Goatsucker Harvest: Piper the Kooikerhondje, the Decoy Dog with a difference

Unless you've loved one, I guess you haven't googled what a Kooikerhondje looks like. A Kooiker Hound. A Dutch Decoy Dog. So here he is - Bram's Piper in Goatsucker Harvest looks something like this fella. A small spaniel, of Dutch ancestry, like Bram himself.

 Painted by Rembrandt and below in the foreground on a cushion in this painting by Jan Steen. 

Jan Steen "Doctor's Visit" oil on panel, 1661-2, Victoria & Albert Museum (Kooikerhondje in right foreground on cushion)

A faithful little working dog, bred to work in harmony with his human, entrancing wildfowl at the eendenkooi (duck cage). Piper's a bit special, as you'll discover, inseparable from Bram in his stewardship of the peat moors, at the decoy or in the pinfold. Almost human, you might say.