Portuguese Water Dog

We're never surprised to find our dog in the water. We found out early on that she absolutely lives for it! What was a bit of a surprise, even to her breeder, is that Sasha loves to dive and prefers to swim underwater. At first we thought the underwater swimming was just to retrieve something that we'd tossed into the pool. But even when no one was playing water fetch, she would disappear and start swimming around underwater, casual as you please.

She especially loves underwater swimming at the lake, I guess because there are interesting things to see and discover: once we caught her chasing a fish, swimming happily behind it. With her playful water antics, the kids have a blast at the lake. They play with Sasha for most of the day, all summer long. They all come home completely wiped out. It's great! The kids will crash on the floor in front of the TV and Sasha's passed out too, right alongside of them.

Bill and I have wondered if Sasha's skills should be put to better use as some sort of rescue or search dog. But really, she's the water guardian of our kids and of all the others at the lake. I've seen her take off after a little one who lost their footing in the water more than once. Even though our bunch are good swimmers, anything can happen and we are confident she would do all she could to rescue them if they were in distress. There's a lot of reassurance in that. I'm really not sure whether this breed could be happy in any setting that didn't have water. It's really where Sasha is her happiest.