[1] It is recognised by the Royal Canine Society of Spain as a variety of the Spanish water dog.

[1] The Cantabrian Water Dog is an ancestral population in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, whose origins seem to be common to Barbet.

[2] The breed is socially, culturally and historically rooted in the towns and villages of the whole coast of Cantabria and eastern Asturias.

The work of this breed has been traditionally related to fishing work: collecting fishes that fell into the water, watching the ships when they were moored in port, taking the rope between ships and to the dock, or acting like a lifeguard.

One genetic study place it as close to the Spanish Water Dog as to the Barbet or Caniche.