# Anyone have/heard of a Kooikerhondje?



## gills (Mar 16, 2008)

The subject of Kooikers came up in another thread, and I'm interested to know how well known this lovely breed is in North America. It is uttterly adorable.

See post #12:
http://www.dogforums.com/2-general-dog-forum/29132-service-dog-breed-dilemna.html#post298999

I got a rescue dog from Spain that is absolutely not a Kooiker, but looks very much like one. I went to a dog show in Munich a couple of months ago and saw them being shown, and was very surprised because I had never heard of this breed. They caught my eye because they were SO cute and pretty, and because they looked so much like my own dog. I had never heard of them before.

Then I went to The Netherlands and saw several. And lately people stop me in the street and ask me if she is a Kooiker. So I have "Kooiker" on my mind. They ARE lovely. I can't understand why they are so rare -- they look like real winners to me.

Is anyone familiar with the breed, and can you tell us what you know of them?

For the record, here is my non-Kooiker look-alike.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

I've never heard of the breed, what an interesting name. 

But would you mind resizing your pics to 640x240 (messaging board size if you host them on photobucket). Because even with DSL they took quite a while to load. I'd hate to imagine someone with dial up trying to view this topic but the pics slowed it down.


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## gills (Mar 16, 2008)

Ah, sorry about that. One of them was in its original size.

Here's the link that Quincy posted. There's not a whole lot about the Kooiker on the web, but this link from Switzerland is interesting:

http://www.kooikerhondje.ch/pages/documentation/kooiker-en.htm

I wish I had asked the owners of the dogs I saw in Holland where they got their dogs!


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## Quincy (Feb 25, 2007)

Kooikerhondje are a breed recently introduced into the US, and due to this are on the AKC Foundation Stock Service Breeds, see via this link:-
http://www.akc.org/breeds/fss_breeds.cfm

Breeders tend to put their nice show quality ones on their web sites, this even on the AKC website where they look like this:-










Although many do look similar like the above, there are some even in the US, who do turn out to be NOT to the Breed Standard and who may look like this, and where the breeder would place these ones in pet homes:-










gills, yes I noticed even Tri-color ones like this, and with the message from the breeder - "These dogs receive a Pedigree with the addition: colour does not correspond to the standard!" Within every breed you will find some dogs who are not to the breed standard in one or more points, some moreso than others.










Take for example the breed called Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, where in their Breed Standard as seen via this link you will NOT see Chocolate coat color mentioned, yet in the photo below today they exist, and some new breeder to the breed who does not understand coat color genetics and this in their dogs might find a surprise in a litter.
AKC Breed Standard:-
http://www.akc.org/breeds/cavalier_king_charles_spaniel/index.cfm

Chocolate Cavalier King Charles Spaniel:-









Oh and by the way, it's rather interesting studying history. Where William of Orange had Kooikerhondjes and the Duke of Marlborough had Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, they were both really noted military men who were on several military campaigns together, and they also loved hunting with their dogs.

Here is good site for information in English
Kooikerhondje Club of Canada:-
http://www3.sympatico.ca/dianelumsden/Kooiker/Home.html
.


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## tirluc (Aug 29, 2006)

we had/have a Kooiker in Titch's puppy classes.....she's a real sweetheart......don't know too much about them except what i have read on them.....


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## ChrissyBz (Aug 10, 2007)

I've never heard of them before. They sure are pretty though.


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## FriendsOfZoe (Aug 7, 2007)

They are the Small Munsterlander dog (small version of the Large Munstie, one of my all time favorite dogs..), aka the Little Dutch Waterfowl dog. Don't know too much else about them because I am much more interested in the Large ones. Cute though, and very very very rare in these parts. Probably mostly going to only hunting households too, if they are anything like the large.


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## gills (Mar 16, 2008)

> They are the Small Munsterlander dog (small version of the Large Munstie, one of my all time favorite dogs..)


Actually they are two very different breeds. The Small Munsterlander is still quite a bit larger than the Kooiker, and they look quite different. Who knows, maybe they have a common ancestry though, since the Munsterlanders come from northern Germany near the Dutch border. Both great looking dogs! 

Quincy, that tri-colour Kooiker is gorgeous. Why does the breed standard exclude black markings on the body? It seems like such a random requirement.

I'd love to see more pictures, if you have some.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

I've known about them for years, never seen one though. I always thought they were gorgeous. 

They kind of look like a larger phalene to me.

ETA: I've always been a fan of red and white spaniels.


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## BoxMeIn21 (Apr 10, 2007)

I've never even heard of this breed before. Thanks, Gills! They are one cute dog.


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## Quincy (Feb 25, 2007)

Laurelin said:


> They kind of look like a larger phalene to me.


Rather interesting, note Phalene in the following 

In the UK Kennel Club library is a book of which there are 4 known copies remaining in the world, called "Toy Dogs and there Ancestors" by The Hon. Mrs Neville Lytton. According to this book you can trace the start of all toy spaniels back as far as Tibet and China in the 8th century BC.

The original Cavalier King Charles Spaniel as has been shown is first referred to by Dr Cains who was physician to Queen Elizabeth in 1570. These were either the Red and White, the Black and White Holland or the curly all black dogs. The Hon Mrs Lytton chronicles in her book the development of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in seven stages and which includes the following breeds - The Grendin, *The Phalene*, Curly King Charles, The Truffle Dog, Cocking and Springing Spaniel, White Holland Spaniel, Welsh Springer, The Duke of Norfolk Sussex Spaniel, The Miniature Toy Trawler.
.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

I wonder why they didn't write in papillon as well,s ince the papillon came from the phalene?

That is interesting, though. So are they saying the cav came out of the phalene as well? As far as I understood, the Cav, English Toy, Papillon/Phalene all came from the Continental Toy Spaniel.


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## Quincy (Feb 25, 2007)

gills said:


> Quincy, that tri-colour Kooiker is gorgeous. Why does the breed standard exclude black markings on the body? It seems like such a random requirement.


I think that a tri-colour Kooiker is gorgeous, their spaniel coat and colour reminds me of tri-colour Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and here is a puppy photo of my Nelson:-









Breeders get together and create Breed Clubs, they also create Breed Standards for their breed, and they determine what coat colours are permitted or not. In the Cavalier breed their breeders permitted the tri-colour coat, but in the Kooiker their breeders did not. There maybe reasons as to why, and I think in the Kooiker their breeders wanted to focus on the sable coat on the ear coat with long feathered, black tips (earrings), and due to this I feel that for some generations yet that sable with the black will tend to appear on the body such as seen here:-









In the Kooiker colour with the spaniel coat as seen below, in Cavaliers we call it Blenheim and the colour name comes from Blenheim Palace where the Duke Marlborough and his wife developed Blenheim Cavaliers, and that fellow as I mentioned before was on military campaigns with William of Orange who had Kooikers and both fellows like to hunt with their dogs, it's rather intersting to see this spaniel coat and colour in both these breeds:-









The Cavalier Club is arranging a Special Champ Show on 22 August 2010 at the magnificent venue Blenheim Palace, this is a once in a lifetime experience, maybe for "old times sake" some Kooiker breeders might like to attend, and some information on this show via this link in PDF format:-
http://www.thecavalierclub.co.uk/shows/special/Blen_quest.pdf
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Laurelin said:


> I wonder why they didn't write in papillon as well,s ince the papillon came from the phalene?
> 
> That is interesting, though. So are they saying the cav came out of the phalene as well? As far as I understood, the Cav, English Toy, Papillon/Phalene all came from the Continental Toy Spaniel.


A lot of history has been lost in time, but it appears that there was this "little red dog" running around Europe and having a great time with different dogs.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is the product of the dog from Tibet and China in the 8th century BC then mixed with the following but maybe there were more that we don't know about - The Grendin, The Phalene, Curly King Charles, The Truffle Dog, Cocking and Springing Spaniel, White Holland Spaniel, Welsh Springer, The Duke of Norfolk Sussex Spaniel, The Miniature Toy Trawler.

From the drop-eared pap to the erect-ear pap all it would take is a gene, maybe a mutation but then just might have come from a mix breeding, think of something like maybe like where the Boxer was crossed with a bobtailed Pembroke Welsh Corgi to produce the "Bobtailed Boxer".

By the way, what the Americans call the "English Toy Spaniel" is the result of crossing Cavaliers with brachiocephalic breeds such as Pugs and Japanese Chins, these brought back by traders and military persons during Queen Victoria's time, and after the military forced China to open it's doors to trade after the "Boxer Rebellion" which tried to force out the Europeans and Americans. See the movie "55 Days at Peking". What the Americans call "English Toy Spaniel" well other countries tend to call them "King Charles Spaniel", and the "Cavalier King Charles Spaniel" is another breed.
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