Did you know that the word, “decoy,” is an abbreviation of the Dutch word endekooy or eendenkooi (meaning “duck cage”)? In Europe, the sort of trap into which ducks were driven was almost certainly a Dutch innovation, and the Dutch called the cages that appeared in canals with traps at the ends, “kooien.”
The Dutch are no strangers to working with dogs to lure ducks; one of the most important dogs in the Netherlands is one that takes its name from the trap, the Kooikerhondje (which also means “decoy dog” and “dog of the decoy boss”).
Kooikerhondje by Alicia VanNoy Call – dawgpainter
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The “Kooikerhondje” or Little Dutch Decoy Dog you might call it, is one of the 9 beautifull Dutch breeds. Its speciality as a decoy dog is indeed pure Dutch. The picture shows a “Kooikerhondje” at work in the “kooi”. Once there were more a thousand of these “kooi’s” , now only some 118. In a few of them the little white and orange marked dogs still do the same work as their ancesters.
Elly, thank YOU for a wonderful picture! It’s very difficult to describe a “kooi,” and your photograph does at a glance what we couldn’t do with words. It’s lovely.