Collection: Personalised Spanish Water Dog Gifts

A herding and waterfowl dog the Spanish Water Dog is a lively family companion dog with a distinctive appearance. They make excellent family dogs, so long as they are socialised early and they can get on with animals and children if their herding instincts are monitored. Whilst these dogs were discovered reasonably recently it is believed they have been around for hundreds of years.

The history of this breed puts it back as far as 1110 AD used as herding dogs in the Southern Iberian peninsula. Antonio Garcia Perez, an ecologist and a teacher, is considered to be the father of the breed after he discovered the breed living on his grandparents farm. His grandparents were using two of these dogs- named Tarzan and Mora- to herd their flocks of sheep, lambs, goats, cattles, and pigs. Since it’s discovery the breed has been used for everything from retrieving waterfowl to helping moor boats in some port towns. The breed has remained physically mostly the same over the last 300 years.

Intelligent, energetic, affectionate, and loyal, they have an excellent work ethic and have strong herding instincts. These herding instincts mean they could herd sheep, other animals, or even small children, but not always to where you want them to be herded to! As an intelligent breed they can be taught a wide variety of tricks. They are restrained enough that they can get on with other animals and small children however they should be propperly supervised at all times to make sure that they and the children play nicely and their herding instincts don’t take the better of them. They need good socialisation from an early age to make sure that they remain confident throughout their lives.