What Is a Nederlandse Kooikerhondje?
By way of introduction to this little-known breed with a strange-sounding name (koy-ker-hondt-chuh), we will offer you a short language lesson in Dutch.
Hamlet and Elsie
A “kooi” is a duck trap, used by hunters along the canals in the Netherlands. A “kooiker” is a duck hunter who uses such a trap. A “hond” is a hound or dog; “je” is an affectionate suffix meaning small. ”Nederlandse” of course refers to The Netherlands, the breed’s country of origin.
Thus, the kooikerhondje is the small dog from The Netherlands who works with the hunter who uses the trap! For more information about this elaborate hunting method, visit our Dutch Endenkooi slide show.
Nederlandse Kooikerhondjes (sometimes called Dutch Decoy Dogs) appear in history as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, but did not become an officially recognized breed in Europe until 1966.
They are only now gaining recognition and visibility in North America thanks to their dedicated fans.
Our site is full of useful information regarding the kooikerhondje breed, our individual dogs Hamlet, Elsinore, Yorick, Bianca, and Rosalind, and our litters. Click on the names to visit their blog pages. Please visit our other pages and contact us if you would like to know more about our plans for future pups. Please note that Rosewood is a small hobby kennel and breeds infrequently, and that kooiker pups are expensive and difficult to find.
Thanks for visiting!
The Artist’s Family, Jan Steen, c.1663
Courtesy of Web Gallery of Art
Awesome new website! It looks really great. Congrats on the litter!
Wow, I hear that your kennel is expecting a new litter in June. Congrats! Please post some photos soon!
Hey Jorie,
Congrats on the new litter. I’ve never seen this breed of dogs before. They are beautiful. Have fun with the new little ones.
I have had a dutch decoy for the past almost 5 years. He was a neighborhood stray and very young. Who can turn away a puppy in the cold? We’ve been wondering what kind of dog he is until we saw a show on animal planet. Ours looks remarkably identical. However, Ringo, our dog, has a mostly black coloring with a lot of whispy hair. I’d love to send you a pic and maybe you can settle my family’s almost 5 year old question. He’s still my buddy no matter what, but I’m very curious.
Hello, Steve,
Send a picture to roseshenk@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to take a look! Congratulations on finding a true friend, no matter what his breed–sounds like you and he were both lucky!
Greetings from a happy Danish Kooiker Hoondje owner. We have had Calvin for 4 month now, and every day is a delight. He is friendly and lively and full of joy. We could not have had picked a better breed, I’m sure. It’s the first time we have ever had a dog, so we have been somewhat in the dark as to what to expect, but Calvin is everything we hoped he would be. We intend to put him on show later on and hope he will qualify to carry the race further.
All the best – Lars
Good luck with your puppy, Lars!
You’re right about Darby looking like Yorick. That’s exactly what I thought when I saw the last pictures you posted of him. Darby just has more white on his tail, it’s actually striped. And he has that really cute white spot on his hind end. I’m so happy with him.