Portuguese Water Dogs and the cold!

How cold of water can a Portuguese Water Dog swim in??

When I was at my Checkout dive there was a woman that brought her PWD to the beach to swim. We where leaving just as she was going in, but she said that he loves the water and she brought him to the beach every morning to swim.

The water is downright freezing here! No ice, but it's way too cold for anyone to swim in without a full (thick) wet suit. I touched the water with my hand and I thought my fingers where frozen and where going to fall off after that!

Made me wonder if a PWD could really stand water that cold! And colder, as it get's colder and colder here!

How cold can the water be before it get's too dangerous for a PWD to swim in?

I don't know where you are, but my 5 month old retriever/poodle mix goes into the ocean every day and then rinses off in fresh water in a creek that runs into the ocean. She goes in and lays down to cool off, not exactly swimming but my daughter in law's Airedale goes in swimming after the ball constantly. The trainer that runs obedience classes invites all graduates to meet the first Sat. of each month for a get together and offers advice and tips and yesterday there were about 15 dogs of all sizes and breeds, mixes at an oceanside park. The majority went in the water but there were about four that kept swimming out to retrieve balls in the waves. Again, I'm not sure how cold the water is where you are but I think the water must be quite cold here on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

portie breeders (who breed for working lines) tell me as long as they can get through the ice most porties think its warm enough to swim in.
origionally the breed would assist fishermen from portugal all the way up to iceland...so most, as long as they are conditioned for it, can aparently stand absolulty fridged temps...
im told they tend to be a little less cold tolerant then the newfie, but not by much.

tough dogs, great personalities too!

Well, that's really interesting! The water temp. was around 50 Degree's F.

Man, that's amazing that they could swim in such cold waters! I'd die if I had to swim in that without my wet suit!!! O_O

Which is precisely the reason that the Portuguese fishermen developed the breed!

precisely, people look at them (and irish water spaniels and poodles) and think "wow thats a "froofy dog" or a "girly dog" simply because its curly haired and usually groomed anything from a kennel cut to fancy (protective cuts) they dont relaize these breeds are water retrievers there TOUGH and SMART...those funny hiarcuts protect their organs and that these dogs were bred to work in situations that most of us would shiver at...

i love the breed, the few ive met are real characters, my next dog will either be a irish water spaneil or a poodle i love the water retrivers.