UTILIZATION:

Is used for rabbit hunting, and to that end, adapts perfectly to the many irregularities of the terrain by using his prodigious nose, his sight and hearing.
He endures easily high temperatures and is capable of hunting from dawn to nightfall.
Thanks to his nose and his hearing, he can also detect the presence of rabbits at the bottom of natural crevices of the terrain, in cracks in walls, in the heaps of stones at the edges of ploughed fields, in the volcanic tubes and in the thorny bushes.
His extraordinary survival is no doubt due to his gifts as a hunter which have made him irreplaceable during the centuries.
He is mainly a tracker dog who must neither bark nor catch the game during his scenting work.
Is also used in hunting, combined with the ferret, method of hunting authorised on the islands.
He usually takes the rabbits in his mouth.


BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY:

On the Canary Islands, from where he originates, he is known under the name of Podenco Canario.
We meet him frequently on all the islands, especially on the biggest, on the Gran Canary Islands and in the Isle of Tenerife.
The Podenco Canario is a dog of Egyptian origin which was probably imported to the Canary Islands by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Carthaginians and the Egyptians themselves.
It is one of the most ancient breeds in existence, because we find numerous vestiges (engravings, statues, bas-reliefs) in the tombs of the Pharaohs, and in the museums of Louvre or the British Museum.
This breed dates back about seven thousand years.


GENERAL APPEARANCE:

It is a dog of medium size, built on longish lines, slender, light and extremely resistant.
The skeleton is well developed.
The absence of layers of fat make it possible to see the rib cage as well as the spinal column and the hip bones. the musculature is developed to the highest degree, lean, the contractions of the muscles are visible through the skin.


IMPORTANT PROPORTIONS:

Slightly longer than high.
Chest well developed without coming down to the elbow.
Muzzle slightly longer than the skull.


BEHAVIOUR/CHARACTER:

Courageous, nervy, agitated, and of an enthusiastic dynamism.
Imposing but not all aggressive.
Attached with abnegation to his master, he stoically puts up with the most rigorous days without the least sign of fatigue.