STANDARD OF THE BREED

The spanish water dog has risen rapidly in our country, thanks to a considerable number of enthusiasts and an enthusiastic group of breeders who have raised the quality of breeding and increased circulation.

The assocition who deal with native canine breeds is known as The Central Society of Promotion of the Canine Breeds of Spain (R.S.C.F.R.C.E) since May 1985, having been accepted by the International Canine Federation (F.C.I) in 1999.

Its name has various synonymies depending in the geographic zone. It has so been know in the South of Spain as "turco andaluz" Andalcian turk, "laneto" Little Wool, "perros de lanas" Woolly dogs, "lanudo" fleecy and "patero" wily.

It has many qualities creating the ability to master multi role tasks and varying functions such as sheep herding, retrieving and hunting. These are the primary characteristics of the breed.

This breed is classified in group VIII, corresponding to retrievers, hunting retrievers and water dogs referred to in the third section.

GENERAL APPEARANCE

DENOMINATION OF THE BREED:
Perro de agua español / Spanish water dog.

AREA OF DISSEMINATION:
Areas of southern spain and coastal Cantabria: a lesser proportion in the rest of spain.

GENERAL APPEARANCE:
Rural dog, medium weight, docile, well proportioned, harmonic form, of beautiful appearance, athletic and muscular from constant exercise, sub-convex profile with a straight tendency, sight, sense of smell and acute sense of hearing.

CHARACTER:
Faithful, obedient, happy, hardworking, brave and balanced: with a great capacity to learn due to its extraordinary attentiveness, adaptable to situations and of good temperament.

FUNCTIONALITY AND APTITUDES:
Water dog, shepherding and hunting, together with its owner.

STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

HEIGHT:
Height varies between 41 and 50 cm for dogs and 38 and 45cm for bitches.

HEAD:
Strong, elegant demeanour: the relation between the length of the skull and face will be approximately 1,5/1. Flat skull with slightly set crest. Frontal nasal depression smooth and slightly accentuated. Subconvext facial profile with a straight tendency. Nose with well defined nostrils: truffle coloured pigmentation equal to or slightly stronger than the darkest coat colour. Lips: the upper and lower jaw joined at a well defined angle. Well formed teeth, smooth, canine teeth for working. Eyes, slanting with an expressive appearance, iris colour hazel to dark brown according to the coat colour; conjuntive appearance. Triangular ears folding down at the middle.

NECK:
Short and muscular, in perfect coordination with the body, no double chin.

BODY:
Robust, arched ribs, with diametric ribcage with a large respiratory capacity. Slightly pronounced hilt. Powerful chest. Tight lower abdomen. Well united loin and hind quarters. Hind quarters slightly raised.

FORWARD LIMBS:
Solid and sturdy. Back muscles perfectly balanced with the thorax. Strong shoulders and knees. Powerful legs. Front legs, metacarpals and carpals with strong bones and powerful tendons. Circular paws with well proportioned toenails of distinct tones. Paws with consistent pads

HIND LIMBS:
Perfectly sturdy with suitable hind quarters, not excessively pronounced muscles and tendons to reduce the stress on the body during sudden impulses whilst running and jumping and to ensure ease and elegance. Muscular thighs and buttocks. Lean and fit knees. Well profiled legs of muscle and tendon. Strong hock with clear tendons. Compressed metatorso. Paws with equal qualities to the front paws.

TAIL:
Medium insertion. The puppy is born with or without. Amputation must be carried out in the second at the fourth coccyx vertebra.

OTHER CHARACTERISTICS

MOVEMENT:
The preferred movement is the trot, although it develops into a spectacular range of running, jumping, circling, swerving and dodging which is demonstrated with inexhaustible energy.

SKIN:
Flexible, fine and well adhered to the body. It can be dark brown, black or pigmented with the same darkest tone of the coat, equal to all the mucous membranes.

HAIR:
Long and uniform on all parts of the body. Always curly with a woolly constituency.. There are examples of long or well sheared hair as well as those with short hair around the face and feet, but these concepts are only aesthetic.

COAT:
Bred with coats of single colour and standard bicolour. The standard always presents white.

ELIMINATED DEFECTS

ELIMINATED DEFECTS:

-Unbalanced character.
- Protanatismo and enognatismo.
- Linea dorsolumbar manifestamente ensillada.
- Incorrect levels of self confidence.
- Presence of spurs.
- Monorquidia y criptorquidia.
- Long tail.
- Straight hair and mottled coats (like Dalmations).
- Albinism.