Part I

When the Kelb tal-Fenek stamps were issued in 2001, every Maltese once again had a chance to see a handsome example of their national dog. Up to 20 years ago, a walk in the countryside would almost certainly have led to a sighting of these hounds, either barking from the top of a farmhouse roof or, if you were lucky, giving chase across the landscape. Sadly, today this is an unlikely scenario as the Kelb tal-Fenek is disappearing as rapidly as the Maltese countryside, so that without a concerted and immediate campaign, both may be lost forever.

The origin of the Kelb tal-Fenek (Maltese Rabbit Dog) is a controversial subject and there are two main theories. One is that the breed originated in Egypt and was brought to Malta by the Phoenicians, and the other that they evolved indigenously on the Maltese Islands. Similar breeds can be found in the Balearic Islands, on the Iberian Peninsula and in Sicily. All these dogs are descended from the Tesem, the earliest breed of windhound which originated in the Steppes of Asia and from there spread to North Africa and Europe.1

There is a striking similarity between the tal-Fenek and the Egyptian Pharoah Hound, with early representations going back as far as the first dynasty, around 3,000 BC. Wall paintings often depict hounds, sometimes accompanied by hieroglyphic inscriptions. One of the most famous of these dates from Egypt’s 18th dynasty, around 1,320 BC.

“… the red long tailed dog goes at night into the stalls of the hills, he is better than the long faced dog. He makes no delay in hunting, his face glows like a god and he delights in his work…”

It is believed that the Egyptian’s favourite dog was the Tesem, which had been developed into a distinctive breed by careful selection and cross breeding between the feral desert dogs (canis familiaris), which can still be found in Upper Egypt, and the small Egyptian or golden jackal, thereby producing “canis lupaster dementius”.

Several factors indicate that the dog was probably descended from the jackal, especially its red-gold colour and its great capacity as a scavenger. In fact its decline in popularity in post-Pharaonic Egypt may have been partly due to its scavenging habits, leading the dog to be branded as unclean. Nevertheless, the Tesem enjoyed a long period of popularity as the Egyptians’ favourite hunting dog during the period of the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom. After this the slighter, faster Saluki superseded the Tesem and thus the Tesem hound image faded from vases and wall reliefs so that by the end of the Pharaonic period it had all but vanished from Egypt.

In its heyday the Tesem would have been an import-ant feature at the Pharoah’s Court and if names are anything to go by, the Egyptians set great store by their dogs. Sembi, governor of Cusae in Upper Egypt in the reign of Amenhat I (c2,000 BC) called his faithful hound “Breath of the life of Sembi”, while the great Prince Serempit, “Keeper of the Southern Gate of Egypt” is portrayed seated on a chair, beneath which sits his dog.

Without doubt the most famous tal-Fenek-related image to come out of Egypt is the statue of the Egyptian god Anubis discovered by Howard Carter in 1922 during the excavation of King Tutankamun’s tomb. The most splendid statue of the dog god was found guarding the great chest which contained the king’s viscera in canopic urns. Three thousand years later, the regal pose of Anubis continues to be the hallmark of today’s tal-Fenek.

After the tal-Fenek’s disappearance from the Egyptian scene we have to wait over a thousand years for further evidence of the ancient dog of the Mediterranean which is described in Aristotle’s book De Natura Animalium as an able hunter with pricked ears.

While the Egyptians are recognised as having selected and bred the Tesem, it may have been seafaring Phoenicians who were responsible for introducing the dog to other parts of the Mediterranean. Their ships plied the Mediterranean with produce from the East and by the ninth century BC they had established trading posts in Cyprus, Sicily, Sardinia, Spain and Malta. It is interesting to note that the Phoenician god Melqart is often depicted as being accompanied by a dog. Probably the Tesem’s survival as a pure breed is due to the fact that it has remained in relative isolation on several Mediterranean islands, hardly changing over thousands of years.

Today there is little trace of the Tesem in Egypt, but similar hounds are still found in the Balearics, on the Iberian Peninsula, in Malta and in Sicily. In Spain and Portugal the local hound goes by the name of Podenco and is the largest of the breed. Sicily’s Cirneco dell’Etna is smaller and the similarity between this Sicilian breed and the Kelb tal-Fenek is alluded to by Abela in his Della Descritione di Malta where he writes “…there are dogs called Cerniche esteemed for the hunting of rabbits and as far as France in demand primarily for stony, rocky and steep terrains”.

Finally there is Malta’s own Kelb tal-Fenek, which has gained worldwide appeal as the Pharoah Hound. This name, through its exotic connotations, did help to promote the breed and there was great jubilation amongst enthusiasts when, in 1968, the Pharoah Hound was accepted as a distinct breed by the British Kennel Club.

It took years of effort and lobbying before the Kelb tal-Fenek gained recognition in England and the credit for achieving this milestone must go to Pauline Block. She came to Malta with her husband Major General Block, who was stationed on the island, and within a short time of her arrival she had fallen in love with the Kelb tal-Fenek. It was not long before she acquired her first dog and during the Blocks’ stay in Malta, several of their visiting friends bought tal-Feneks which they took home to England, so that by the time Pauline returned to the UK in 1963 she was able to set up a breeding programme using Maltese tal-Feneks. A number of tal-Feneks had been exported to England in the 1930s but at the time they did not make any impact.

By 1967 the first tal-Fenek had arrived in America, arousing great interest, and soon these dogs were being used successfully for coursing where they had a great advantage over other breeds, since tal-Fenek never loses its enthusiasm for racing.

When Pauline Block arrived on the island, the Maltese had not yet embraced the breed as a house dog. The farmers valued their tal-Feneks as guard dogs and bred them for rabbit hunting. By careful selection they had managed to keep the breed pure and were helped in this by the bitches’ hostile attitude to dogs of any other breed.

In April 1978, the Malta Kennel Club organised A Festival of the Pharoah Hound to which representatives from Malta, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the USA and the UK were invited. Enthusiasts enjoyed a three-day festival that included an exhibition at San Anton, where all the best dogs and puppies were on show. A rabbit hunt was organised at Hagar Qim and we saw the screening of a film, starring Mr Lee Tose’s Champion tal-Fenek “Ram” which, incidentally, was also the model for Raymond Pitre’s engraving.

During the festival, at a meeting for all the representatives, a resolution was passed to phase out the name “Pharoah” so that the identity of the Kelb tal-Fenek as a Maltese breed would not be lost. At this meeting, the audience had the opportunity to hear a new theory on the origins of the tal-Fenek, when Chevalier Notary Dr Joseph Gatt, an acknowledged authority on the breed, read his paper proposing that the tal-Fenek was the result of a systematic breeding of indigenous dogs on Malta, pre-dating the Phoenician period. However, as the paper was not published, and the evidence put forward was very scanty, the theory never gained ground.

Recent archaeological finds may provide further evidence for this theory. During excavations at the Xaghra Stone Circle in Gozo, a series of limestone figurines, or stick figures, were discovered. Among these there is one figurine which stands out for its lack of anthropoid features. Instead, the plain cylindrical base has a head that bears a marked resemblance to a dog with pricked ears and pointed snout. These objects are dated at around 3,000 BC. Also at this site, the skeleton of a dog was found buried alongside the human remains. We must await the publication of the excavation report before further research can be done into the breed of this dog and its possible indigenous origins. It will then be interesting to hear the opinion of archaeologists on the subject of whether this dog can be linked to tal-Fenek.

There can be no doubt that the tal-Fenek’s conformation and character are a direct result of its primary use as a hunting dog over many centuries. During the time of the Knights of Malta, hunting was forbidden except during the “open season” but even then a licence was required.

Charlotte de Trafford was given her first Kelb tal-Fenek as a wedding present 35 years ago and has been owned by one ever since.

This article first appeared in the Christmas 2003 issue of Treasures of Malta, which is published by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti. Treasures of Malta is a

magazine about art and

culture that is published three times a year, and is available from all leading bookshops.

Part II will be carried next week.

Egypt’s Making by Michael Rice; The Pharoah Hound, its Past Present and Future by Pauline Block and Rita Laventhall Sacks; A Study of the Maltese Kelb tal-Fenek by Cecil Camilleri.