ALL  THINGS  ABOUT  SPANISH  WATER  DOGS

Breed history

Spanish Water Dog (Perro De Agua Espanol)  is a very old breed that was used in the Southern Iberian Peninsula as a herding dog. The breed was recovered from the unknown by Antonio Garcia Perez, who is considered the Father of the Breed.
Antonio, who is a grandson of shepherds, an ecologist and English language teacher is the author of the official breed standard.
When Antonio discovered the breed he was only a young boy, whose grandparents worked daily with their dogs ‘Tarzan and Mora.’ Today his grandparents are well into their eighties, and throughout their lives have used Spanish Water Dogs (Perros De Agua Espanol) to herd and protect their flocks of sheep, lambs, goats, cattle and pigs.
These dogs have been worked in the same ways for the last 300 years and throughout this time dog skeletons have been found with the exact same physical structure as the dogs of today.
In the sea ports of Algeciras, Cadiz, Malaga, and the inlet port of Sevilla, the Perros were used to moor ships and boats by diving into the sea and towing a floating buoy tied to the end of a rope, to the waiting deck hands. There are many stories of these events, but unfortunately, with the modernisation of the ports, this wonderful work of the Spanish Water Dogs (Perros De Agua Espanol) is no longer needed.
In conclusion, we love this multi-talented breed for its usefulness, and we believe that this usefulness should be the basis of all work with these dogs in the future. To keep the breed strong and unique we must continually play and work with our dogs.

Body structer and coat colors

We are seeing more and more of short legged, long bodied and highly massive dogs. This is not correct!
In the item picture above You see the “naked” truth for those who thought coat corrects the body and etc. Here is  the information about correct size proportions of Spanish Water Dogs (Perro De Aqua Espaniol).
💥The most important proportions of a SWDs is:
💥 height/ length = 8/9
💥 body/ legs = 50/50
If a junior already has 60% or more body and only 40% or less legged .... even if the underline is shaved .... means it is short on legs!!
This is a multipurpose breed, meant to function as a hearding dog (mainly for goats, pigs, but also cows), gundog and guarding dog. Chubby, shortlehged , fluffy dogs are cute but they are not SWDs. SWDs should look rustic and fit for function.



​COAT COLORS could only be:
SOLID: White, black and chestnut in their different shades.
BICOLOURED: White and black or white and brown in their different shades.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Tricoloured subjects, and black and tan as well as hazelnut and tan dogs are not admitted.

Character

The Spanish Water Dogs (Perro De Agua Espanol) is a complex character that just loves to please, but will if you let it walk all over you.
They are very intelligent indeed but this also means that they learn very quickly the bad things too. As long as you are firm and show them who is boss you will all get on fine. They will bond with one person in particular but still love all the family.
They are great retrievers and will retrieve almost anything from anywhere. They still today guard and herd flocks of sheep and goats in Andulucia just as they did hundreds of years ago. They are used all over the world as search and rescue dogs and have found many bodies after many natural disasters such as earthquakes, mud slides and cave ins. They are also used by many European police forces to detect drugs and explosives. On a lighter note, they have also been known to work in the travelling circus! Many people say that the Perro De Agua Espanol only lacks the ability to speak! The Perro De Agua is also used as a gundog, but when they have a full coat you have to take care that they don't get caught in the undergrowth. This is because they have been known to get so entangled that they cannot move.
These dogs have a strong guarding instinct and will soon tell you if a stranger is near, but once they know the visitor is a friend they will accept them without any fuss. They are very loyal and loving and will never be far from your side.

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