Water dog

Traditionally many long haired water dogs breeds have their coats clipped with a bare midriff and hindquarters to assist in swimming by reducing drag, whilst retaining a long coat around their torso to prevent thermal shock when jumping into freezing water.

Paintings by artists like Francisco Goya and Albrecht Durer in the 15th century depict early Standard Poodles, which were used for retrieving bird games from water.

They were known to be prevalent in the Spanish Armada and could still be seen through to the 20th century aboard fishing vessels, particularly in the waters around Spain and Portugal.

[3][4] In addition to their roles as ships' dogs, in Medieval Europe water dogs were used quite widely by hunters to retrieve ducks from water that had been shot with a bow and arrows, as well as the arrows and bolts that had missed their mark.

[3][4] With the invention of modern firearms the need for dogs to retrieve arrows disappeared and many of the European water dogs breeds became predominantly ornamental, such as the poodle, whilst others adapted into modern gundogs, like the Wetterhoun.