Adopt a Keeshond
By Deborah Taylor-French www.dogleadermysteries.com
I love dogs in the “Working Class” of the American Kennel Club (AKC). Each “Working Class” dog breed exists for a specific purpose. Perhaps my love of working dogs comes from my love of work.
I must walk, garden, write, find greener solutions, plus create projects for volunteering locally. I look forward to tackling challenges the way some people look forward to gossip.
Working dogs love doing their jobs. Some breeds work at retrieving on land or in water. Some breeds do superior work as canine assistants for people blind or confined to wheelchairs. Recently a new type of working dog helps protect people who suffer from seizures. I am not tackling the whole spectrum of working dogs today.
Keeshonds as a breed earned the nickname, Smiling Dutchmen.
Well-known as watchdogs, many still live on Dutch barges with their families. For hundreds of years, keeshonds did excellent jobs of alerting their human families to people approaching. These dogs have never been breed to attack or to fight.
Keeshonds need about 30 to 45 minutes of exercise a day. They adore learning new tricks and tend to be healthy. In the USA, this breed did not fall into the hands of backyard breeders. Nor did they become fashionable due to movies or shown off as celebrity pets.
Keeshonds tend to be highly affectionate. Sweet tempered, patient and playful with children, they make wonderful family dogs. Some have been known to be problem barkers. My dogs never were. I know because I raised two of these enthusiastic loving dogs. I did not buy them as puppies. Both Dawn and Nabisco came to us as one-year-olds, having lost their first three homes. I still find that shocking.
How could such wonderful dogs risk losing their lives in an animal shelter?
They both lived, thanks to ethical breeders who make people sign a buy back contract. These breeders buy back every one of their puppies for the lifespan of every dog.
In California, keeshonds benefit from quick and steady efforts of dog rescue efforts.
Adopt a keeshond.
BARK, Bay Area Rescue Keeshonden
They have a southern California sister keeshond rescue list here http://www.keeshondrescue.org/AboutUs.html\ .
Note, this rescue does adopt out-of-state.
Please let me know if you are a keeshond parent or thinking of adopting one. I like posting photographs of readers rescue and adopted dogs. So leave a comment, so that I may email you and get a picture of your dog. Thanks!
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What an amazing smile! You have just made my day. Both photos are very sweet, but that first one would make the hardest heart melt. I should print it and hang it up in my office right in front of my computer!
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. Go ahead and hang it up. I took that photo, then printed and framed a 5 x 7 size, it is one of my all time favorities.
Beautiful dogs! I was considering a Keeshond as my next dog after Sephi had passed on. I even put in a 3 page application to a Keeshond rescue group. By the time they replied back three weeks later, I had already rescued my Aussie-mix Pierson… talk about a problem barker! ❤ 😉
Aussie’s rock. They also run, run, run for hours and hours. How do you keep your dog exercised and happy? I’m all ears (pun intended).