These dogs are extremely confident in nature and constantly alert. For this reason, they can make excellent watch dogs, after all, this was what they were bred to do! However, they are also quite sensitive and when training, lots of positive re-enforcement must be used so as not to upset them. Their sensitivity also means they must be socialised from as young as possible and mustn't be left by themselves for too long as they will start to show dominant and destructive behaviour. They are extremely intelligent dogs which makes them fairly easy to train, just make sure they don't pick up on any bad habits!

These little dogs get half of their name from the area they were originally bred in, 'Cirnecos', which means green and is also another term used to describe the island of Sicily and the other half of their name comes from the Volcano, Mount Etna! It's also thought that these guys possessed magical powers that kept 'unbelievers' away from a sacred temple in Sicily which they guarded. It was originally thought that these guys and the Pharaoh Hounds were the same breeds, but it wasn't until he 1940's that they were recognised as a separate breed. Even today, you can see these guys hunting on Mount Etna and they remain fairly unknown across the rest of the world, to the point that they are even rare within their native country of Italy!