Before you purchase a Portuguese Water Dog puppy or any other breed of puppy, I recommend that you take some time and consider what buying a dog means.  Are you truly prepared for the responsibility that comes with owning an animal?  Dogs require an enormous time commitment as well as a substantial financial investment.  Every day, for the lifespan of the dog (in the case of the Portuguese Water Dog, about fourteen years), come rain or shine, you will need to feed, water, walk, and pay attention to this new member of your household.  In addition, grooming, training, socializing, and vet care are demanded of every dog owner.

As a puppy, your new dog will urinate or defecate in your house before it is potty trained.  House training, however, cannot eliminate these incidents from occurring; accidents will still occasionally happen to adult dogs.  When your dog is young, it may sometimes bite and will almost certainly destroy personal items of yours before it is trained not to do these things.  As an adult, your dog may relapse occasionally and wreak havoc on more of your belongings, tear into your trash, or take food from off of the counter or from out of lower cabinets.  Your dog may also bite or scratch someone outside of your family or get loose from your property and cause problems in your neighborhood or the surrounding area. 

I am warning you about the responsibilities and negative consequences of owning a dog only because I have seen many cases where owners--fed up with bad behaviors and tired of keeping an animal--have neglected, abandoned, or returned their dog to its breeder or had their dog put to sleep.  I believe that it is my job to make you aware of all that owning an animal means so that you may make an informed decision about whether or not a dog is right for you.  If the majority of puppies bought are the result of careful consideration, I feel that the frequency of neglected, abandoned, and returned dogs as well as casual euthanasia will be reduced.