The Portuguese Water Dog Puppy – What a great pet!
A Portuguese Water Dog puppy, named for its love of water, is a highly sensitive and loyal breed of dog. These dogs have pleasant and stable temperaments, are affectionate, and great fun to interact with. This breed of puppies, while almost always obedient and willing to please, has a great sense of humor and greatly enjoys being the center of attention.
This breed is also highly intelligent, courageous, and easy to train. Portuguese Water Dog puppies will want to work and can quickly learn to understand your instructions. If you display steady, calm authority, they will be happy to comply. Keep in mind that they are extremely intelligent, so they may decide to try to be “the boss” if they feel that you are not a stronger mind than they are.
They are wonderful with children and generally get along well with other animals. They need to be allowed to meet any pet cats you may have to avoid any problems between the two of you, but with all other pets, you shouldn’t have any difficulties.
Portuguese Water Dogs also make very good watchdogs and have a great sense of smell, but they love to chew; Puppies are especially known to be active chewers, so make sure you always have something you bought on hand for them to enjoy chewing on.
A medium-sized dog as an adult, the Portuguese Water Dog puppy is muscular and hardy and has a coat that can range from wavy to flat, from tight curl to open curl. They can be white, brown, black, gray, silver fox, or what is called pardicolor (white hair that has dark spots).
These dogs, as their name suggests, spend a lot of time in the water, so they have a bit more webbing between their toes than other dog breeds, making them excellent swimmers.
This breed of dog can be prone to hip dysplasia and PRA. It is important that Portuguese Water Dog puppies are tested for GM-1 storage disease. This nervous disease is fatal and will appear when a puppy reaches 6 months of age. If your pet is healthy, you can expect it to live between 10 and 14 years of age.
This is a great breed to have if you have allergies – the coat sheds little to no hair. Also, unlike many dog varieties that do not shed, the Portuguese Water Dog does not need frequent trips to the groomer because its coat grows more slowly.
Your dog, if male, will reach 20-22 inches and weigh 42-45 pounds. If you have a female, he should grow to 17-20 inches and weigh 35-49 pounds.
While this may seem a bit big for an apartment, your water dog should be fine if you give him constant exercise. He will be somewhat active indoors and prefers to live there rather than in the yard.
You will find that a Portuguese Water Dog is a great addition to your family; just take the time to consider all of this breed’s traits before making your final decision to bring one into the family.
