Page 40 - ShowSight Presents - The Keeshond
P. 40
“Handsome” is a word that needs to be looked up in the dictionary along with beautiful, pretty and cute. Decidedly dif- ferent meanings. A handsome male dog looks somewhat like a stallion, it does NOT look cutesy-wootsie. A handsome bitch is statuesque yet feminine. Like all of the male/female species (save the human being... jus’ sayin’) the male is most com- manding and is nearly totally referred to in our Standard. I rather like the reference to lions later on in the General Appearance paragraph even though we are discuss- ing the “ruff” or mane. A male Keeshond should be impressive like a male lion; the female should be equally impressive as is a lioness. There should be a decided dif- ference between the male and a female. A former President of KCA referred to huge- coated bitches as “bearded ladies.” That was stated about 40 years ago, and for me, it still fits.
“Well-balanced, short-coupled” is meant to describe a male dog in full bloom; i.e., including his hair. When a Keeshond is in motion the Kees has a “unique” gait (when moved at the proper speed) and they should have LESS angulation than nearly all breeds but MORE angulation than either a Chow Chow or many of the long- legged Terriers. Because the Kees has less angulation, is more “short-coupled” than many breeds and IF he’s moved at the cor- rect speed, you will see a bit of a suspended gait that is truly unique to our breed. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing iif the Kees looks like he was squished from both ends and is overstepping him- self when viewed laterally.
The KCA Illustrated Standard is an excellent tool to help judges learn the breed Standard and is available from our KCA Secretary. In the Illustrated Standard, we show “Coloration”. It can get tricky in that if identical twin puppies were born but when they became adults one was very dark and the other very light and IF their markings are as described later in the Stan- dard are present and accounted for, both dogs are equally correct. However, when you put those two identical dogs next to each other, an optical illusion can occur. It might be size, it could be length, it could even be grooming. Your hands will tell
the story and we, as breeders, need both extremes to get to our ideal “dramatical- ly marked”—a true thing of beauty! The only acceptable coloring on a Keeshond is gray, black or cream—all on a level play- ing field. Cream is as valid as light grey on the undercoat and the standard calls for both legs AND feet to be cream. We have haggled over just what “cream” means. There should be no white on a Keeshond, the Standards over the years have never included the word silver and cream can best be described as Winter White. We NEED cream dogs to clean up offensively smutty critters with gray and black legs and feet. Ick. What is “tawny”? Back to the aforementioned lion. Rusty browns is too tawny. Do NOT penalize puppies under the age of 18 months if they are too “yel- low.” When they blow their puppy coats, in nearly all bloodlines, they come back with the right coloration. When they’re correct AND are dramatically marked, I personally feel the breed is breathtaking.
“Alert carriage” means just that. They ideally are stand-up dogs on the move and while at attention. They should be “square appearing”: In that a Doberman Pinscher is a truly “square” dog, we are saying the Keeshond is a bit off square when out of coat. Alert carriage means they should not slink or sink due to running down- hill. They’re a very curious breed so do not expect the 100% SHOW DOG you may be used to in other breeds. They’ll stand like a statue... for awhile until something else interests them more. EXPECT them to happily greet you by jumping up on you or bouncing off their handler. It’s just who they are!
“Intelligent expression” and “ foxlike expression” are somewhat the same. It is important to know that a stupid Keeshond is smarter than the average dog. They are a thinking breed and most of them are clownlike and a little bit evil—particu- larly the bitches. A Kees is pretty fixated on his owner and we have a lot of owner handlers in our breed. Some are extremely talented and know that in order to have the judge appreciate the dog’s expression and intelligence we are big into bait and/ or toys. Most are free-stackers and many resist being hand-stacked save a minority
of exhibitors who train them from pup- pyhood to hand-stack. Even a seasoned champion likes to wait until the instant a judge focuses on them to wiggle around and look like a pile of Pic-Up Stix... just for fun and amusement--on their part. By “foxlike” we do not mean their headshape. We are indicating the sly intelligence of the breed. A small oddity is that the English red fox more closely resembles a Keeshond as does the American red fox. As the Brits rewrote the Dutch Standard, that’s how that term came into play.
“Stand-off coat” means that the Keeshond is a double-coated dog. The undercoat is soft, gray or cream, downy and spins into a very nice wool. The outer coat is to be “long, straight and harsh.” In color genetics, the Keeshond has agouti coloration. Each hair of the outer coat is partially black. Depending on the depth and length of each hair you will have a lighter or darker Keeshond. Both are cor- rect. Smutty feet and lack of definition to the markings is not desirable and difficult to breed out.
“Richly plumed tail well curled over the back” What is correct? One, two or three “curls.” Understand that the tail is supposed to be “set on high and tightly curled” over the back. It should lie flat and close to the body. The tail must form a part of the ‘silhouette’ of the dog’s body, rather than give the appearance of an append- age.” Curl #1 is that which lifts it WAY over the back; Curl #2 goes under and Curl #3 does another loop. The answer is: Curls #2 and #3 are correct as long as it’s lying close to the back and forming part of the “silhouette.” A blob sticking up isn’t what we’re trying to achieve. A dog’s tailset enhanced by trimming should be SEVERELY PENALIZED. Do not try to uncurl a tail as some of the 3- or even 4-curled tails can not be uncurled. If you want to, LIFT the whole tail up from the base. If you must, look for the black tip on theendofitbutIdoubtanyofuscaresif it’s there or not. Just being honest. I’ve seen a kajillion Kees of all sorts of coloration and the stupid black tip is there on all of them. Yet sometimes the black tip sneaks itself out from the final curl when we least want it to do so.
