Portuguese Water Dog puppies are cool dogs, no doubt about it, and part of what makes them  so special is their fascinating history, a history which contains a death defying brush with complete extinction, and not so long ago either.

As the legend goes there were roughly 50 of these dogs in existence at one point, that’s going to the brink.

However, thankfully a handful of noble (and shrewd) breeders took note of the plight of these special dogs and saved them from being snuffed out through a revived breeding program, while it’s hard to think about, many species of animals have become extinct as we have encroached on their habitats.

In any case, this is an ancient breed of dog whose history stretches back in the record books to Biblical times and perhaps further back, it’s hard to know for sure as records were not well kept.  But, we do know that these dogs were domesticated thousands of years ago and have been living with humans ever since.

A Portuguese Water Dog will be a strong swimmer, and that’s somewhat rare in the dog world.  Many dogs are awful swimmers and some can’t swim at all.

These particular dogs take to the water like otters, which is really cool because you can take them to the doggie beach (a lot cities and towns have a few doggie beaches these days) and just let them run wild in the water, toss them the Frisbee or a tennis ball, whatever you like, it’s a fun weekend activity for dog owners and dogs alike.

Just so folks know, there is a Spanish version of this breed, named the Spanish Water Dog, as should be no surprise.  They are related and have a lot of the same genetic material, but as we all know things that are Spanish are Spanish, and things that are Portuguese are Portuguese, and don’t make any mistake about it.

Portuguese Water Dogs are considered to be a hypoallergenic breed, this topic is often brought up, and it holds water (no pun intended); many short haired dogs and dogs which do not shed much are considered less likely to cause allergies in humans.

This is considered by experts to be fact, although someone who is hyper –sensitive can have reactions to almost any dog really, so those folks have to be careful.

When looking to buy Portuguese Water Dog puppies, look to pay a good bit of change for one.  It’s simply supply and demand, because there aren’t very many of these dogs (remember they were almost extinct) the price has gone up accordingly.

It would not be uncommon to pay into the thousands of dollars for a puppy like this.