Frisian Water Dog

FCI:

Frisian Water Dog - Group VIII - Flushing Retrievers and Water Dogs, Section 3 Water Dogs.

General Appearance:

It's quiet, the owners absolutely devoted and working hard and tough dog, intelligent, very independent and confident. The owner and his family members, including children, it is good-natured and friendly. It can also be a nice social dog. To the strangers it behaves demurely and is the perfect watchdog. With other dogs and other small pets it gets well. Originally it was used as a hunting dog-leash while hunting otters and water game birds. It has a striking willingness intensely and enthusiastically searches in the dense reed beds and coastal thickets and it has unusual swimming abilities, which are used when retrieving wild game. It can be used in land, with extraordinary vigour prowling relentlessly hunting in the bush, it is focusing on hidden hare and it collects them for hunters to point their guns.

Training/Behaviour:

It is not the best suitable dog for people who have no previous experience and offer not enough patience and understanding. Although it learns quickly, but only if it wants, so the owner must be persistent. Essentially from the very beginning it is also fierce a consistency. Great importance is positive motivation to full fill the commands, dog must always be rewarded with praise and treats.

It likes to swim and needs a lot of movement, including free-range. It is not a stray and it is fixed to the owner and its territory. If  it can deal  with  recall well ,  it can be without  leash. It can be all year round in the outdoor kennel, but that does not mean that it dispenses with frequent contact with the owner.

Body:

Body is proportional and strong, but not cumbersome or rough. It is a square body frame. The height at withers, male is about 59 cm and female is  about 55 cm.
The head should be dry, strong and powerful, the size of the corresponding to body size. The skull is rather broader than long, slightly arched above, in the transition to the rounded cheeks, as long as the muzzle. The frontal slope (stop) is gentle, not very prominent.

The muzzle should be strong, toward the nose tapers gradually and be blunt ended. The muzzle is broad and straight when viewed from the side must not  be  thick nor uttered. The nose should be large, without a cleft. The nostrils are wide open. Lips are tightly fitting to the jaws and teeth, not overhanging. The teeth must be strong, scissor bite is required. Muscle cheeks is slightly arched.

Eyes are neither a medium size oval and slightly slanted, nor the bulging or sunken. Irises should have a dark brown colour in individuals of black and black-and-white or brown in individuals brown and brown and white. The lids must fit snugly to the eyeball to hide the conjunctiva.

The earlobes should be fairly low, hanging, medium length, shaped trowel. They are the area adjacent to the head, not a corkscrew. Their coat is typical of the breed, curly, near bases long enough, toward the peaks is reduced.

The neck should be short and thick, on an imaginary circular cross-section. Line of neck should be slightly arched and merges smoothly into the back. The axis of the neck forms the upper line of the body very obtuse angle so that the head is normally carried low. The neck has to be without lobe. The body must be very strong, back short and straight, shoulders rigid, stern when viewed from the side slightly sloping. The tail is long, carried upward and aft or on one side or the other circular curl.

The chest is rounded when viewed from the front. It must never form a sharp edge. Chest reaches max to elbows, ribs are properly sprung and the last must be strong enough. The bottom line of the body towards the stern rises only slightly.

The forelegs blades have closely adjacent to the chest, obliquely. The forearms are strong and perfectly straight. Pasterns are perpendicular to the substrate when viewed from the side should never be even a little skewed. Feet should be round, with solid and adequately arched toes and tough padded.

The hindquarters are strong, well bent at the hips, knees and hocks. Crus are not too long, ankle should be low on the basis, the fetlocks are short, round paws with stiff padded.

With the exception of the head and limbs, the entire body is covered with a solid coat which forms dense curls. The coat is quite rough and greasy to the touch.

Colouration can be uniformly black or brown, or black or brown with white markings and stains. White areas can be spotted or speckled.