The Lagotto Romagnolo
The Lagotto Romagnolo is a medium-sized, curly-coated dog from Italy, originally bred for water retrieval and truffle hunting. Known for its dense, woolly coat, it comes in various colors, including brown, white, brown and white, orange, orange and white, and brown roan. The breed is intelligent, affectionate, and friendly, making it a great companion for families and individuals, and especially those who enjoy outdoor activities and involving their dog in their everyday life. As a typical gundog with a strong affinity for their owner and a quick, alert mind, they require good socialisation and ample training to ensure they grow into a good canine citizens. Please keep reading for more information about this versatile and loveable breed.
Breed Standard
The Lagotto Romagnolo breed standard (as per the Australian National Kennel Council, ANKC) outlines the following key points:
Appearance
A compact, medium-sized dog with a sturdy, square build, standing 43-48 cm tall and weighing 11-16 kg. The coat is dense, curly, and waterproof, often in colors like white, brown, or orange, sometimes with patches. The nose is always brown never comes in a black coat colour.
Coat
The coat is curly or slightly wavy, and it requires regular grooming to prevent matting. The coat’s texture is woolly and dense, offering protection from water and cold.
Temperament
Affectionate, energetic, and intelligent. The breed is friendly with family and is good with children and other animals when adequately socialised. The Lagotto is tractable, undemanding, keen, affectionate, very attached to his owner and easy to train. They make excellent companions and keen watch dogs.
Health
The breed is generally healthy and robust, with a life expectancy well into the teens. They have some predispositions to hip dysplasia and genetic issues, requiring careful selection of breeding animals.
Behaviour
We selected the Lagotto Romagnolo as our breed of choice predominantly because of their behavioural characteristics. They are typically gentle, soft-natured, intelligent, and trainable dogs that are always ready for an adventure and are super eager to please you. Because of this, we find them easy to live with, particularly around young children and other animals. As well as this livability, they also have lots of 'get up and go' about them. Whether it's going for adventures in nature, training, competing in various dog sports, hanging out at coffee shops, or cuddling on the couch - they're all in. In a nutshell, they fit right into our lifestyle and we believe they make great family companions.
Charlotte meeting our son for the first time
Despite their cuddly appearance, Lagottos also need to be recognised as 'real dogs'. They were historically bred for flushing and retrieving waterfowl and then later to locate truffles. To excel at this, they have been selected for many years to be energetic, intelligent and owner-oriented. As members of the gundog family with other breeds such German Shorthaired Pointers and English Springer Spaniels, they need adequate physical and mental stimulation to stay happy and healthy. With the right training, Lagottos excel in dog sports like agility, obedience and tracking, and in roles such as assistance work and scent detection. However, they don't NEED to do these things - they're equally happy just being active family members. If you want a dog that sleeps on the couch and lays around the backyard all day every day on their best behaviour, then a Lagotto is probably not right for you.​
Water dogs, through and through!
We do LOTS of socialisation with our puppies to put them on the right track - the rest is up to you!
In addition, this working history means they weren’t primarily bred to be best friends with absolutely everyone and everything from birth. Whilst very rarely stranger adverse or reactive, Lagottos generally reserve most of their love and dedication to their immediate family. This behavior is typical of many working breeds and contributes to their exceptional trainability. Though breeders (including ourselves) have been selecting for a highly social and companionable temperament for many generations, owners still must put in work to ensure that their puppy is well-socialised from a young age to ensure they are comfortable and confident in the big wide world. If you don’t want to put in too much work in this area (though all breeds invariably need at least some), you may want to consider a breed with a history of a pure companionship role such as a well-bred Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Havanese, or even a Miniature Poodle. However, if you love the sound of a Lagotto and are willing to put in some work, they may be right up your alley!
Grooming
Whilst a coat of this length is pretty, it takes lots of work to maintain!
The other reason we love the Lagotto, and likely one of the drawcards for you, is their low-shedding coat. It is important to note that no dog breed is non-shedding unless they are hairless. If an animal has hair, they shed it as natural part of the hair cycle. However, some dogs shed less than others and Lagottos shed their hair very minimally. In addition, because of their curly coat, the hair they do shed typically stays within the coat until it is combed out. This means you will not find hair all over your house, car or clothing. Additionally, some people with a dog allergy find this different coat type does not aggravate their allergies nearly as much as others (though no dog is 'hypo-allergenic' - read more on this here). Overall it's a pretty great feature of the breed, but it does come with some 'drawbacks' that you should consider before making a commitment to a puppy.
The drawback of a coat like this is it requires regular grooming. How regular that grooming needs to be is completely dependent on how long you want their coat and if you're going to keep them in a breed traditional cut (longer, rounder head with a curly body). The longer their coat is, the more often they'll need to visit the groomer and you'll need to spend combing them between visits. Combing doesn't take long at all on a well-maintained dog (especially in front of the tv with a glass of wine!), but it does need to happen pretty frequently if you're keeping them super curly. If you skip their groomer visits or your maintenance combing, the next time your groomer works with them they'll likely have to shave their coat down to a much shorter length than you were expecting. In addition, a matted coat is uncomfortable for your dog and can be a magnet for things like fleas, grass seeds, and other irritants that can make them pretty miserable.
The curls are cute, but they can be hazardous for the adventurous type.
A short coat is a regular fixture round here - we think they look good either way!
There's no doubt that a well-maintained Lagotto in the traditional groom is a very pretty sight and we can help anyone looking to keep their dog with this look. You may need to help your groomer with what they're supposed to look like, but this is a good guide to start. For those that don't want to be dealing with lots of grooming at home but still love the breed, the solution is to keep their coat pretty short all over. This is perfectly fine and how we typically keep our dogs who aren't out showing. We're happy to keep our dogs short all year round and just pop a coat on them when (rarely) needed. For dogs that like to swim and adventure no matter the weather, it means they'll dry quicker and are less likely to track mud all over the place. It's also excellent during grass-seed season as a shorter coat means they're less likely to get stuck in and easier to see when they do. They do still need to go to the groomer (or be clipped by you if you learn how), but it's less frequent and a quicker job.
Whichever way you choose to keep your Lagotto, whether glamorously curly, sporty short or somewhere in between, they look great. The only consideration is how much time, money and training of your dog (and you!) you're willing to put in to get your desired look.