Keeshond

Lively and friendly; barks at visitors without aggression.
A Keeshond
Photo: Svenska Mässan from Sweden
Adult weight
16–20 kg
35–45 lb
Lifespan
12.3 yrs
Handler demand
Suits a first-time owner
Class · Family
also Companion

What it's like

The Keeshond is friendly, lively and outgoing, and is closely attached to its household. It is quick to bark at visitors but is not aggressive. It is usually said to have little urge to hunt or roam.

Day to day
Activity
A good daily walk and play
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Suits a first-time owner
With people
Affection
A lap or leaning dog
Loyalty
Bonded to its family
Independence
Keen to work with you
Around the home
Sensitivity
Average
Voice
Very vocal
Prey drive
Usually fine with small pets
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
Is a Keeshond right for you?
Take the breed matcher

Living with one

It has a long coat. Most of the shedding comes when the seasons change. Plan on daily brushing. It needs a moderate amount of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A Keeshond is a medium dog, about the weight of a grown Border Collie.

It is a compact, square-built spitz with a wedge-shaped head, small pointed ears and a plumed tail curled tightly over its back. The dense double coat stands off from the body and forms a thick ruff around the neck. Its colour is a blend of grey, black and cream, paler on the legs and underside. A dark line runs from each eye towards the ear, and with short eyebrow markings it forms what are known as spectacles.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male Keeshond puppy is already as heavy as a grown Pug. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
11 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight7
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
01020302m4m6m9m12m18m
01020302m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
3.5–4.4 kg 7.7–9.7 lb
3.8–4.9 kg 8.4–10.8 lb
3 months
5.1–6.5 kg 11.2–14.3 lb
5.4–7.0 kg 11.9–15.4 lb
4 months
7.4–9.5 kg 16.3–20.9 lb
7.7–9.9 kg 17.0–21.8 lb
5 months
9.5–12.2 kg 20.9–26.9 lb
9.8–12.6 kg 21.6–27.8 lb
6 months
11.4–14.6 kg 25.1–32.2 lb
11.5–14.7 kg 25.4–32.4 lb
7 months
12.7–16.3 kg 28.0–35.9 lb
12.7–16.3 kg 28.0–35.9 lb
8 months
13.7–17.6 kg 30.2–38.8 lb
13.6–17.4 kg 30.0–38.4 lb
9 months
14.4–18.5 kg 31.7–40.8 lb
14.2–18.3 kg 31.3–40.3 lb
10 months
14.9–19.1 kg 32.8–42.1 lb
14.7–18.8 kg 32.4–41.4 lb
11 months
15.2–19.5 kg 33.5–43.0 lb
15.0–19.2 kg 33.1–42.3 lb
12 months
15.4–19.8 kg 34.0–43.7 lb
15.2–19.5 kg 33.5–43.0 lb
15 months
15.8–20.3 kg 34.8–44.8 lb
15.7–20.1 kg 34.6–44.3 lb

Lifespan

In UK vet records, the typical Keeshond lived to about 12 and a half years, shorter than the typical medium breed. The group was small, so treat the figure as rough.

Where it comes from

The Keeshond kept watch on Dutch barges and was the mascot of the 18th-century Patriots, the party opposed to the House of Orange; after their defeat in 1787 its numbers fell steeply. English breeders, importing it from 1905 as the Dutch Barge Dog, revived interest in the Netherlands, though the FCI files it under Germany as the Wolfsspitz4,9,10.

The Keeshond is usually said to take its name from Kees de Gyselaer, a Patriot leader whose dog came to represent the party. The Dutch revival of the twentieth century owed much to Baroness van Hardenbroek, who began tracing surviving dogs on riverboats and farms in the nineteen-twenties. A Dutch breed club followed, and in Britain the name Keeshond replaced Dutch Barge Dog during the same decade. The breed was kept as a watchdog and companion rather than for hunting or herding, and its job was to raise the alarm.

Breed standard

Kennel clubs do not all register this breed the same way.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Keeshond figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a medium-sized breed is most likely somewhere in the middle.

Compare with related

Finnish Lapphund
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Norwegian Elkhound
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Samoyed
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Kishu Ken
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Or compare the Keeshond with any breed you choose
Track your own Keeshond
Log a minute a day and watch them sit on these curves. Free.

Sources

Something wrong on this page?
Parts of this page were written by AI ·