The dogger (Dutch pronunciation: [dɔɣər]) was a group of similar fishing boats, described as early as the fourteenth century, that commonly operated in the North Sea. Early examples were single-masted and were largely used for fishing for cod by rod and line. By the seventeenth century, two-masted doggers were common and were using trawl nets. Doggers were slow but sturdy vessels, capable of fishing in the rough conditions of the North Sea.