CASEY THE ORATOR


I had long heard about the male Keeshond. But I had never had one, choosing my first Keeshond to be a female. The female was always to be chosen because of my own history…see "Raised By Wolves". That and the marking of territory that many times is carried into the human abode, all that, made it virtually impossible for me to choose the male - long before I encountered the Keeshond breed. The many years of success with Flying Dutchman's Dream only reinforced my decision to only choose females for the house pet.

But then I met Casey. As covered in his history, he was not the best choice for me during what was my mourning period. Then, why did I choose him? Well, he was cute, and still young enough, I thought, to establish communication. Other than those characteristics and the absolute need for a Kees to be back in the household, I must admit that I had no good reason to choose the fellow. But I did choose him, and both he and I went through the adjustment period. And, again, as mentioned in his article, I will give credit to my wife, Janet, and to Vanna for rescuing both of us.

After that rescue, and when Casey became more relaxed, we all began to find out about the special vocalizations of the male Keeshond. At first misinterpreted as a gentle whine, I began to note that he was making his sounds only when happy. Cry for happy? Then all of us, including Vanna, became amazed when Casey broke into coos, warbles and strange rhythms that covered from the lowest to the highest frequencies. He would sit or lie comfortably and rattle on and on. Vanna would just look at him in amazement. She had in her own arsenal some low frequency rumbles, the silly Grrrrr and the standard barking ability. But she never did anything like Casey was doing. It was as if he was singing a song or at least delivering a long speech.

And thinking back to Flying Dutchman's Dream, she could roll low frequencies, say something close to "water" and bark powerfully. But she never volunteered this type of complex verbalization that Casey seemed comfortable doing. This matches other Kees owners' experiences. Many who raise Keeshonden know that the male talks like this. If you find site dedications to males who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge, you will many times find a mention of "missing the sound of his talking".

And, so, it will be mentioned here. Not always a characteristic, but many times a characteristic of the male Keeshond, this…crooning. Just think of it as another fantastic ability of a fantastic animal.