Breeds · Portuguese Water Dog
Portuguese Water Dog board and train
Portuguese Water Dog board and train in Gloucester, MA: fear-free 1- or 2-week stays for mouthiness, energy and a steady recall near water. Free evaluation.
A fisherman's dog, not a lap dog
On Portugal's Algarve coast, the cão de água worked on the boats: diving after broken nets and lost tackle, driving fish toward the nets and swimming messages from boat to shore. The breed nearly disappeared in the 20th century as fishing modernized, and was rebuilt by a handful of devoted breeders.
That history explains the PWD you live with. It expects to work all day, it wants to be with its people, and it uses its mouth to carry, grab and investigate. Owners who picked the breed for its low-shedding coat are sometimes surprised by the engine underneath it. It suits a fishing town like Gloucester, as long as it gets real work to do.
Mouthing and grabbing: what is going on
A PWD who grabs sleeves, mouths hands in greeting or carries shoes around the house is usually doing what retrieving dogs do: holding things. It is rarely aggression. It can still hurt, especially with children, and it gets worse when the dog is over-tired or over-excited.
In a stay we give the mouth a legal outlet and the dog a calmer state. Your dog learns to bring a toy to greetings, to drop and trade on cue, and to settle on a place cot when arousal climbs. Our puppy mouthing page covers the general approach; for a PWD the toy-in-mouth greeting is usually the single most useful habit.
Energy that needs a job
A tired PWD is not the same as a calm one. Running a working dog harder can build fitness faster than it builds calm, so the plan mixes physical exercise with thinking work: scent games, retrieving to hand, short obedience bursts and enrichment in Dogtown's 10,000 sq. ft. facility.
Playgroup time, in a small group of 7–10 dogs matched by size and temperament, is added only when the free evaluation shows your dog is ready. Many PWDs love it. Some get too wound up in play and do better with more structured enrichment, and either is fine.
- Retrieve games with a clean "drop" and a wait before the next throw
- Find-it games that work the nose and slow the breathing
- Place work between bouts of activity, so calm becomes part of the routine
- Water as a reward when it suits the plan and the weather
Foundation or Advanced for a PWD?
Puppies and young PWDs who need house manners, crate comfort and the basic cues fit the one-week Foundation stay. It ends with a go-home lesson that shows you how to keep the routine going.
Most adolescent PWDs fit Advanced. Between about six months and two years many become pushier, bouncier and selectively deaf, and the second week's distraction proofing and real-world outings are where manners start to hold up away from home. Read our adolescent dogs page if your dog has hit that stage.
Recall near the water
For a breed that was literally sent overboard for a living, open water is an extremely strong reward. That cuts both ways. A recall that works in the yard may vanish at the shoreline unless it has been practiced there.
Advanced builds recall in steps, with more distraction each time. At home, keep using a long line near water until the recall is reliable, and let a good recall earn the release into the waves. Check each beach's dog season before you go; many North Shore beaches restrict dogs in summer.
After the stay: coat, handling and routine
A PWD's single coat grows continuously and needs regular clipping, so handling is part of every plan: paws, ears, mouth and standing still on a table. That makes grooming appointments easier for everyone, and Dogtown also offers grooming if you want to combine it with the stay.
Go-home coaching (one lesson for Foundation, two for Advanced) hands you the cues and the daily structure. Keep the job going at home with a morning sniff walk, a retrieve session with rules and a settle on the mat while you work, and your PWD will have far less reason to invent jobs of its own.
The two programs
FAQs
Related questions
Is a Portuguese Water Dog hard to train?
Can board and train stop my PWD from mouthing my kids?
Do PWDs do well in playgroup?
Does my PWD need grooming during a two-week stay?
More questions? Read the full board & train FAQ
Next step
Tell us about your dog.
Send the enquiry and we reply within one hour on business days to set up a short assessment with Gabby. The evaluation is free.
- 01Send the enquiryReply within the hour on business days
- 02Assessment & evaluationPick Foundation or Advanced
- 03Train & go homeDaily updates, go-home coaching
