This is an example of information about PWDs submitted by a breeder. Their testament to the breed will go here.
Your Trusted Expert in Breeding and Maintaining Healthy Portuguese Water Dogs
All About Portuguese Water Dogs
Breed Name:
Portuguese Water DogPersonality:
Joyful, Spirited and Highly IntelligentAKC Group:
WorkingHistory and Characteristics:
As a member of the AKC Working Group, Portuguese Water Dogs originated as the fisherman’s ‘helper’ off the Portuguese coast. They were tasked with everything from guarding boats, transporting messages between boats and shore, and even diving underwater for items and herding fish into nets.
While they no longer serve their original purpose, Portuguese Water Dogs are known to be a joyful, spirited and highly intelligent pet. They have a low-shed coat that requires frequent grooming and can be acceptable for some allergy sufferers, although some people may still have a reaction and should test themselves with a PWD before acquiring one if this is a concern.
Portuguese Water Dogs also need training and excel at many dog sports and "jobs". A well-trained PWD is a fabulous companion and should have a lovely "off" switch and be family-friendly.
Fun Fact
About Portuguese Water Dogs
How Popular
Are Portuguese Water Dogs?
Prominent Canines
Famous Portuguese Water Dogs:
Bo and Sunny Obama, the former President’s pups lived in the White House during his tenure. A squad of PWDs became known as BARK, Baseball’s Aquatic Retrieval Korps and retrieve balls hit into the bay by the San Francisco Giants. They are the home run-retrieving Portuguese water dogs of McCovey Cove.Notable Champions:
December 2013, a PWD known as ‘Matisse’ was named Best in Show at The AKC/Eukanuba National Championship.Breed Health
Health Predispositions:
- Addison’s disease
- Some congenital eye conditions: cataracts and progressive retinal atrophy (PRA)
- GM1 or gangliosidosis, a recessive genetic disorder
- Hip dysplasia
Health Clearances Recommended for Breeding:
- Eye CAER yearly
- OFA hips
- DNA for PRA, EOPRA, MO, JDCM
Service to Humans:
Portuguese Water Dogs can be trained to serve humans as therapy or service dogs. Their gentle temperament, intelligence, and eagerness to please make them well-suited for the role.Be Aware of...
- Exercise - PWDs need ample exercise and mental stimulation daily.
- Protective - While considered affectionate and very friendly, as a member of the Working Group, they can also be territorial and protective of their family, vocalizing when something is out of line.
- Grooming - The PWD coat requires regular brushing and a considerable amount of trimming and clipping.
- Shedding - PWDs are NOT hypoallergenic and may not be a good choice for people with allergies. They produce dander and they shed. What happens is that most of the shed hairs get caught in their tousled coat rather than ending up on your floor. Thus, frequent brushing is essential not only for keeping the coat mat-free but also for removing shed hair.
Breeder Insights
Kokopelli Portuguese Water Dogs in Action:
What to Ask the Breeder if You are Considering Bringing a PWD into Your Home:
The top goal of every responsible breeder is not to make money on a litter, but to produce the healthiest puppies possible. Dedicated, responsible breeders are passionate about their breed and want to contribute to the continuation of their breed by placing healthy puppies into caring homes. As such, responsible breeders will only breed dogs with the appropriate temperaments and who have also been tested for diseases of concern for their specific breed. The following paragraphs outline what you should consider before adopting a specific PWD puppy.Portuguese Water Dog Health Considerations:
Portuguese water dogs have the presence of or predilections for a few serious health disorders. With the proper testing of potential parents, breeders can greatly reduce or eliminate the chance that puppies they produce will be affected by genetic disorders. As a prospective PWD puppy owner, you should ask the breeders about the status of both dam and sire for:
- GM1 gangliosidosis (Portuguese Water Dog type)
- Progressive retinal atrophy, progressive rod-cone degeneration (PRA-prcd)
- Early onset progressive retinal atrophy (EOPRA)
- Micropthalmia syndrome (MO)
- Juvenile dilated cardiomyopathy (JDCM)
- Hip and elbow dysplasia (OFA testing)
Future Owner Tips
Guidance in Choosing a Breeder:
You should never adopt a PWD puppy from a breeder who cannot show you written documentation of the pup’s parents’ GM1 status. GM1 gangliosidosis (Portuguese water dog type) is a lysosomal storage disease that typically manifests in affected puppies between 2 and 6 months of age. Affected puppies have problems with vision, gait, balance, bone growth, and weight loss. Affected puppies usually die within a year. GM1 is an autosomal recessive trait. This means that a puppy must have two alleles of the affected gene, one from each parent, to exhibit the disease. If a puppy has only one copy of the affected gene, they are considered a “carrier” but will not have any signs of the disease. As an adopter of a new puppy, you should make sure that no more than one parent of the litter was a carrier. In other words, at least one of the parents must be “clear.” If both parents are clear, then all of the puppies will be clear. If one of the parents is a carrier, then likely half of the puppies will be carriers. This means that they will be healthy, but if they are bred, then they must be very careful to make sure that the dogs they are bred to are clear and not carriers. There are many laboratories that can test for the GM1 gene in your prospective puppy, if the status of the parents is unknown. Please contact our office for more guidance.
PRA-prcd causes the degeneration of the rods and cones of the retina. Night blindness and loss of peripheral vision happens first, but the disease eventually progresses to full blindness in most cases. Onset is usually later in life, between 3 and 5 years of age. Because of the later onset, it is possible that untested parents with the genetic condition could be bred before they themselves show any signs of disease, and pass it on to puppies. Because of this potentiality, it is of paramount important that all dogs are tested prior to breeding. EOPRA is another variant of PRA detected in PWD which sets in between 2 and 3 years of age. DNA tests for both types of PRA are available and, like GM1, are both autosomal recessive traits. This means that at least one parent must be clear of the mutated alleles in order for all puppies to be unaffected. In other words, it is OK if one parent is a carrier (has only one copy of a mutated allele), so long as the other parent is completely clear. If one parent is a carrier, then it is likely that some of the puppies will also be carriers. Single-allele carriers of autosomal recessive diseases do not exhibit signs of the disease, and this is the case with both early and late-onset PRA. You can confidently adopt a puppy that is a carrier (just don’t breed it to another carrier).
MO is a condition where puppies are born with abnormally small and ultimately dysfunctional eyes. Stunted growth is also associated with the condition. It has been shown to also be an autosomal recessive trait. Breeding animals should have a DNA test prior to breeding. Carrier animals can be bred to clear animals, just not to each other. You would probably know if a puppy you are considering for adoption has MO because it would have very small eyes and stunted growth.
Most types of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) happen in adult animals and are often preceded by clinical signs including lethargy, coughing, labored breathing, and collapse. In PWD, a juvenile form of DCM exists which manifests when they are 2 weeks to 6 months old. The progression of the disease is so rapid that death often happens before any other clinical signs are recognized. As with other diseases on this page, JDCM in PWD is an autosomal recessive trait and can be tested for using a genetic test. Carrier dogs may be bred to clear dogs, but should never be bred to another carrier dog. As a prospective puppy owner, you should make sure that at least one parent of the litter was clear of mutated JDCM alleles.
In addition to the genetic tests described above, it is important that both sire and dam have had a companion animal eye registry (CAER) exam in the past 12 months. There are times that a human, board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist will detect abnormalities in the eyes that are not represented by the limited genetic testing we have available. You should request these results from each parent and review them.
Hip and elbow dysplasia are orthopedic conditions that can be debilitating for dogs by making every step they take painful and difficult. The conditions are caused because the bones of the hip or elbow joints are not formed and seated appropriately. Eventually, they wear away at the cartilage and bone will rub on bone, which is painful. Signs that a dog will eventually become dysplastic can be detected early in life through radiographs (x-rays). Since the predilection for these conditions is genetic, breeding affected dogs together increases the risk that the resultant puppies will have bad hips or elbows, often necessitating expensive and difficult surgical corrections at some point in their lives. It is recommended that dogs with poor conformation not be bred and dogs with moderate changes be bred to dogs with excellent joints. The sire and dam of your prospective puppy should have been tested minimally for hip dysplasia and (ideally) for elbow dysplasia and those records should be available to you.
Additional PWD Resources:
- American Kennel Club - Portuguese Water Dogs
- Parent Club - Portuguese Water Dog Club of America
- Regional Club - Portuguese Water Dog Club of Northern California
Kokopelli Support for Breeders
The mission of Kokopelli Assisted Reproductive Services at Kokopelli Veterinary Center is to fully support responsible breeders in creating the healthiest puppies possible. Part of that mission is advising breeders in health testing and advising potential puppy buyers in what they should be considering when looking at adopting a puppy. Please reach out to us for any questions or help. Nothing makes us happier than helping create situations where the human/animal bond can flourish.
View our educational on-demand webinars or attend one of our upcoming webinar sessions and learn more about how to raise healthy animals.
Schedule your pet’s consultation today!