Cretan Hound vs Alangu Mastiff - Breed Comparison

Although the Cretan Hound or the Kritikos Lagonikos is recognized in both Greece and Germany, the hunting dog breed is from the island of Crete, Greece. The dog’s history goes back thousands of years. It is an ancient breed and some believe it is one of the oldest hunting breeds in Europe.

The Cretan Hound has been bred as a working dog, combining sight and scent to track down their prey. Today it is still a rare dog breed that you won’t easily find outside of Crete.

Greece kennels recognize this dog as well as some European kennels, but it isn’t recognized by the American Kennel Club.

Alangu Mastiff is a breed that ,originates from southern India. Since the very beginning of this breed, it has been used as guard dogs and official dogs of Persian Army. They have been used mostly for wars and as a guard dogs for protection. Also, Alangu Mastiff was used as large gain hunters because of its size and power.

Known for its extraordinary scent abilities as well as its speed, this dog has always been used as a hare hunter because of these skills.

It’s a slender dog of medium to large size and stands at about 60-68cm in height and weighs between 20 – 30kg. It is lean, strong, muscular and swift with a body that is inclined to be longer than tall.

He is slightly heavier than other scenthounds and his ribs aren’t seen. The head is wedge-shaped and the ears drop down, are folded back or can be semi-erect. The eyes are dark and the tail is long and curves upwards with longer hair being found on the tail.

The coat is short and smooth, and coat colors of the dog are varied and can be fawn, sandy, grey, white, black or brindle, and it can be tri-colored too.

Temperament:

The Cretan Hound is alert to sight, sound and scent and when it senses prey, the tail moves in a circular way and the dog becomes rigid for a while before he is off on the hunt.

He is a gentle, intelligent dog, reserved around strangers but making an excellent family pet as he gets on well with all his human family members as well as pets in the house. With good training and socialization, the dog becomes more relaxed around strangers.

He isn’t an aggressive dog, and while he is alert to sounds and smells, he doesn’t make a particularly good watchdog.

Weight of Alangu Mastiff depends but approximately, male weight is 70-90kg, while females are 60-70kg. While males height is 76-86cm. Females are slightly smaller with an average height of 75-80cm.

Lifespan depends drastically on every breed, but it is approximately 8-10 years.

The average litter size of Alangu Mastiff is 6-8 puppies.

Another Name for Alangu Mastiff is Sindh Mastiff.

The Cretan Hound is an energetic, curious dog, but when it comes to being a family pet, he is affectionate and gentle.

He is a reserved dog around strangers. He likes to be busy and will love his walks and games with his human family members. He is smart so is readily trained and he likes to be obedient and to please.

The Cretan Hound will live in harmony with other dogs in the home and they’re also patient and good around disciplined children who have learned to respect animals.

Provide your Cretan Hound with his fair share of love and attention and he will go out of his way to be a loyal and loving family friend.

Alangu Mastiff is a very powerful breed. They are a giant breed that is very strong and protective. If you are first time owner, you definitely don’t want this breed as your first pet. They can be very aggressive, and if you are not a dominant owner who knows what he is doing all the time, you can have a lot of troubles with this breed. Alangu Mastiff is a guard dog, and they tend to protect the family no matter what is happening. Of course, with proper care and socialization, they can be wonderful pets that love family, and they can be gentle with children too. Basically, it is very important to socialize them from the earliest age. Alangu is also very hard to train, so you have to be patient and devote a lot of time to train your dog properly. Since they are large dogs, they require a lot of exercises. Walking with the leash is not enough for this breed. They need to run to be fully happy. They can be very aggressive towards other dogs, so it is not very recommendable to spend time with other pets, at least not if they are not socialized. If you train them from an early age, then you should still be careful how your dog behaves around other pets and animals. Don’t get this wrong, Alangu can be a wonderful pet for the whole family, but you have to be careful and well-trained for this breed. They require a lot of attention, patience and time, but overall they can be amazing pets.

The Cretan Hound is a healthy, robust dog breed, but even so, he can suffer from some common health problems that other dogs are also susceptible to. Some of these are hip dysplasia , cancer, ear infections, bloat and cherry eye.

Remember that if you don’t want your dog to have puppies, they can actually benefit health-wise from being spayed or neutered. Doing this for your pet can prevent a number of health issues later on down the line.

Make sure too, that your puppy receives his vaccinations in a timely fashion so as to avoid terrible, life threatening illnesses such as parvo and rabies.

Basically most of the health problems depend on the dog to dog. If you choose puppy carefully, with an adequate examination of professional you will have a healthy dog. Alangu Mastiff is overall healthy breed, but as every other breed, they can develop some issues. Hip dysplasia is can be common for this breed, but again, only if you don’t select your puppy carefully.

You’re certainly not going to have to do too much grooming with the Cretan Hound as he is a low maintenance breed.

The dog is a short haired breed and an average shedder, so a good brush twice a week will keep the coat free of loose hairs and maintain the condition of the hair.

As with all dogs, the nails as well as the ears must be checked and attended to. The veterinarian can advise you on how to keep his ears clean and free of infection, as prodding around without knowing can damage his ears.

Exercise:

This Cretan Hound has high activity needs. He is energetic and also hard-working, and you’ll need to be taking him on long walks and providing him with some highly energetic playing sessions. Throw ball for him and take him with you when you go jogging or cycling.

Feeding Alangu Mastiff

Feeding of your dog highly depends on activity, size, and food that you are feeding your dog. 5-10 cups of high-quality food divided into 2 meals would be enough for an average Alangu Mastiff, but again, you should feed your dog based on activity.

Feeding the Alangu puppy

Puppies must eat 3-5 times per day, few cups of high-quality food. They need to eat quality food with a lot of vitamins and minerals to develop into a happy and healthy adult.

Grooming Alangu Mastif

Groming is one of the easiest jobs that you should do around your Alangu Mastiff. They are very easy to take care off. Few brushes every now and then would be enough to have perfectly groomed pet. They do not have long coats with a lot of fur so there will be no hair around the house, and maintaining this majestic creature is very easy.