Keeshonds

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#1
Has anyone here ever owned a Keeshond or had experience with one? When we took Zane to the vet, this older German couple had a cute ball of fuzz on the end of a 3ft leash. According to them the puppy was the result of their two papered adults who had won many ribbons. This is the first Keeshond that I have ever seen. It was a four month old male that still had its puppy fur. So does anyone know anything about them? I know I could Google and get the information that way, but I want personal experiences not an encyclopedia article urging me to get one.
 

sammgirl

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#2
My mom was heavily involved in them for quite some time. There are pictures somewhere on this board of Fleur.

They are high energy, sweet, stubborn balls of fluff that will steal your heart. Want an agility or hiking buddy? They're your dog.

Wanna curl up on the couch? They couldn't happier.

Fantastic with kids and lovely.

IF bred correctly.

If not bred correctly, they are prone to a fearful, barky personality. They will chase cats, I don't care how long you've had them. ;-)

They can be dog aggressive, but not too often.

Prone to trick knee, epilepsie, and alopecia X (random unexplained hair loss).

And quite frankly, back yard bred keeshonden are some of the ugliest dogs I have ever seen. Period.
 

corky

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#5
I've had a Keeshond for 10 years, since he was an 8-week-old puppy. Sam was slow to mature, stubborn and puppy-like til he was seven, it seemed. He was always great with kids and he came into a home with two cats and he learned very quickly to leave them alone. He thought he was one and would climb the cat tree to lay on a perch until he became big enough to topple it. He's never shown any aggression; he is our second dog. My biggest challenges with Sammy have been:

- grooming -- that coat needs a LOT of work; its like velcro and grabs everything the dog walks past outside; love hiking, camping, country life, gardening? good luck! LOL
- barking -- once he discovered his voice as a puppy he would not shut up; a citronella collar worked like a charm
- stubbornness -- like I said, he was slow to mature and needed firm guidance when it came to things like walking on a leash and recall, he loved to pull on the lead (while barking like a sled dog, I might add) and loved to run away
- tummy and skin issues -- finding the right food was a real challenge

He's really slowed down this year, though, thank goodness. My baby finally grew up.

Now that I'm a very experienced dog owner and my kids are teenagers, I'd consider getting a Keeshond again... if I could afford professional weekly grooming.
 

Zoom

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#6
I've met a handfuls of Kees and they've all been pretty awesome dogs. Not a coat I would want to live with though!
 

sammgirl

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#8
Huh... I pretty much grew up with keesies and we didn't see a big problem with either of those.

Where did you get your dog?
 

corky

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#9
Sam had troubles with loose stools and he'd get dry, itchy skin, too. We played around with a lot of different, pricey foods and had one that wasn't too bad. By accident when we left his food behind when visiting my parents, we discovered that on President's Choice Lamb and Rice (their dogs' food that he had to eat for a couple of days) his stool was completely normal for once. We've fed him that since and his skin is fine now, too. Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Sometimes dogs don't know that they are supposed to eat the expensive premium and prescription foods. His breeder was a veterinarian/farmer in Northern Alberta who retired from the hobby not too long after I got Sam.
 

corisueg

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#10
Keeshond Owner

My name is Cori and I am the proud owner of a one year old keeshond (pronounced Kayz-hond) named Charlie Bear. My husband and I have had dogs in the past and have completely fallen head over heels in love with this particular breed. Google has some information but there is a book written by Ellen and Peter Dowd. The ISBN# is 0-7938-2798-1.
What I can tell you about the breed is only what I have learned from my vet, the book, online research and my own personal experiences with Charlie.
For the most part I have found that the Keeshond seems to have a lot of issues with seperation anxiety. They are there owners shadow and want to be involved with family activities at all times. If you plan to keep the dog outside it is definitely not the breed for you. This seperation anxiety also helps decide on the personality of the dog (if you get it at a young enough age). If you are a naturally laid back person, the dog will be too. I have found that a small walk everyday will generally make them happy campers.
I have been blessed with a very healthy dog with good skin. If you do decide to get one they should come with AKC registration and a pedigree chart. These dogs are beautiful but any dog if grown up in a bad environment will cause havoc later on.
The breed is prone to hip displasia, epilepsy and a blood disorder in which the blood will not always clot. These are possible but all of the owners I have talked to have not had that problem.
The Keeshond is from Germany and it was primarily used to hunt small game and work on barges. As a result the dogs love to dig and jump in water. They don't require a lot of grooming and pretty much stay clean if they don't run around outside too much.
I will say this, the Kees is a great GUARD dog he will let you know if anyone is somewhere near the house. This also has a downside in the fact that sometimes a leaf is blowing near the house and he feels like he need to protect it. LOL. There bark is loud and distinctive.
This dog has just absolutley become my whole world. He is the best dog I ever had and I will continue to keep this breed from here on out. Adding one to your family would be a blessing for both you and the dog.
 

sammgirl

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#11
I really hate to be a know it all, but keeshonden are actually from holland...

In Dutch, "kees" is a nick name for Cornelius deguysler who was the head of a political party. The dutch people's party, I think and he had a keeshond as his constant companion.

then, william of orange came along and conqurered and wiped out that political group and nearly eradicated all traces of the keeshond.

Then, a nice lady in england took a fancy to them and brought them to england where there were known as over weight pomeranians.

The pom fanciers there took offense, so the name was changed to "keeshond" which is what it remains today.

In Holland, a "keeshond" is any type of spitz dog and can come in a bazillion colors: white, red, pibald, chocolate... where as here in the states its only wolf sable.

Anyway, you're probably confusing keeshonden with the "wolf spitz" and they are actually different breeds.

If you go to the AKC site you can see that teh German Wolf Spitz is applying for "breed ship" or whatever its called as a separate breed from the keeshond.

Now, they were barge dogs which traveled up and down the Rhine River, which is how the breed got to Germany.

That's also what you could be thinking.
 

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