Portuguese Water Dog Temperament

Obedient and agile, yet lively and spirited, the Portuguese Water Dog is an intelligent dog that loves to work and play. This
water loving dog is courageous and has plenty of stamina and enthusiasm for everything that he does. These dogs love to be
in the thick of the action, whether it is work or play, and are not suited to those with little time for their pets. The Portuguese
Water Dog needs plenty of exercise, as he is a very active and physically demanding dog. They also require mental stimulation,
and will not take kindly to being ignored or neglected. Loyal and loving, the Portuguese Water Dog will bark to raise an alarm,
making him an effective protector - the good news is that he doesn't tend to bark unnecessarily. Destructive behavior can stem
from boredom with the Portuguese Water Dog, and these dogs also love to chew, so keep plenty of appropriate toys to hand.

The Portuguese Water Dog is a friendly and confident dog, but can be willful, obstinate, and challenging, which makes him best
suited to a confident owner with experience of dog ownership. He tends to get along well with children, who he will treat as
friends, and with proper socialization also gets along with pets, although he can sometimes be jealous or territorial. He is
usually polite - even friendly - with strangers when properly socialized. The Portuguese Water Dog is a good choice of family
pet for active families with plenty of time to devote to a pet, but not the right choice for those with little time or energy.

Portuguese Water Dog Appearance

The Portuguese Water Dog is a medium sized dog with a sturdy, robust build. He has a beautiful curly or wavy coat, which can
be clipped and shaped for show dogs. The coat comes in various colors, including black, brown, and white. The Portuguese
Water Dog has an intelligent expression, and ears that hang down to the side of his face. He also has distinctive webbed feet.
The height of the Portuguese Water Dog is around 17-21 inches for females and 19-23 inches for males. These dogs weigh
in at around 34-50 pounds for females and 53-60 pounds for males.

Portuguese Water Dog Life Expectancy

The life expectancy of the Portuguese Water Dog is around 12-14 years, and this is a generally healthy breed.

Portuguese Water Dog History

Originating from the Algarve in Portugal, the Portuguese Water Dog enjoys a long history. Used as a water retriever and to
help fishermen, the Portuguese Water Dog was registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC) in 1983.

Ten Portuguese Water Dog Facts

Portuguese Water Dogs once existed all along Portugal’s coast, where they were taught to herd fish into fishermen’s nets,
to retrieve lost tackle or broken nets, and to act as couriers from ship to ship, or ship to shore.

They have webbed feet, one of the reasons they’re such good swimmers.

Half the ships of the Spanish Armada had Portuguese water dogs to carry messages from ship to ship.

In the native Portugal, the breed is known as  Cão de Água but elsewhere are called PWD or “Porties”for short.

They’re an extremely energetic breed; the breed standard describes them as “very resistant to fatigue” and lists shyness
as a “major fault.”

Some believe that the breed may be traced as far back as 700 B.C. to the wild Central-Asian steppes in terrain and waters
that assured to nourish ruggedness.

A Portuguese Water Dog is first described in 1297 in a monk’s account of a drowning sailor who was pulled from the sea by
a dog with a “black coat, the hair long and rough, cut to the first rib and with a tail tuft”

During their working days PWD’s were considered part of a ship’s crew and got a share of both the money and fish earned
for the catch. After a fisherman retired, they would often have to rent out their dogs for the extra cash.

PWD’s were the main feature of the Mystic Seaport Museum's exhibition "Sea Tails" which recounted stories of four legged
bravery at sea.

Senator Kennedy’s two Portuguese Water Dogs, Sunny and Splash, are, arguably, the most famous dogs in Washington.