Portuguese Water Dog

Retrievers & water dogs

Medium

Median 13 y

FCI group 8 · Retrievers, Flushing Dogs and Water Dogs · Derived from the adult weight midpoint (20.5 kg)

Median survival across 215 UK dogs (VetCompass, McMillan 2024) · half live 10–15 y

The Portuguese Water Dog, also known as the Algarvian Water Dog, or Portuguese Fishing Dog, is a breed of dog that originated from the Algarve region of Portugal. From there the breed expanded to all around Portugal's coast, where they were taught to herd fish into fishermen's nets, retrieve lost tackle or broken nets, and act as couriers from ship to ship, or ship to shore.

Affectionate

Adventurous

Bright

Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) · reference ranges from the Kintail breed dataset

Adult weight

Reference

Male

19–25 kg

Female

16–22 kg

The breed standard (FCI 37)

Two types. The AKC and the KC/FCI standards describe a different-sized Portuguese Water Dog, so Kintail bands your dog against the one your region follows — set it in Settings. KC/FCI type: males 19–25 kg at 50–57 cm, females 16–22 kg at 43–52 cm. AKC type: males 19.1–27.2 kg at 50.8–58.4 cm, females 15.9–22.7 kg at 43.2–53.3 cm.

Weight for age

Stock data

Male

Female

Expected range

Expected range from the breed's own adult weight, kilograms. Growth reference: Salt et al. 2017, WALTHAM (15–30 kg band).

Heat cycles · females

Stock data

First heat

8–12 mo

typical

Interval

180 d

typical

Bleeding

~9 d

typical

Proestrus 9d

Estrus 9d

Diestrus 52d

Anestrus 110d

General figures for dogs, not for this breed — individual cycles vary widely.

Questions people ask

Adult males usually weigh 19–25 kg and females 16–22 kg. Most are close to their full size by around 15 months, though the last little bit of filling out takes longer. Growth reference: Salt et al. 2017, WALTHAM (15–30 kg band).

No Portuguese Water Dog cycle figures are published here yet, so this is general guidance rather than a breed number: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later.

The median is 13 y. Median survival across 215 UK dogs (VetCompass, McMillan 2024) · half live 10–15 y. How the later years go comes down to weight, teeth, exercise and regular check-ups far more than to the breed.