Web-Foot Portuguese Water Dog Still Fit

The Portuguese Water Dog, a shaggy animal with webbed feet, has floated back from the brink of extinction.

On the verge of dying out just 20 years ago, what is surely one of the world’s oddest and oldest dogs is now thriving thanks to a transatlantic fight to save the breed.

With its survival has come a cult following and the Cao D’Agua, as it is known in Portuguese, is the latest rage of collectors of canine curiosities.

“They are unique,” said Rui Caldas de Vasconcelos, head of the Portuguese Water Dog Club, to the sound of barking and splashing at his kennels here outside Lisbon.

The curly-haired animal looks vaguely like a big, bedraggled poodle but the resemblance to its refined French cousin stops there.

Far from an aristocratic pet, the hardy Cao was for centuries part of Portugal’s maritime tradition, used by fishermen and seafarers to haul nets, carry messages between boats and catch fish.

A valued crew member, it sat in the bows of boats and barked when a school of fish swam by, diving in upon command.

Nature could not have created a canine better suited to swim, dive and retrieve--its thick tail serves as a rudder, water slides off its unsheddable coat, and webbed feet help it tread water.

What’s more, the dogs love water.

“There he goes again,” said Vasconcelos as a 15-month-old male hurtled past into the swimming pool.

Owners say they are exceptionally smart, strong and friendly--although they sometimes have an exasperating tendency to plunge into water to “save” swimmers or eat pet goldfish.

“When we leave the beach he rushes into the water to round up everyone--and I mean everyone,” said Cristina Mateos, as prize-winner Pascoal gazed longingly at a puddle.

Their hair, usually black, is traditionally clipped over the haunches to give the dogs greater mobility while swimming, leaving a lion-like mane at the front.

No one knows for sure how the Cao D’Agua ended up on Portugal’s southern Algarve coast more than 1,000 years ago. Legend has it that their ancestors guarded flocks in Kirghiz, Soviet Union, while some experts believe they accompanied Arabs to Iberia.

What is certain is that well before Portugal’s 15th Century Age of Discovery the dogs were linked to fishing communities.

Some canine experts see traces of the water dogs in the Irish water spaniel and curly-coated retriever, fueling speculation that the Cao landed in Britain with Portuguese traders--or swam ashore from sinking ships of the Spanish Armada.

Whatever the breed’s link abroad, in Portugal its importance and numbers declined drastically as 20th-Century fishermen turned to machinery, radio and radar. Twenty years ago there were perhaps no more than 100 water dogs left.

But a group of dedicated American and European enthusiasts kept the dog alive with an active breeding campaign. The race is now out of danger with some 1,500 in North America and hundreds more spread across Europe, Vasconcelos said.

With salvation has come recognition and the water dog has won a place in international shows and the American Kennel Club. Prices reflect pedigree credentials and a top-notch adult can fetch several thousand dollars.

One of the dogs’ biggest fans is now the Portuguese government, which views the breed as a virtual national institution.

The Cao D’Agua figured on a special 1981 stamp, and the Navy is considering returning the dogs to their seafaring roots by putting them aboard two of its ships.