Portuguese Water Dogs

PWD are very active for the first year or so of their lives. They are also a very intelligent dog, so need training and much socialization with everything in their new world. The PWD is a strong, mid sized, agile dog with stamina and endurance to do a full days work. Its non-shedding hair grows just as human hair does, with no undercoat. The coat can be curly or wavy. The colors are black, white, as well as tones of brown; also combos of these. The coat can be clipped two ways. In the Retriever Clip, the entire coat is clipped to one inch, with the end of the tail left long. In the Lion Clip, the hindquarters and muzzle are clipped short, the end of the tail , coat on the head, neck forequarters & chest is left long.

The breed is loyal, affectionate, energetic, intelligent family companion and watchdog which thrives on and demands human attention. The life expectancy of the average PWD is 12 to 15 years. They tend to mature slowly and remain active well into their senior years.

Mature size of the PWD males is 20-23 inches at the shoulder, Females fall into the range of 17-21 inches. –There is a large variance of weight, but standard for males is 42 to 60 pounds; while females are 35 to 50 pound adults. We do find most of ours in the 50-60 pounds range.