 The dogs have many such peculiar traits and they are evidently a truly ancient species, probably the oldest dog breed in Europe.It is possible that their ancestors came from Africa but they were subsequently adapted to this unique habitat of Crete, an island remote enough to host other unique species of animals also, such as a unique sub-species of wild goat, lynx and others.Isolated there for millennia, these dogs were formed by function to perform a particular and challenging task and they remained pure and unchanged to this day.