# Life span of Portuguese Water dogs



## Canadian Dog (Nov 3, 2007)

Had Molly at a friends ocean front property playing with Riley (black lab) when one of their neighbors came over with her grand daughter asking about Molly and wanted me to show her to her paraplegic son-in-law. They all thought she was wonderful and asked where I got her, but wanted something smaller. I asked if they had heard of Portuguese Water dogs and the ones I've met have been really lovely dogs. They had an older woman friend visiting, and she stated she looked into them but had found they only lived 7 years.

Well, when I got home and checked, anything I could find stated 9 - 15 years. I have no idea where she came up with this info, but now the entire family believes this and are not considering PWD at all. So much misinformation being regurgitated.


----------



## B-Line (Feb 1, 2008)

Yay! my first thread back and it gets to be about Portuguese Water Dogs !! 

I am not a veterinarian but can reasonably suggest that the life span of the PWD has less to do with the breed and has more to do with size.

It's always been my understanding that small dogs live the longest, large dogs the shortest.

The PWD is a medium sized dog as such, has the normal life span of a medium sized dog. 

My PWD Nikita is almost 13 years old and she's still going strong. She just had her first major medical issue since she was spayed in 1997.
She had three growths removed from her body. One on her head, one on her side, one near her lip. Unfortunately these types of bumps are common on all breeds.

In all my research on PWD's the general consensus on life span seems to range from 11-15 years. But I've met 17 year old PWD's..

I've never before heard that PWD's only live till seven. That's just misinformation on the grandest scale.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with.


----------



## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Average lifespan for a dog that size is usually about 14 years. I've never heard of any particular reason PWDs would not live that long, in general. I mean, you always hear that Danes and Wolfhounds only live to be 7, Rotts only live to be 9, etc., but I've never heard a word about PWDs. Of course, I hadn't heard very much about PWDs at all before I joined here.....although I did know a little about them from watching dog shows on TV.


----------



## JessRU09 (Aug 25, 2008)

My aunt and uncle owned a PWD... they had it for what seemed like forever. At least 14 years, if not more. It was an awesome dog, very smart and well-behaved.


----------



## Quincy (Feb 25, 2007)

Canadian Dog said:


> They had an older woman friend visiting, and she stated she looked into them but had found they only lived 7 years.


I think that maybe misinformation. I just had a quick look at the UK Health Survey, not many responses in UK for PWDs but this is what the survey report mentioned.
"The median age at death for Portuguese Water Dogs was 11 years and 5
months (min = 4 years and 3 months, max = 15 years and 3 months)."
.



Willowy said:


> I mean, you always hear that Danes and Wolfhounds only live to be 7, Rotts only live to be 9, etc.,.


Interesting to see UK Health Survey results which includes Mortality data.

Danes
http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/download/1566/hsgreatdane.pdf

Wolfhounds
http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/download/1577/hsirishwolfhound.pdf

Rotts
http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/download/1617/hsrottweiler.pdf
.


----------



## JDub (Apr 8, 2008)

You guys let B Line back in?? There goes the neighborhood. 

12-15 is what I always read about PWD's when I was researching them. Not sure how they'd do for a paraplegic though since they are high energy at times. Could be fine...my Portie is great most of the time, but certainly has times where she goes bezerk running around, jumping on things, etc. Then again, she's just 6 months.


----------



## B-Line (Feb 1, 2008)

Just found this site:
http://www.dog-answers.com/Dog-Longevity-by-Breed.html
12-14 seems to be the average life span.

I have heard of PWD's being used to help the disabled. As Jdub stated, they can be a bit wily but that is true for all working breeds. And my understanding is, working breeds make some of the best disability dogs. But of course they need special training, etc.

I know second hand of a woman who was seriously and permanently injured from falling down a cliff. Her friend, a Portuguese Water Dog breeder dedicated one of her liter to become a disability dog.

I would summarize that there is probably some important testing that goes into figuring out which dog in the liter (if there is one) would be an exceptional disability dog.

But here is a picture that was forwarded to me of the woman and her Portie.


----------



## JDub (Apr 8, 2008)

Best.breed.ever.


----------



## Canadian Dog (Nov 3, 2007)

I think the dog would be for the grandmother. The son-in-law came out because she wanted him to see Molly, and I think he's helping in the choosing of a dog. I wish I had stated more firmly that I thought the woman that spoke of the PWD was mistaken, or told them to check out PWD's on the net and they would have known right away it was misinformation she was providing.

I might have to go over there again and tell them what I found. She has a wonderful spot on the ocean and any dog she gets is going to have a blast.

B-Line: Welcome back. Glad to accommodate you with a PWD thread. They are wonderful dogs - very impressed with the ones I've met. Still love Molly the best though!!!!


----------



## B-Line (Feb 1, 2008)

Canadian Dog said:


> B-Line: Welcome back. Glad to accommodate you with a PWD thread. They are wonderful dogs - very impressed with the ones I've met. Still love Molly the best though!!!!


Thanks CD,

Nice to be back.. Almost feels like I never left.. 

p.s. Your love for Molly....
... I wouldn't want it any other way


----------



## Tilly&Juneau (Jan 20, 2012)

As others have said there is no way portugese water dogs only live till there 7, I have two portie's one is 7 turning 8 in march and the other is almost 15 weeks old. Love them both death! They are absolutely fantastic dogs...there quite the shadow... both of them constantly follow me around the house...they are amazing companions. I really hope my 7 (almost 8) year old lives long ive been really getting down on the fact that she is almost 8 already...feels like time has flown and it makes me so sad...They are absolutely amazingly great dogs!


----------



## Pawzk9 (Jan 3, 2011)

JDub said:


> You guys let B Line back in?? There goes the neighborhood.
> 
> 12-15 is what I always read about PWD's when I was researching them. Not sure how they'd do for a paraplegic though since they are high energy at times. Could be fine...my Portie is great most of the time, but certainly has times where she goes bezerk running around, jumping on things, etc. Then again, she's just 6 months.


Sue Ailsby is training her third PWD service dog. I've met the first two. Scuba was a very serious girl and Stitch, well, lives up to her name. Full of fun and energy, but when she's on the job, she's on the job. She and my Alice played like mad things after the last seminar I attended.


----------



## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

I wish I could remember where I saw it, but I saw a report on average lifespans of dogs, and overall, even removing dogs killed in freak accidents like cars or poisonings, the average for all breeds was 6.5 years. I remember being really shocked by it, but I couldn't find anything wrong with the methodology.

It's not just size, in my experience, though small breeds do live longer, it's also general care. If you feed them well, exercise them, take them to the vet, clean their teeth and generally care for your dog, it will tend to live longer. Then again, if you lose at the genetic lotto, you can take excellent care of a small dog and it can die at age 5.


----------



## Yagi (May 10, 2013)

Interesting thread. My 2 PWD's at 6 and 4 respectively. Yagi (6) will be 7 by the end of 11/2013; and, Sasha (4) will be 5 by the Christmas eve 2013. I've attached a photo.


----------

