written by Gary Cinnamon, Cinnakees Keeshonden, July 1997There has been a lot of discussion on the Internet Kees-line and the judges’ line about Keeshond movement. Although the breed standards have descriptions of structure and movement, the words are open to the reader’s interpretation, and one's perception of a specimen's movement when observing in the ring or the back yard. I have seen articles in older dog magazine's that addressed the Kees movement, so I guess that this is a topic that has been much talked about, by lots of Kees people, for a long time. But in numerous conversations I have had or overheard, lots of written words in magazines, books and on the internet that I have read, one line of thinking or line of argument, sticks out in my mind - The Keeshond is the Barge Dog of Holland. This line has been a basis for movement and form and function discussions. The Kees is a double tracking dog with a brisk, clean gait. This was of course required for the dog’s movement on the barges. A single tracking dog would not have the stability to move on a rolling water vessel. By its form and function as a Barge Dog the Kees would also have very little reach and drive, as there was not a lot of space on the barges, therefore the dog would not have to be able to cover ground.
Until all the recent discussions on movement I had not given much thought to "the line" and importance it has on the interpretation of our standards on Kees structure and movement. I also hadn't given much thought to a couple of discussions I had in 1985 with an older "Dutchman" about Holland, the Keeshond and their history. This 80-year- old man spoke with passion (through the interpreting of his daughter-in-law) about the history of Keeshond in Holland, and even though I could not understand his language, the love he had for the breed and the history of his country was quite apparent. Most of the things he said appeared to be quite different from the history of the Keeshond I had read in all the breed books.
He said that his family were workers of the lands and had always had "Keeshonden". He said the Keeshonden were bigger then I described and came in many colors. He felt this was because the German dogs were bigger and they had been very important in the growth of the breed after they had almost disappeared. He also said that the history of breeding to the German dogs probably resulted in the reduction of shades in the colours of the breed and resulted in the near elimination of the common person’s brown Keeshond his grandfather had told him about.
His grandfather had Keeshonds that worked as hard as everyone in the family. He said they were very poor, like almost everyone in Holland when he was a child. He worked in his family farm’s small field and the Keeshonden pulled carts full of crop from the field to the yard. They also pulled those carts to the village market where the family sold their crops, products and crafts. What they could not sell at market was sometimes bought up by shopkeepers from the larger centers or merchants with small barges. Some of the locals sent their goods with these merchants on a type of consignment and that to pay for the freight costs, sometimes a Keeshond was used as payment to the merchant.
These Keeshonds were used by the merchants to keep thieves away from the docked barges. He said the dogs patrolled the side of the small box type barges closest to the land. The "Dutchman" explained that as most of the people were so poor sometimes food or items were taken from the barges. To illustrate the roll of the Keeshond he showed me a set of scars on his left arm, the result of not being fast enough to outrun one of the barge dogs as a child. He said the dog jumped the distance of a long stick he was using to hook some food and then chased him down, taught him to respect others property; then returned the barge with another great leap. The use of the Keeshond as guard dogs was also a practice of the larger center shopkeepers, but these dogs were usually mellower then the barge dogs.
His father had told him that the aristocrats had adopted some of the shopkeeper dogs for window dressing and the "Dutchman" felt that it was subsequently the aristocrats and shopkeepers Keeshonds that the "foreigners" took. Even through the language difference and the interpretation I understood his belief that those dogs were slightly different from the Keeshond he knew, and the Kees I knew were quite a bit different again. The conversation was leading me to believe that the Keeshond he spoke of had much different or possibly even bad temperaments. When I asked about this he stated that the Keeshonden were very smart, very loyal, and very versatile. They understood their role in the family and in life. They were baby-sitters and playmates of the small children, the sporting partners of the older children, comforter for the elderly, watchdog for the property and labourer in the fields. He said that even the dogs of the merchants were not always on aggressive watch, but were weary of strangers around the shop, barges and their families. The Keeshonden filled many roles, and were dear to the heart of the people, which was why there were not as many breeds native to Holland as other European countries.
When I told the "old Dutchman" the history of the breed as I had read about it, he seemed both puzzled and annoyed. He said the Keeshond was not a breed solely of the barge, maybe 1 in 100 Keeshond was "my barge dogs" and that Keeshonden were originally farm dogs. He asked how I thought a barge merchant had time to breed and whelp puppies and keep those puppies from drowning or getting lost over the side of the barge. He said those few barge dogs were from the breeding of the farm Kees that could not be kept, and were sold or given to the barge merchants. The "old Dutchman' told me that as times were very tough back then, the barge merchants only kept the Kees that were of value to them as a working member of the crew, but that those Keeshonden were more then just guard dogs to the barge merchants, they were also friends and sometimes family. The barges from the countryside were small and poled along or pulled by rope by the merchant along the waterways. The Keeshond jumped on and off the barges and ran up and down the muddy dikes and shores of the waterways beside his master.
He said even after he grew up, left the family farm and Keeshond, he always had a Kees of his own around, except for during the war and after his wife died and he recently accompanied his son and daughter-in-law to Canada. He asked me if I knew that the Nazi's used German Kees dogs (Wolfspitz) to guard the work and prisoner camps during the second war. I didn't ask him too much about this but it appeared he had first hand knowledge.
I had met this "old Dutchman" as a result of my duties as a police officer, responding to a matter involving his 54-year-old son. The conversations occurred while we sat in a hospital waiting room and on a subsequent visit to see how the family was doing. At the time Cathy and I had 2 Kees and had been in the breed for only 4 years. If I had the opportunity again, I would have so many questions for the "old Dutchman." But remembering now what he had to say, the way he said and felt it, I wish I could have just had more time to listen to him talk about Keeshonden and Holland, and taken my Kees for the "old Dutchman" to spend some time with. For the conversation we had, and the story I have told about it might not answer the specific questions on movement or structure, or even clearly prove or disprove the original Form and Function of the Keeshond. But it did teach me that ultimately the true form and function of our breed, is to be our companion, move our hearts and give us the sound structure of knowing that we will always have a dedicated mend waiting to greet us when we come home.
Garry Cinnamon
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