We brought little Louis home just three weeks ago and we are in love! What drew us to the Portuguese Water Dog initially started out as my husband looking for a larger breed that would do well with my allergies. Our beloved Bichon Frise, Max, passed away two years ago and my husband had always said that our next fur child would be a larger dog. (He grew up with Lhasa Apsos, so he was ready for a larger dog for once!) We also have an 8 year old Bichon/Pekingese mix that we rescued about 7 years ago. The more we researched the PWD's, the more we liked them. Found an amazing breeder and finally got to bring one home! The breeder is interested in showing him (if we want) so we may do a few shows down the line if it works out. She said he wouldn't have to stay away from us to show..i.e. we could go with him, which was my main concern. He starts his puppy obedience classes this Thursday and we hope to segue into agility training. He seems to be okay with the water so far, but we do have to encourage him in a little bit. He fits the breed personality to a tee. Such a sweet boy, yet very active/playful side. Our adult son is living at home while attending college so it is nice to divide up the "Entertain Louis" time between the three of us! Louis is already doing great on a leash and learning not to maul our other dog with every passing. We can already see his athleticism and it is beautiful to watch! Though he is still growing into his body so is a bit clumsy and I worry every time he bounds up the stairs and trips over himself! I do have some questions, but I will save them for a new thread. Anyway...just wanted to introduce myself and I look forward to learning more about this beautiful breed. Attached is a picture of Louis at 7 weeks when we visited him at the breeder. He was the only curly of the 8 (the rest were wavy) and we really wanted the curly. I kind of think of him as my big black bichon.
Thank you, Jackie. I've been looking at your threads and your boy is SO handsome!! And being used to small breeds, I feel like Louis is growing before our eyes! Your boy looks so grown up in his 11 month pics!
Louis is gorgeous I reckon he will do well in the show ring, and I can't wait to see your updates on him - welcome to Breedia
Welcome Susan and Louis from Barbara (human being), Georgina (Shar-Pei) and the little black devil Gwylim (Miniature Schnauzer).
he may look grown up, but mentally hes far from it The advice I would give to you is start as you mean to go on, this breed is willful, and needs boundaries set as soon as, they will and do test you daily, but on the plus side they are the most adorable people, they love everyone and everything and this in its self is a challenge because not everyone or everything loves them back when they are jumping all over them. As you are going to show him, I would start NOW with his clipping, and grooming, don`t leave it to late, the sooner you start the less battles you will have, a few minutes every day standing , being groomed and putting the clippers on him. I guess being a curly you can show him in the retriever clip., but his face and tail will still need to be clipped, whats your breeder said about this? Good luck , you will have wonderful challenge on your hands, and take lots of pics of him, as they DO grow so fast ..........
Thank you so much for all the warm welcomes! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience, Jackie! I know the breeder (being a groomer herself) clipped the puppies a couple times. And I did my first little trim of his paws and cleaning up the ends a bit and around his eyes this past weekend and he did surprisingly well. I tend to want to do everything at once, but will try to remember to just do a little bit here and there each day to get him used to the grooming, but not get overwhelmed. I do need to get some clippers. I have only used scissors. Do you have any recommendations for clippers, Jackie? The breeder said she would be doing the grooming if we decide to show...so my job would be to not try and screw it up in between showings! I think I posted this somewhere else..but I thought it was pretty cute that she had the wavy coated pups in a lion cut when we visited the pups at 7 weeks so they would get used to the clippers. And this is one of the breeders one year old "pups" that she shows...her name is Farrah. She is a curly coat, but is in the lion trim. She said we could show him in either the retriever or lion cut with the curly coat.
I use these ...........Moser Arco cordless clipper, Pink Paw Print and these......... Andis Agc Super 2-Speed Professional Animal Clippers the cordless I use for trimmign face and tidy up, the Andis for a good clip.
i use Oster A5 for my dog, it's really nice. Besides that you can visit here to find the sutable clipper for your dog.
