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NETHERLANDS
HISTORY | CLUB | BREEDERS

Although there were already Dandies in the Netherlands even far before World War 2, it was only in very small numbers
Dandie breeding really started in 1962, when Gerda Later, the daughter of Mrs. M. Later-van der Willigen, imported two bitches from England, called "Watersend Bow Bells"and "Watersend Daisybell".

At first mother Later did not think much of her daughter's choice of breed, but when she saw those two she was sold . From that time on she made Dandies her life's work. The only thing she needed was a good male dog.

With the help of Mrs.Peggy Hulme, who gave her the necessary support at the time, she imported "Watersend Jester" and breeding could start. Over the years a large number of litters were bred under the affix "Salicia", which means willowtree in Latin. The connection with her surname "Willigen"is clear

Her flock of Dandies grew and grew until at times there were more than 40 Dandies in and around her home at Heerewaarden, just below the dike.
Because of a crippling illnss she was confined to a wheelchair. That did not prevent her from attending a great many shows and she became a well-known sight with usually several Dandies around her chair. She did not have much competition to fear, her beautiful dogs very often won What she also did was win a great many people over to the breed. and many a Dandie of her breeding was sold abroad, where they formed the base of new kennels or gave a fresh impuls to existing kennels.

In 1971, another Dandie lover joined Mrs. Later That was Mrs.Janny Evenhuis-Overbeeke, who bred Dandies until the early nineties under the kennelname of Öf Sugar Village "(because there was a sugar plant nearby). Both ladies helped new breeders , first with dogs from their own breeding,

In the meantime, also a number of imports came to this country, mainly from the Hendelkennel. In the seventies and eighties, more breeders joined the club, such as Mrs. K. v..d. Wiel-Eykens ("De Jonge Hertog"), Mrs. B. Vruwink-Roerink ("Van de Hertjes Mrs. J.W.M. Elissen ("De Falja's"), Mrs.H.A.M. Essink-Muis, (Öf Jari's Hoeve"), Mrs. C. Van Sundert-Dirven (no kennelname) and Mrs. J. Bogaers (no kennel name)
Later still, Mr. And Mrs. C. Daalwijk imported a dog and a bitch from the well-known Renald kennel, which they bred from together with Mrs. Evenhuis. Mrs. Ulla Bletz followed with her kennel "Van de Veulen Hof", later "Sothics". Mrs. S. De Lege had a litter with Salicia Dandies under the kennel name "Teviots". All of the above mentioned breeders have meanwhile stopped breeding.

Mrs. Later died in 1994. It is fortunate that a number of Dandie fans took over, albeit in a different way. Breeders nowadays only have occasional litters, carefully planned, that is true, but few and far between. To this end, quite a number of Dandies were imported in the nineties, mostly from the U.K. Mrs. Later's breeding was not altogether lost. Paul de Bakker, Marga Bouma and Wijnand and Esther Pul all started out with Salicia dogs. Marga Bouma has stopped breeding meanwhile and Wijnand and Esther Pul switched over to other lines.

The gap left by the death of Mrs. Later was filled by a number of small breeders, such as Lidya Akkersdijk ("Mixed Double's"), Paul de Bakker (Öf Coquet Water"), Esther and Wijnand Pul ("Bernicians"), Marga Bouma (Öf Swifty Current"), Ineke ter Heersche (Of Hershey's Crown") An and Dick Weidenaar ("Dorricott"), Fam. V.d. Heuvel (no kennel name), Annemarie Rombouts (""Lifetime Loving"), Leonie Fondse ("Delta Dandies"), Louise van Vliet (The Dews of that Ilk"), Sabine Boers ("Do Castelo Branco"), Fam. Sluis (no kennel name), Bas Bosch and Mieke Gerritsen (Bardolynn's") and Jan and Rianne Cornelissen (Öf Sotho Bantu")/.

Reading all hese names one would suppose that more Dandies have been getting available in the Netherlands, On the contrary, These breeders confine themselves to one litter a year, sometimes even less, while some of them have stopped or put their breeding on hold. The demand for Dandies is not growing fast either. On the one hand one may deplore this, the gene pool remaining small this way, on the other hand no breed profits from becoming too popular. The Dandie is a breed for lovers who value their favourite and take good care of them.

Lidya Akkersdijk