page_title: Spanish Water Dog
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish Water Dog / History
caption_attribution_description: Perro de Agua in Ronda Autor: Susanne Lorenz eigenes Werk aufgenommen 4.2004 www.perrodeagua.de
context_page_description: The Spanish Water Dog breed is used in Spain as a general purpose sheepdog and guard. It is also used sometimes as a gundog, and is skilled at retrieval from water.
  The Spanish Water Dog has strong genetic links to other water breeds such as the Portuguese Water Dog, The Poodle, the French Barbet and the Irish Water Spaniel.
context_section_description: Portuguese and Spanish water dogs are clearly related and probably have a common ancestor. The SWD has been known by many other names such as "Perro Turco", "Laneto", "Perro Patero", "Perro Rizado", "Churro", "Barbeta", and, most recently, "Perro de Agua Español" (literally Spanish Dog of Water, i.e., Spanish Water Dog).
  Originally there were three separated populations of SWD in Spain with somewhat different phenotypes and sizes. One of these populations was found in Northern Spain, in Asturias and Cantabria, these dogs were usually smaller and of lighter colour, becoming a new breed 22 March 2011, the Cantabrian Water Dog. The other group could be found in the marshes of western Andalusia, this type of dogs had coats made of long and thin cords. And finally the largest group came from the southern Andalusian sierras, this type of dogs were the largest and strongest since were mainly used for herding. Today, the breed is well mixed and most SWD are well rounded and have a balanced of traits.
  Historically, the SWDs were primarily used as herding dogs to move the flocks of sheep and goats from one pasture to another. The dogs were also called upon to work wherever a dog was required.  For example, they were taught to work with fishermen as well as being taught to retrieve when hunting with the farmers.
caption: Spanish Water Dog
exif: {"Image Make": "Asahi Optical Co.,Ltd.", "Image Model": "PENTAX Optio430RS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "1.00", "Image DateTime": "2004:04:16 12:32:45", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "234", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2004:04:16 12:32:45", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2004:04:16 12:32:45", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "265/384", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "13/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Shade", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "38/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1024", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "768", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "30614"}