Editing Pharaoh Hound (section)

== History ==
[[Image:Klieb tal-Fenek hunting.jpg|thumb|Hunting in a rubble stone wall in Malta. The dogs are indicating; enabling the hunter to put a [[ferret]] there]]

The Kelb tal-Fenek is a traditional breed of rural Malta. As the English-language [[exonym]] suggests, it is sometimes claimed that the Pharaoh Hound descends from the dogs shown in the tomb paintings of [[Ancient Egypt]].{{r|kim|page=25}} Modern [[DNA]] studies suggest that the breed is not of ancient origin, but a moderately recent development from various other breeds.{{r|kim|page=23|heidi|page2=1160}} It apparently became genetically distinct from the Sicilian Cirneco dell'Etna no more than two hundred years ago.{{r|eae}}

In 1647 [[Giovanni Francesco Abela]], in his ''Della Descrittione di Malta isola nel Mare Siciliano: con le sue antichità, ed altre notizie'', wrote "... we have the dogs called Cernechi, much valued for rabbit-hunting, which are often in demand as far away as France, mainly for [use in] steep and stony mountain terrain".{{r|abela}} Some have taken this to refer to the Kelb tal-Fenek.{{r|camilleri}} The modern Cirneco is a [[Sicily|Sicilian]] breed of similar structure and appearance to the Kelb tal-Fenek, but somewhat smaller.

The first litter to be born outside Malta was in the United Kingdom in 1963.{{r|tom}} The breed was accepted by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale as the "Pharaoh Hound" in the same year, under the patronage of the UK.{{r|fci}} A breed standard was approved by the British [[The Kennel Club|Kennel Club]] in 1974.{{r|tom}}