My experience with Hermes (Vasos Mortis - Cyprus)

(texts translated in english by:
Tsagaraki Athanasia
Greek Public School English teacher Graduate of the English Department of the Aristotle University -Thessaloniki)

After many years of experience in hare hunting with various dog breeds, I decided after a thorough study regarding the breed of the Cretan Tracer to attempt and own one.
I was and still am convinced that these dogs have been gradually made by nature for thousands of years to become the best hare-hunting breed on our terrain and climatic conditions; these dogs constitute the ideal companion in hare hunting.
Therefore, in December 2007 I bought Hermes from a Kennel in Crete .An exquisitely beautiful animal with a stature and a brain sculptured as it’s ancestors had been by nature and by the continuous fight for survival. I had been greatly impressed from the very beginning by his physical qualifications but mainly by his character.
I have also been impressed when I realised how easily the dog would learn to live together with us in the house and how he has easily adapted to our way of life.
He likes to be treated as a member of the family and not to be neglected, and behaves accordingly.
Protective with his family members, wild and distant with foreigners, he is watchful and likes to take part in all children’s games or even to try and help with any kind of work that takes place in the garden or in the house.

Now, concerning hunting, from the very beginning he revealed his talents to me. He is a rather easily controlled animal that hunts for his owner, waiting for collaboration and guidance. A dog that has captured many hares, even though he is still very young, that uses all senses in order to reaches the prey more easily.
The first conclusions that I made after hunting with the dog are very positive and I believe that the breed will earn our interest and appreciation in the future due to all its virtues in hunting on our own terrains.
With such an animal I believe that somebody can easily hunt near other hunters, plantations, flocks, streets or villages without bothering anyone or spoiling their hunting, because as I reported above the animal is very collaborative and easily controlled by its owner.
Thus, in our own limited space, with its thousands of hunters, where in order for one to be attributed by a dog in hare hunting the dog needs to be perfectly adapted to the very difficult conditions of the place, I am convinced that the Cretan Tracer is the ideal companion in hare hunting as it does not need any adaptation that other tracers  from  Western Europe need, as nature for thousands of years has been molding its mental and physical condition in order to hunt in our own dry and warm territories.
Closing, I want to report an incident from the life of Hermes that impressed me very much. During the last hunting period the dog was bitten 4 times by a viper. The dog would immediately look at me and would go towards the car on its own despite his very serious situation. Even though he had never been friendly with foreigners, the dog during the next visits would go on the steps to the surgery on his own and would patiently wait for the veterinarian to look after his wounds without becoming aggressive towards the veterinarian in his effort to look after the wounds even when it was rather painful.

Finishing, I wish that in the future the living treasure that is called Cretan Tracer will earn the appreciation by everyone, as it surely deserves it and because it is our own GREEK TREASURE. I have no doubt that if such a dog would originate from a country of Western Europe today the whole world would have known it.
I also wish that all efforts and sacrifices that have been made by the people who struggle to rescue and to achieve the dog’s recognition for decades are successful.

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THE CRETAN  TRACER BEYOND CRETE

From the beginning of our effort for the rescue of the Cretan Tracer there have been many dog- lovers living out of Crete who would very insistently, at first, want to adopt a Cretan Tracer. At first, our principle was to give dogs beyond the Cretan borders provided that we would first ensure that the breed had escaped the danger of becoming extinct. Indeed, in 1987, we started our effort and it was in 1995 that for the first time dogs where given beyond our island and which went to Greek islands as well: Rhodes, Samos, Chios, Evia and Cyprus. The first results were not very encouraging. From the first 5-6 puppies that left, only one expressed a good hunting behaviour and this was in Cyprus. The rest created a rather bad impression. Fortunately, the people who had adopted the dogs were serious people and had already known as they had been previously informed by us about the unique hunting character of the Cretan Tracer; they knew that time was needed in order for them to comprehend the tactic and the character of the dog, and that the dog itself needed to adapt to a different environment compared to that it had been accustomed to for thousands of years. Thus, transports from Crete progressively increased and here the first results are being presented.

To our surprise there have been certain Cretan dogs that have demonstrated hunting features in regions with totally different conditions as in Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Evros, many of which have improved their tracing tactic and persecution and which we will be able to compare with that of a Greek hound. Perhaps the lower temperatures, the higher level of humidity but also the different morphology of the ground make tracing easier and therefore, our dog is more effective in hunting the hare for a longer time and in a longer distance. This is one more proof of its tracing abilities which unfortunately, some ignorant people have tried to dispute.
Some have already used it in hunting the wild boar with encouraging results, although it would be wise not to continue this effort because the dog’s tactic is more efficient on bare ground and so it would be better to avoid dense vegetation. Of course, we believe that through time and after it adapts to these different kinds of environment, its hunting practices will improve, given the dog’s innate faculty never to attack immediately on anything that it considers dangerous but first to bark at it with fury and to pursue it passionately. Let’s not forget that its use in hunting the wild boar since ancient times was imposed.

 

I will refer to certain incidents that deserve our attention regarding the dog’s behaviour in different conditions and with different kinds of prey. A lot of fellow hunters have told me about its ability to sense snakes before they approach, especially vipers. Although 2 incidents of death by a viper have been reported, there are many who certify this faculty and claim that they are impressed to have seen the dog growling with lifted hairs from its coat and circling around a particular point discreetly and then realising the presence of the hidden viper. In Crete there aren’t any poisonous snakes and when our dogs have to confront a snake either they ignore it, or they make a sudden movement, they bite it while striking it with force literally pulling it apart before it has time to react. Personally, I have many times seen my dogs sense snakes and in particular by tracing them. I have, however, seen snakes remain completely motionless so as to resemble dry branches on the ground and the dog passing them over without sensing them while the snake stays motionless. If, however, they sense it, then the death of the snake is instantaneous. It would be wise, though, in any case to carry with us an antivenin for the bite of the viper because one can never know what may happen.
Another case is that of meeting the fox. As I have been told, the fox in the majority of cases is ignored by the dogs or in the worst case they persecute it for about a hundred metres as if they were chasing a dog and then they return. No one has, up to today, reported a case where a Cretan Tracer has traced the fox. Perhaps, its obedience to its master is to blame, as with a single command the dog is deterred from doing anything.
Concerning the deer, things are a little difficult. There have been 2 cases in which a Cretan Tracer tracked, spotted and persecuted a deer for a long time and another case in which the deer was flushed out by a relatively young dog (18 months old) which succeeded to capture it and kill it. We should mark that the particular dog went after the wild boar with success. Here, we must be very careful and this because as it is known, legislation prohibits hunting deer and we will have to make sure that our dog is controlled by our voice. If we cannot control it then we will have to use an electric collar which -if rightly used -is absolutely effective. For the correct use of the collar read here

 

Rita of Crete(owner: Christodoulou Damianos-Cyprus)
This was the first birth of Cretan Tracers in Cyprus. The father (Ektoras of Crete) white coloured, very good in hunting and in morphology, mated with the equally good Rita of Crete and in the picture you can see the result. Both dogs belong to the same owner, a student of veterinary science abroad, who together with his father are devoted to their dogs’ upbringing and training, accomplishing to create two very good hunting dogs. We hope that their descendants will have the same treatment so as to be as effective as we                                                                          expect they will.
Concerning the hunting of the hare, there is a lot of information and in order to summarize we will state some here. The impressions that our dog has left have been rather good and have led many hunters to prefer its tactic in hunting. Initially, we should mark that the dog tends to stay close to its owner even when the owner is not changing his position but searches around him and if it does not discover anything it returns to him. Also its intelligence, attention and precision have been much appreciated, as well as its tendency not to bark at the traces but only during the persecution. This makes it suitable in hunting among other hunting groups without creating a problem. Still, currying the prey and defending its space as well as its owner is considered rather important. Contrary, some people believe that its tendency to be aggressive with unknown dogs and hunters that we may occasionally hunt together is considered negative. On the contrary, its obedience and devotion towards its owner is considered as a good quality, as well as that its tracking does not take long but is limited in the hare’s traces near the nest and flushing it out takes place soon enough. Also, when we immediately call it to give up its tracing it will do so immediately.
We believe that in the future things will become even better for our tracer and this because through time its tactic will become more explicit, our fellow hunters will comprehend its hunting virtues better but still, (and this is a personal opinion), we will all have to learn how to rightly train our dogs and not simply consider as correct training just currying a puppy in the area of training or transporting it on the mountain and just waiting for its genes to ‘do their job’. Each one of us should not only study our dog and understand it but should be able to guide it so as for its tendency to be expressed in the most desirable way. Thus, we will always have good hunting dogs and not only beautiful ones.

FROM CYPRUS (Mr. CHRISTODOYLOY DAMIANOS- Larnaca)

Since 2002, I have been the owner of a pair of Cretan Tracers which I acquired from the Kennel “CRETE”. In the photograph you can see the male (Ektoras) which has many times led me to regret not having previously acquired an individual of this wonderful breed. He is 4 years old and his hunting instincts are in a perfect condition. He works patiently on the traces near the region where the hare is hiding. He gives importance to evening pasturage but from the way he wags his tail you understand that it is something of no importance. When he approaches the hare he behaves in such a unique way, that I don’t pay attention to the flushing but to the behaviour of the dog and its tactic. In other words, he offers an unprecedented, an impressive spectacle.

 

 

On the mountain, it is dynamic and self-confident. He is a fast flusher compared to other dogs, because he uses his brain and the scents in the air when he is found near the prey. He has flushed many hares, but this year the preys have been few and the results as well. It does not face any problem regarding climatic conditions and to this I believe that I have contributed with my training. It doesn’t indicate marks of fatigue neither in the heat nor in the cold. He is obedient and never goes far. His research is always near me and seeking my presence. He is collaborative and never gets carried away by the traces, except for the case when the hare has left. At certain times it gets carried away by dogs of other hunting groups but he soon returns. He wants to be in control in the hunting dog group and at certain times, even if he has not flushed the hare himself, he may cause trouble to the dog group concerning the prey. My only complaint is that it does not bark when it hunts the hare, as the regions where we hunt are very dense and I consider that it does not bark because its primary consideration is to arrest the hare, if possible from where it is standing or within the first metres of persecution.