Some of you know all about Dutch duck decoy dogs. For new readers, a primer: For generations, Dutch hunters used a foolproof technique to lure, and then trap, ducks. They devised a pipe with netting spread out over a long archway with a trap at the end of a tunnel. They called the contraption a “Kooi,” which is possibly why the dogs they used as decoy dogs were called ‘Kooikerhondje.‘  The dogs got the attention of the ducks and lured them down the tunnel just far enough so that by the time they lost interest in the dog, it was too late to get back out the opening because the hunters would stand in the entry way and block it. This forced the ducks to continue down the tunnel and into the trap.

You may find it interesting that conservationists pushed legislation prohibiting water fowl being taken this way between the months of May and August…………in the year 1534. The bill was repealed seventeen years later because “‘there is at this present less plenty of fowl brought into the markets than there was before the making of the said Act [1534], which is taken to come of the punishment of God, whose benefit was thereby taken away from the poor people that were wont to live by their skill in taking of the said fowl, wherebye they were wont at that time to sustain themselves with their poor households, to the great saving of other kinds of victual, of which aid they are now destitute, to their great and extreme impoverishing.'”

These days in the Netherlands, a few Kooikers are still trained to lure ducks this same way, but it’s only to enable conservationists to study, tag and inspect flocks for research, and to monitor the health of duck populations. What a fabulous “win/win.” The dogs are still used to do the job they were bred to do, but it results in the preservation of duck species for the same reasons we’re trying to protect our dog species.

“Kooikerhondje” by Jan Weenix circa 1655