Nederlandse Kooikerhondje breed guide

The Nederlandse Kooikerhondje is lively, agile, self-confident, good-natured and alert, faithful and easygoing in the home and a true sporting dog outdoors, keen, swift, tough and energetic. It enjoys working and does so cheerfully.

AKC calls it cheerful, intelligent and lively but not hyper, with the prey drive and energy of its historic work and the sensitive character of a spaniel. It is best trained with a firm attitude because it may be very determined.

Kooikerhondjes live 12 to 15 years. AKC calls the breed relatively healthy and long-lived. Because it began from a very limited founding population it is susceptible to various hereditary conditions, so proper breeding practices are recommended to reduce inbreeding and promote genetic diversity.

An occasional bath keeps the Nederlandse Kooikerhondje clean. Its strong, fast-growing nails need regular trimming with a clipper or grinder to avoid overgrowth, splitting and cracking.

AKC describes a clever, lively, cheerful, devoted, sweet companion in the home and an athletic, driven, eager, busy explorer outdoors.

The breed is very old, appearing in paintings by the Dutch masters back into the late Middle Ages. It worked in the Eendenkooi, manmade duck-trapping pond systems from before the invention of gunpowder, hand-dug ponds of 3 to 10 acres.

It is also tied to the founder of the Dutch Monarchy, Prince William of Oranje, whose Kooiker named Kuntz was credited with saving the prince's life when assassins sought to kill him.