History of the PWD

The objective of this page is to provide just a brief overview of the Portuguese Water Dog. An excellent book is available which goes into much more detail, The Portuguese Water Dog, 2nd edition by Kathryn (Kitty) Braund.

The Portuguese Water Dog is an ancient and very special working dog. Originating from the European country of Portugal, the PWD was bred to help the fishermen in their work. Its jobs included:

Herding fish into nets
Retrieving lost tackle and broken nets
Being a courier between boats and to shore
Guarding the boats from unwelcome humans, and seals!

anchor Given its role, the dog was required to be able to dive, and swim long distances. This athleticism is important in the breed today.

The PWD as a breed was almost lost as its traditional role was eliminated. In the early 1970's, the breed was brought back from the role of extinction with a small number of dogs taken to the US.

While some remained in Europe, the overall gene pool was very small. All dogs today can have their history traced back to the same set of dogs.

Both the Europeans and the Americans have done considerable work to bring this dog back into households. In Portugal, the dog even ended up at the zoo, where until just recently some still remained.

There are three big problems in the breed today:

still a small gene pool
health problems
the emergence of the retriever trim in northern America, which has led to a significant number of faults being hidden by skilful groomers, leading to inferior dogs winning and subsequently being bred from. This is a real shame for the breed.

However, good breeders out there are working industrially to ensure that there is a future to this breed.