History of the Portuguese Water Dog

By Susana Jacobetty

The wolf was domesticated by man around 15,000 BC. From that moment on, several breeds of dogs were developed, which evolved over the centuries. In Portugal, the presence of dogs dates back to the Neolithic period. The Portuguese Water Dog is one of the oldest breeds in the world, although its origin is not consensual. For Rodrigo Pinto, a breeder of water dogs for almost two decades, it was the Phoenician people – who inhabited the Mediterranean between 1500 and 300 BC –who were responsible for introducing dogs with Asian and African ancestral origins in our country.

Traces of companion and fishing support dogs were found in Portugal – the Canis Familiaris Aquaticus – dating back to the 8th century. In the Zendavesta, sacred books of the ancient Persians, the Water Dog was the most prized of all dogs. There are also references to this dog in Roman civilization, the socalled Canis Leo, the Lion Dog, a designation based on the mane haircut of antiquity, which survives to this day.

The Water Dog standard was made official in 1938. In the 1970s, the numbers dropped drastically, which led the Guinness Book Of Records to consider this breed as the rarest in the world, in 1981. Of superior intelligence, noble and vigorous, the Portuguese Water Dog is today a living, genetic, historical and cultural heritage of Portugal.

For centuries, the Water Dog accompanied man on his boats. Dog of kings and fishermen, he traveled in the Portuguese maritime expansion and was part of the crews of the Invincible Armada, in 1588. It was used as courier between ships or for missions on land. In the 18th century it was used for hunting, becoming the dog of choice for the Portuguese nobility.

At the end of the 19th century, King Don Carlos had 2 examples, Tagus and Sado, which accompanied the royal family during holidays and aboard the yacht Amélia. There are several photographs taken by the monarch of the “Board Dogs”, as he called them.

“I must not finish this news without talking about two companions, which we must not forget, some truly beautiful specimens; I come to talk to you about “Tejo” and “Sado”, the yacht's two fishing dogs. These dogs, of an absolutely special Portuguese breed and intended for fishing, are shipped aboard the canoe O’Espinhel, at the same time as the men, and just like in deep-sea fishing, fish usually, when the device is lifted, break free from the hooks and come to the surface, dead or far from it, as soon as the dogs see them or are shown them, they throw themselves into the water and immediately bring them on board. I saw one of these dogs bring an Aphanopus about a meter long from more than 200 meters away, and do it so delicately that the skin of this fish, which is so thin, was not even scratched.”

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In the 20th century, the lugger Creoula, a training vessel for the Portuguese Navy, began to embark Portuguese water dogs, which were considered excellent ambassadors in the ports where the ship docked and great company on board. The custom began with Vasco Bensaúde, responsible for preserving the breed in the 1930s, who traveled with his dogs to the Azores aboard the Creoula. Espuma, a highly regarded female dog born in 1990, was on board for 15 years, later replaced by Giba da Pedra da Anixa, taken to the ship by Commander João Silva Ramos.

The Portuguese Water Dog is a primitive breed, with thousands of years of refinement. Its colors are black, brown and white. In 1938, it was also considered gray. Browns and blacks cannot be more than 30% white. Whites have to be total, with black mucous membranes. The coat can be wavy, or curly. On a genetic level, crossing two black water dogs can result in an all-brown litter. And crossing a brown specimen with a black one can give rise to a completely black litter. Two browns should not be crossed because there is a chance of problems at a genetic level, in coloring and in the coat. To be born with a white coat there must be a combination of genetic lines up to the fourth generation,

The predominance in the southern part of the national territory was due, in part, to the functionality of the breed associated with a certain type of gear and fishing equipment, techniques performed through small – but important – tasks. “These welltrained dogs are able to dive quickly and detach the nets from the hooks when they are hauled in, saving our crops”, says a fisherman from Olhão in the book O Cão-d'Água by Margarida Ribeiro, in 1972.

Invaluable companions for fishermen, both in work and in guarding and defending their vessels, they are dogs that have learned over centuries what they have to do. They performed rescue and message delivery services, sensed the danger of sharks in the water, alerted the crew by refusing to dive. They helped in seine fishing and in the north they were even used in salmon, shad and lamprey fishing. In the 1970s, its scarcity led some vessels to hire the few water dogs that were still working.

The traditional cut of the Water Dog consists of a functional shearing, with very old fundamentals, carried out up to the first rib. The back is sheared in order to facilitate the necessary detangling in movement. If the specimen has long hair, it can stick a paw in the hair when swimming sideways. The tail has a flag which is used as a rudder. The muzzle is clipped to prevent the long hair from covering its eyes when diving. However, it is convenient to keep the bangs in order to protect your eyes from the sun's rays. It has a jacket for thermal pro- tection. Water dogs are excellent swimmers and resistant divers, attributes of a hereditarily transmitted vocation. They have their home in the Algarve, although they have been present throughout the Portuguese coast.

On foggy days they were a lighthouse, they gave signs of the proximity of land, boats and people. They were capable of diving a few meters deep, recovering cables and objects, alerting the fisherman when they felt fish in the nets and catching those that got loose.

Direct contact with man over the centuries has made the Water Dog develop and perfect its unique traits and behaviours. Multidisciplinary working dogs due to their great adaptability, recognized affection, spirit of sacrifice and extreme intelligence, they were considered precious by fishermen as crew members.

So they were entitled to their share, like all sailors. A part was paid in fish, destined for their food. A fourth part was paid in cash resulting from the sale of the catch and kept in a pot to ensure its later retirement with a family chosen by the captain, who also decided which crew member was responsible for the well-being of the animal on the vessel.

Thanks

Vasco da Gama Aquarium, Cascais Municipal Archive, Azores Library, National Library, Commander João Silva Ramos, Berardo Foundation, Maria Fernanda Costa, Portuguese Navy, Navy Museum, Museum of Lisbon, Museum of Portimão, Museum of the Sea, National Palace da Ajuda, Pilar Bello, Teresa Pires Marques, Yasmin Santiago. Online and printed magazine on Art, Culture and Heritage, with the objective of communicating and promoting, at a national and international level, what is done in Portugal

Leão, the Portuguese Water Dog that would become the model dog for the breed standard, was discovered by Vasco Bensaude in the Algarve in 1936. He was the father of 9 litters and 35 puppies with the Algarbiorum affix between 1937 and 1942.

“WATER CHAIN – ERECTED ON THE BLADE, GUARDS THE BOAT, MOORED TO THE PIER, LIKE A VIGILANT SENTRY. BEAUTIFUL EXEMPLARY OF THE WOOL HAIR VARIETY.”Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Algarve 1938.