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Several theories exist as to the PWD’s origins. One traces the breed’s beginnings back to 200 B.C. and centers on the Iberian Peninsula, which is located in the extreme southwestern corner of Europe and is today divided into four countries: Gibraltar, Andorra, Spain, and Portugal. The peninsula endured many invasions by external forces. The invaders included the Romans, the Visigoths, and the Moors, each of whom brought their own special working dogs.

Over hundreds of years, these dogs interbred and eventually started to breed true to a particular type. This type-a sturdy, longhaired, willing water worker was identified by the Portuguese fishermen as being a valuable asset to their work, and the dogs became known as the ‘fisherman’s dog.’ Over the course of time, they became the Portuguese Water Dog.

Another theory places the PWD’s beginnings back even further, to 700 B.C.E., near the border between Russia and China. Here the relatively isolated people raised dogs to herd cattle, sheep, camels, or horses. The dogs developed into a clear type that looked much like today’s PWD. Nomadic Berber warriors were said to have captured some of these dogs, who then traveled with their new masters across Asia to North Africa. Their descendants, the Moors, then brought the dogs to Iberia in the eighth century.

Still another theory posits that the Asian dogs traveled with another nomadic tribe, the Goths, who came from what is now Germany. One offshoot of that tribe, the Ostrogoths, headed west; their dogs became what is now known as the Poodle. Another offshoot, the Visigoths, headed south, fought the Romans, and then made their way to the Iberian Peninsula, where the dogs eventually became today’s PWDs.

In any case, once the dogs reached Iberia, they became adept at all kinds of tasks related to fishing and water work. They herded fish into nets, retrieved broken nets or lost tackle, and acted as aquatic couriers from boat to shore or between boats.

Flash forward to 1934, when a wealthy Portuguese shipping magnate named Vasco Bensaude became enchanted with the breed after seeing two PWDs at a dog show in Lisbon. “With a goal in mind of preserving the breed, he started an extensive search for more dogs and fortunately found a few working on the fishing boats in the Algarve region of Portugal. He was able to acquire a male and female during that first search.

On a subsequent trip, Bensaude discovered another female and a magnificent male who worked daily on the boats. He desperately wanted this male and after much negoti­ating with the fisherman owner, he acquired Leao, the dog who became the foundation for [Bensaude’s| Algarbiorum Kennel and the ideal model for the breed standard.

Bensaude bred PWDs for nearly 30 years but rarely sold any of the dogs he bred. Instead, he gave them to friends and associates. He died in 1957, and a year later his widow gave the 14 remaining dogs in the kennel to a trusted friend.

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Spirited, Social, Soggy

Today’s PWD is a rugged, robust dog, equipped with webbed feet and a nonshed­ding, waterproof coat-the better to do all that water work in. Leao, the first PWD acquired by Vasco Bensaude, is the quintessential representative of the breed. He was spirited, self-willed, and brave, and strong enough and mentally tough enough to do a full day’s work in and out of the water. A real Portuguese Water Dog is spirited, excep­tionally intelligent, powerful, and a bundle of predetermined energy.

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