Stabyhoun
Bright, cooperative, outdoorsy and loyal. From The Netherlands.
Sportingmedium breedThe NetherlandsStandards checked
Standards checked: this profile's facts are checked against the breed standards of the AKC, The Kennel Club and the FCI, as described on our methodology page.
Gallery
Real photos from licensed sources only, each credited to its creator.
Photos show different individual dogs from licensed libraries, not one dog growing up. Stage labels are approximate, the way a careful editor would judge them.
About the Stabyhoun
The Netherlands produced the Stabyhoun, a medium sized gundog breed bred to work with hunters in the field, finding, flushing and retrieving game. The gundog deal is exercise and inclusion in exchange for the most biddable temperament in the dog world.
History
The Stabyhoun sits on the sporting and gundogs side of the dog world and was developed in The Netherlands to work with hunters in the field, finding, flushing and retrieving game. Recognition rests with the national kennel club of its homeland rather than the big international registries, so numbers stay small and type stays close to working roots. A typical life runs 13 to 14 years. Long, silky coat, straight or slightly wavy, with feathering on the chest, legs and tail, water resistant.
Personality
Bright, cooperative, outdoorsy and loyal is the record's Stabyhoun, the Fryske Stabij: Friesland's black and white pointing dog, the poor farmer's gundog of the Dutch north, kept for centuries to point and retrieve game, swim the canals, catch moles and watch the farm, and now one of the rarest breeds on Earth under its association's careful management. Stabyhouns are gentle, intelligent and deeply devoted, famously patient with children and calm in the house for so capable a gundog. Puppies are bright, merry charmers; adults are devoted, versatile companions. Owners describe the complete Frisian: a dog bred to stand by its person for every task the farm and marsh could offer.
Temperament and traits
Energy (5/5)
Trainability (4/5)
Grooming needs (3/5)
Shedding (3/5)
Barking (3/5)
Good with children: Good with children
With other dogs: Good with dogs
With strangers: Friendly with strangers
Apartment life: Not ideal
Coat and care
Coat: Long, silky coat, straight or slightly wavy, with feathering on the chest, legs and tail, water resistant. It sheds moderately and needs brushing once or twice a week.
Colors: The standard accepts a range of colors and patterns, and individual markings vary a lot.
Measure meals rather than free feeding; this breed does best on a routine of consistent meals, training in short sessions and daily exercise matched to its type. Brush weekly and check ears, teeth and nails as part of the routine. Ears, feet and coat all take a beating in the field season; build post walk checks into the routine.
Exercise and grooming
Exercise
An hour is a floor and the record's energy is top of scale: the Stabyhoun is Friesland's pointing dog, one of the rarest breeds in the world, the Frisian farmer's all purpose gundog that points, retrieves from land and water, catches moles and minds the farm. It needs the gundog athlete's programme: long walks, free running, swimming, training and scent work. The gundog deal is exercise and inclusion, per the overview, in exchange for the most biddable temperament in the dog world. Puppies build up gradually. A worked Stabyhoun is a gentle, devoted house dog; the breed is famously calm indoors when its outdoor life is real.
Grooming
Brush weekly and check ears, teeth and nails as part of the routine, per the care notes, working through the medium length silky black and white coat so the feathering stays free. Ears, feet and coat all take a beating in the field season; build post walk checks into the routine, in the notes' exact instruction, and this swimming, marsh working breed lives it. Measure meals rather than free feeding, per the notes. Puppies need ear care habituation from the start. Owners budget a genuine weekly session plus the post walk check.
Training and daily life
Training
With a strong train score and top energy, the Stabyhoun is an excellent, willing pupil: intelligent, cooperative and eager, learning field work, household skills and dog sports readily under kind, consistent, reward based training. It points and retrieves by heritage and works as a soft mouthed all rounder. Short, joyful sessions suit a sensitive, biddable dog. Priorities are socialisation, recall, steadiness, delivery to hand, and cooperative ear care. Owners describe one of the most rewarding training partnerships in the gundog group.
Living with a Stabyhoun
The Stabyhoun suits very active, devoted households, ideally with water and fields, that want one of the world's rarest gundogs: bright, cooperative, outdoorsy and loyal in the record's summary, good with children, good with other dogs and friendly with strangers. It rates apartments as not ideal because exercise and inclusion push outward. The gundog deal is exercise and inclusion in exchange for the most biddable temperament in the dog world, per the overview. Owners describe a dog of unusual gentleness and quality: the Frisian stand by dog, calm as a cat at home and tireless in the marsh.
What a Stabyhoun costs
Food cost
About $32 per month for a typical 48 lb adult eating roughly 3.0 cups a day of a standard quality food ($1.60 per lb). Full breakdown in our food expense calculator.
Activity and exercise
Plan 60 to 90 minutes a day of walks, play and training. Under exercised dogs of most breeds invent their own projects, and they rarely pick good ones.
Insurance cost
Typical US range $36 to $65 per month for accident and illness cover. Estimate only, based on market ranges for this breed's risk profile; see the insurance estimator and the insurance guide.
On the monthly figures above, a typical adult year runs to about $381 for food and $432 to $780 for insurance, before routine vet care, grooming and gear. Year one costs more: vaccinations, spay or neuter surgery, a crate, bedding and training all land at once.
Growth: puppy to senior
How weight typically builds with age for a medium breed, and when full size arrives.
| Stage | Age | Typical weight |
|---|---|---|
| Puppy | 8 weeks | about 6 to 8 lb |
| Puppy | 4 months | about 13 to 18 lb |
| Young | 6 months | about 21 to 29 lb |
| Young | 9 months | about 30 to 41 lb |
| Adult | 12 months | about 35 to 48 lb |
| Adult | 18 months | about 40 to 55 lb |
| Adult | Full grown | 40 to 55 lb (standard range) |
| Senior | From about 8 years | Healthy weight stays in the adult range; watch for slow gain or loss |
Growth pattern follows the size class growth curves published by the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, applied to the adult weight range in the breed standard. Individual puppies vary; steady growth matters more than hitting any single number, and your vet's growth checks come first.
Life stages
Puppies need socialisation, ear care habituation, gradual exercise building and gundog foundations in short games. Adolescents are bright, busy and water seeking, and structured training carries the household through. Adults enjoy a long, hardy prime: thirteen to fourteen years. Keep ears checked after wet work, weight measured and the swimming regular. Senior status arrives around ten to eleven: twice yearly checks with hip, elbow and eye awareness, joint friendly exercise and continued gentle swims. Old Stabyhouns stay bright, cooperative and devoted.
Health
Hip and elbow scoring and annual eye checks are the backbone of gundog health testing, and most gundog breeds also have DNA tests for the conditions found in their lines. Ask the breeder for the full panel, not just a vet checked claim.
Conditions to know about
- Hip dysplasia: Hip scoring is the backbone of gundog health testing, per the record. Ask the breeder for the full panel, not just a vet checked claim, in the record's own standard. The Dutch association runs one of the strictest health programmes in dogs.
- Elbow dysplasia: Elbow scoring stands beside hips in the gundog backbone named in the record. Ask for both parents' grades in writing.
- Eye conditions: Annual eye checks are the third named pillar in the record. Ask for current certificates for both parents.
- DNA tested conditions: Most gundog breeds also have DNA tests for the conditions found in their lines, per the record. The Stabyhoun's managed population is DNA profiled by its association; ask what the pairing's results show.
Facts follow the Stabyhoun breed standard (AKC, The Kennel Club and FCI standards agree on the essentials for this breed). Health notes summarize the conditions breed clubs and veterinary bodies most often flag for this breed. They are general information for choosing and caring, not a diagnosis or a substitute for your vet.
Gear for Stabyhoun owners
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Stabyhoun questions
How long do Stabyhouns live?
A typical lifespan is 13 to 14 years. Weight control, dental care and screening for the breed's known conditions give a dog the best chance of reaching the top of that range.
How much does it cost to keep a Stabyhoun?
Food for a typical adult runs about $32 a month at a standard quality tier, and accident and illness insurance usually falls between $36 and $65 a month in the US. Try the full cost calculator for a complete year one and yearly picture.
Are Stabyhouns good with children?
Good with children. As with every breed, supervise dogs and children together and teach children to respect the dog's space.
How much exercise does a Stabyhoun need?
Plan on 60 to 90 minutes a day, split between walks, play and training games. Puppies and seniors need gentler, shorter sessions.
How rare is the Stabyhoun?
Among the rarest recognised breeds on Earth: the Frisian population is carefully managed by its Dutch association with strict breeding controls, and total worldwide numbers are only in the low thousands. Puppies are allocated, not simply sold.
What does Stabyhoun mean?
Stand by me dog, in Frisian: stabij is stand by, houn is dog, the farmer's dog that stood by him for every job, hunting, mole catching and guarding the yard.
Stabyhoun or Wetterhoun, what is the difference?
Frisian cousins: the Stabyhoun is the pointing and retrieving dog in black and white. The Wetterhoun is the curly coated water dog and otter hunter. Both are rare Frisian farm breeds managed by the same Dutch association tradition.
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