The low-shedding coat that makes this breed popular with allergy-conscious families comes out of a working gene pool with an unusually high published rate of Addison's disease, plus a fatal storage disease and a fatal juvenile heart defect that only DNA testing catches before it's too late.
13years, median
0.5 years above the all-dog median of 12.5.
Measured, not estimated: the middle age at death across 584,734 UK dogs, 284,734 of them deceased. Based on 215 dogs of this breed. 95% confidence interval 11.5 to 14.9 years. Half lived longer than this, half did not. UK dogs, so treat it as the best available figure rather than a promise about yours.
In the same study, medium breeds as a group had a median of 12.5 years and medium-muzzled breeds 12.8. This breed is medium and medium-muzzled.
McMillan et al. 2024, Scientific Reports 14:531 — open access · CC BY 4.0Health tests to ask the breeder for
Portuguese Water Dog Club of America sets the tests a Portuguese Water Dog needs for a CHIC number in the OFA's open database. A CHIC number means the tests were done and the results are public. It does not mean the dog passed them: ask for the results for both parents, or look them up yourself on ofa.org.
- Hip Dysplasia (OFA Evaluation, 2 years or older)
- Eye Examination by a boarded ACVO Ophthalmologist (yearly)
- Progressive Retinal Atrophy (prcd-PRA) DNA test (or clear by parentage)
- Early Onset Progressive Retinal Atrophy (EOPRA) DNA test (or clear by parentage)
- Microphthalmia Syndrome (MO) DNA test (or clear by parentage)
- GM1 Gangliosidosis (storage disease) DNA test (or clear by parentage)
- Juvenile Dilated Cardiomyopathy (JDCM) DNA test (or clear by parentage)
When to spay or neuter: the guidelines split at 45 pounds grown, five to six months under it and after growth is complete over it, and the UC Davis study gives a guideline by breed for 35 breeds. The spay and neuter page has both, and the two weeks after.
- Elbow Dysplasia (OFA Evaluation)
- Improper Coat (IC13) DNA test
Test names as the club lists them; checked September 2026. OFA CHIC breed page. How to use this at the breeder: check a breeder.
Adopt a Portuguese Water Dog near you
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Living with a Portuguese Water Dog
This is a genuinely high-energy working retriever bred to swim and work all day, not a couch companion — plan on real daily exercise or expect chewing and barking from boredom. The curly, non-shedding coat that suits allergy sufferers needs brushing several times a week plus clipping every month or so, which adds up in time and grooming bills over the dog's life.
Health you should know about
- Addison's disease (hypoadrenocorticism) — the adrenal glands underproduce essential hormones; a peer-reviewed genetic study of the breed found roughly 1 in 8 dogs affected in the pedigreed population studied, far above general-population estimates for dogs.
- GM1 storage disease — a fatal inherited metabolic disorder in puppies; DNA testing has cut the carrier rate to under 1% in tested lines, but not in untested ones.
- Juvenile dilated cardiomyopathy — a fatal inherited heart defect; affected puppies can die suddenly between about 6 weeks and 7 months old.
- Hip dysplasia and progressive retinal atrophy — joint malformation and inherited vision loss; both are part of standard breeder health screening.
Read the full Dog Care Guide first — costs, daily time, and everything a dog needs before you choose a breed.
Naming a Portuguese Water Dog? Portuguese dog names, 79 of them, with what they mean.
Sources — 5 references
Last reviewed October 2026. 5 sources listed below. Written and maintained by Petdeals.io. General care information, not veterinary advice — for a sick animal, call a vet.