Louise Mowbray encourages her dog, Ryder, to jump after a buoy during a Portuguese water dog trial at Lake Montague in Raleigh. The Portuguese water dog is a swimmer and diver of exceptional ability and stamina, who aided his master at sea by retrieving broken nets, herding schools of fish, and carrying messages between boats and to shore. Mike Zlotnicki , Staff Writer Comment on this story RALEIGH - Mention black dogs and water to most people and they’ll think Labrador retriever. Sponsored by the Movers and Shakers Portuguese Water Dog Club of the Carolinas, the event had 57 teams (dog and handler) entered from 10 states. Portuguese water dogs were bred as working dogs, traditionally aiding Portuguese fishermen with a variety of tasks at sea. These fanciers of “Porties,” as they called them, are trying to get back to the dogs’ working roots, and the trial’s six categories from Junior Water Dog up to the Versatility certificate employed a variety of scenarios to that end, such as retrieving (and dropping off), swimming, fishing net work and other tests.

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