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AKC Foundation Stock Service · UKC Gun Dog · FCI standard 221

Wetterhoun.

FCI 221: 'Hunting dog, water dog, traditionally otter hunting, guarding the yard.' UKC: bred about 400 years ago by Dutch fishermen to kill otters; later used for hunting and guarding. NVSW work standard: now an all-round gundog, strongest before the shot at finding and flushing game, and complete after it (retrieve and tracking); historically polecat and otter, and always a vermin killer..

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

23 / 22INHeightdogs 23, bitches 21.5. An ideal from the standard, not a range.

50–77LBWeight, all linesbreed dogs 75 lb (50 to 77.2); breed bitches 61.7 lb (50 to 77.2).

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

dogs 23 in (23 to 23.2) · bitches 21.5 in (21.5 to 21.7)

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

Ideal, not a range; centre is UKC's 21.5 in, high is FCI's 55 cm. FCI lists lack of sexual dimorphism as a severe fault.

Weight

dogs 75 lb (50 to 77.2) · bitches 61.7 lb (50 to 77.2)

Breed clubFédération Cynologique Internationale, 2023

Centre is FCI's 'approximately 28 kg'. Low/high span the sex-less AKC and Wikipedia ranges, so the upper end is male territory.

Coat

UKC: body covered in tight curls of firm hair, coarse with a greasy feel, smooth on the face and the legs; thin or sparse hair giving a woolly look is a serious fault. FCI 221: dense curls, 'solid, firm curls of hair bundles', hair quite coarse and greasy, head and legs short-haired. Wikipedia: water-repellent coat that feels oily; it should not be woolly because wool is not water-repellent.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

Colours: solid black or brown, with white on the chest and/or toes (FCI), or with white markings, with or without ticking (UKC).

Heat tolerance

3 of 5 · FCI 221: dense, firm, coarse, greasy curls over the body, short hair on head and legs. NVSW breed page: a coarse curly (astrakhan) coat over a protective greasy undercoat.

DerivedFédération Cynologique Internationale, 2023

Derived: a dense, firm, medium-length curled coat with an oily undercoat is scored as a medium coat (3). Neither standard gives a coat length in inches or describes the undercoat in detail.

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Exercise need

NVSW: likes being outdoors and needs a healthy daily amount of exercise with plenty of off-lead running; a handler who goes out a lot for work or pleasure is a good match. Content indoors; bored by monotonous training.

Breed clubNederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen

No minutes are printed. The Royal Kennel Club has no Wetterhoun page, so exercise_need_min is not filled.

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

Breed clubFédération Cynologique Internationale, 2023

NVSW notes otter and polecat have not been hunted since the 1950s. FCI classes the breed Group 8, Section 3, Water Dogs, with working trial.

Primary game

Feathered and furred game flushed in front of the gun; historically otter and polecat. NVSW: works best in wetlands but is at home on many kinds of ground and cover, and does not shy from the heaviest cover.

Breed clubNederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen (the Dutch parent club), 2021

Also used on

Blood-tracking of wounded game, worked on the track like a hanoverian or dachshund (head half-high to low depending on wind); stand-barking on wounded large game; predators are held and instinctively throttled. Vermin around the farm (FCI).

Breed clubNederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen (the Dutch parent club), 2021

The NVSW describes these as breed instincts and as the aim of its work standard; it does not give trial statistics.

Range

Close: about 30 to 40 m from the handler (NVSW work standard).

Breed clubNederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen (the Dutch parent club), 2021

Search pattern

NVSW work standard: short quartering passes, stays within roughly 30 to 40 m and in contact with the handler, works under the gun; searches a plot cautiously, using the wind, 'not always methodical-looking'; checks the wind often and adapts pattern, tempo and concentration to terrain, game and wind. With no game present he seems to search patternlessly. Moves at a calm gallop or firm trot, sometimes pacing; slower than a spaniel.

Breed clubNederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen (the Dutch parent club), 2021

The club likens the field work to a spaniel's but at a lower tempo and without an obvious pattern.

Field trial standard

FCI 221: Group 8 Section 3 Water Dogs, 'with working trial'. NVSW: a written work standard (version 1.0, 20-05-2021) and a Hunting, Work and Sport committee that publishes hunting and work results. The standard calls for a flushing, steady-to-flush-and-shot dog that retrieves from land and water with a soft mouth and tracks wounded game.

Breed clubNederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen (the Dutch parent club), 2021

No NAVHDA, AKC or UKC hunt-test statement is made for the breed on a page that was read.

Water work

NVSW: webbed toes and a greasy coat suit it to wetlands; it takes the water readily even in mid-winter but mostly with care; retrieves from land and water at a steady pace with a soft mouth, drifting slightly downwind on the return.

Breed clubNederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen (the Dutch parent club), 2021

Cold water

4 of 5 · NVSW work standard: given the greasy coat and the webs between the toes the Wetterhoun is at home in wetlands, and takes the water readily even in mid-winter, though mostly cautiously. UKC/FCI: coarse, greasy, tightly curled coat. Wikipedia: water-repellent coat.

DerivedNederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen (the Dutch parent club), 2021

Derived from the greasy, water-repellent coat and the breed's water work; 'cautiously' and the absence of an 'icy' or 'cold' statement in either standard keep it at 4.

How common the problems are

Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock; the numbers are still the best there are.

Most common disorders

NVSW (reported frequencies, small registry): hip dysplasia, radiographic HD-D about twice a year over the last 10 years and HD-E once, clinical signs rare; elbow dysplasia about once a year, operated; cardiac anomalies about 3 reports a year; entropion 1 to 2 a year; cryptorchidism about 4.5 a year; SCID (DNA test since 2009, no affected pups since). The club calls the breed 'relatively healthy' for its very small population, with a rising inbreeding coefficient, falling fertility and an outcross breeding policy.

Breed clubNederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen

Counts of reports to the club, not prevalences: the club gives no denominator on the page. FCI puts the population at about 1,000 dogs worldwide. One source family (the parent club); fewer than three independent sources behind this value.

What to ask a breeder for

The health clearances the breed’s own club and registry name. Reference only: what to ask for, never a statement about any dog’s health.

NLSCID DNA test, mandatory for breeding dogs unless both parents are tested freeDNA · Nederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen, Wetterhoun en zijn gezondheid (breed health page: conditions, reported frequencies and breeding policy); read in Dutch, paraphrased
NLElbow dysplasia: not mandatory; no breeding from affected or proven-carrier dogsNVSW (Dutch parent club) · Nederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen, Wetterhoun en zijn gezondheid (breed health page: conditions, reported frequencies and breeding policy); read in Dutch, paraphrased
NLHip dysplasia radiographs, mandatory; breeding allowed on A, B, C and D with C/D only paired to A/B; no breeding on ENVSW (Dutch parent club) · Nederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen, Wetterhoun en zijn gezondheid (breed health page: conditions, reported frequencies and breeding policy); read in Dutch, paraphrased

No KENAI kennel lists the Wetterhoun yet. If you breed them, list your kennel free: it shows on this page and in the hunting dog breed finder, under every handler whose answers land on the breed.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 5 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called: Frisian Water Dog, Fresian Water Dog, Wetterhûn, Otterhoun, Dutch Spaniel

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