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Curly coat: "compact, cylindrical curls, somewhat lusterless. The hair on the ears is sometimes wavy".
Linda of Casa da Buba with her Curly Coat
Wavy coat: "Falling gently in waves, not curls, and with a slight sheen".
Figo as a wavy coat and now that he is older is more obvious
And there is two main type of Grooming (both should be done by professional groomers):
The Lion Cut: the typical Portuguese Water Dogs identity cut. Briefly, the cut leaves that front half of the dogs body covered with hair, while hair on the hind legs is cut short. The lion cut diminished the initial impact and shock of cold water when the breed jumped from the boats, as well as providing warmth to the vitals. The hindquarters were left shaved to allow easier movement of the back legs.
Figo with his Lion Cut
The Retriever Cut: the hair is cut short, evenly on the body. This cut was adopted to make the dogs look more identical to the other breeds and the hair easier to maintain clean and neat with less maintenance.
Personally it always looked strange to me the lion cut until I started to have and be more integrated on the story and identity of this breed. Today I can’t look to a Portuguese Water Dogs that doesn’t have the Lion Cut and say it is a Portuguese Water Dog. Of course, my dogs go, almost in a weekly bases, to the beach and they swim and love the sea, so makes sense and even isn’t strange to have the lion cut. But I can really understand that for maintenance purposes the retriever cut may be chosen, since the long Portuguese Water Dogs hair is a lot of work to keep it clean, neat and brushed.
