New Puppy (Newfoundland) Questions

[sunnyday123]

Yea for your Newf puppy! We have one right now (just found a home for a male rescue) named after our favorite thing -- Tivo. She is awesome, and sweet, and thinks she is people. She is great playing with the kids, but just as happy sitting next to me when we're outside. To me, they are the sweetest dogs out there.

Everyone always asks how big my house is for a "dog like that!"

I have a pretty big house, but really it could be 2 rooms and it wouldn't matter. If I leave the room, she follows me.

 

[trickiwoo]

I'm not a Newfie owner, but yoopermom mentioned Newfie pics and I have one to contribute!

I took that photo of one of the regulars at the local dog park! His name is Darwin and he is soooo sweet! Just such a wonderful dog!


I work as a pet sitter and dog walker and I have a client who is a Newfoundland. He is about a year old and weighs over 120 lbs... and he's not done growing yet! He's a very sweet dog... but my is he exhausting!!! He's still very much a puppy! Half an hour with him and I am totally worn out!

Start working on training early!!!! The dog I sit for has a bad habit of jumping on people! Not good for any dog... but especially not good for a 120lb dog!

The Newfie I sit for also has a very loud bark! I can hear him all the way down the street when he's still inside his house! So hopefully you don't have neighbors that are especially annoyed by barking dogs!

 

[trickiwoo]

Everyone always asks how big my house is for a "dog like that!"

I have a pretty big house, but really it could be 2 rooms and it wouldn't matter. If I leave the room, she follows me.

Haha! I know of a family that has 2 Newfies and they live in a tiny little apartment!!! I don't think I could handle that! I'd feel like I had no personal space!

 

[DMickey28]

I can't wait to see how big she gets!! I have obviously seen them but unless they are in your living room it's tough to get a real grasp of it!

Our house is abou 2000 sq.ft. but I think that the 200 sq.ft. of the family room is where we spend 90% of our time! I am sure she will fit (squeeze?) right in. I think our hound is about as tall as she will be, he's just tall and thin and long.

Sad news .... our Hound had his yearly vet appointment today and despite regular monthly treatments and yearly vax's he has lyme disease. Poor guy ... right now he is on antibiotics and then we will test him at the months end for a better idea. No symptoms or signs so that's good. Poor guy ... Making sure I have Frontline ready for the pup from the second she is home. Which do you guys use/recommend? I wanted to get K9 Advantix but some girl working at the pet store told me that if you have cats you can't use it because it's deadly to them. Now I know you can't use it on the cats obviously and should limit contact when the dogs first get it on but she said even if days/weeks later the dog rubs on the furniture and then the cat does the cat could get a 'taste' and die. Seems to me if it was that bad there would be a stronger warning on the box. Needless to say after she told me that I had to buy the other brand in front of her.

 

[sunnyday123]

I can't wait to see how big she gets!! I have obviously seen them but unless they are in your living room it's tough to get a real grasp of it!

Our house is abou 2000 sq.ft. but I think that the 200 sq.ft. of the family room is where we spend 90% of our time! I am sure she will fit (squeeze?) right in. I think our hound is about as tall as she will be, he's just tall and thin and long.

Sad news .... our Hound had his yearly vet appointment today and despite regular monthly treatments and yearly vax's he has lyme disease. Poor guy ... right now he is on antibiotics and then we will test him at the months end for a better idea. No symptoms or signs so that's good. Poor guy ... Making sure I have Frontline ready for the pup from the second she is home. Which do you guys use/recommend? I wanted to get K9 Advantix but some girl working at the pet store told me that if you have cats you can't use it because it's deadly to them. Now I know you can't use it on the cats obviously and should limit contact when the dogs first get it on but she said even if days/weeks later the dog rubs on the furniture and then the cat does the cat could get a 'taste' and die. Seems to me if it was that bad there would be a stronger warning on the box. Needless to say after she told me that I had to buy the other brand in front of her.

My lab had Lyme disease-so bad she tested higher than they had ever seen. She made it through no problems.

I use Frontline on my pup and cats, and she gets a seperate heartworm pill. The frontline goes up to 130 lbs but after 100 lbs you'll need two heartworm pills-the honking big dog one, and then a small doses for the additional weight.

They get big-and fast! You will literally walk in the door and notice that she's grown. But they just want to be where you are.

 

[DMickey28]

I'm not a Newfie owner, but yoopermom mentioned Newfie pics and I have one to contribute!

I took that photo of one of the regulars at the local dog park! His name is Darwin and he is soooo sweet! Just such a wonderful dog!


I work as a pet sitter and dog walker and I have a client who is a Newfoundland. He is about a year old and weighs over 120 lbs... and he's not done growing yet! He's a very sweet dog... but my is he exhausting!!! He's still very much a puppy! Half an hour with him and I am totally worn out!

Start working on training early!!!! The dog I sit for has a bad habit of jumping on people! Not good for any dog... but especially not good for a 120lb dog!

The Newfie I sit for also has a very loud bark! I can hear him all the way down the street when he's still inside his house! So hopefully you don't have neighbors that are especially annoyed by barking dogs!

So cute!

We are going to start training the minute she walks in the door and get her into obidience class as soon as she is ok'd by the vet. I am hoping to start a early july class. No jumping ever ... it's one thing to knee down a small lab or corgi but I think if you took a foot of the ground to knee down a Newf you'd end up down!!

We live on a small cul-de-sac and two of our neighboors have GSD, one has a second smaller dog and the people across the street have a small barky dog. When anyone different comes down the street WE KNOW IT!! Our hound has only barked like 5 times in the almost 2 years we have had him ... 3 of those times have been since the new baby was born and we were all on the deck and someone he didn't know was walking the neighborhood in a loop. Barked all three times they came by, stood at the edge of the deck and waited for them to pass. Honestly the most energy we have ever seen from him!!!

So excited ... have I mentioned that. Our breeder trained the Daddy dog to "whisper" and use his "inside voice". So cute .... I am most worried about a 3 month old with sketchy sleep habits and a new barking dog!

 

[elbowglitter]

I grew up with Newfies, and I miss having them around all the time. One tip - every Newf puppy we had learned how to "swim" in the toilet. One minute, the dog would be fast asleep, the next we would hear all sorts of splashing. Yep, digging in the toilet bowl, water flying EVERYWHERE.

I can't say that we ever dried our Newfs. We took them to be groomed professionally (it was more expensive, but so much easier). When they got wet at home (they swam in the pool), we just rubbed them down with towels. They actually dry really fast. The water just sheets off of them. They only take a long time to dry when you actually work to get the water into their fur (as in when you wash them). If they're just swimming or laying in a plastic pool in the yard, they dry fast. We never had trouble with skin issues or hot spots (as we did with our Golden Retrievers, who also spent the summer in the water).

I agree with the summer cut - just a trim on the stomach. The "feathers" on the sides stay long, so when the dog is standing, you can't tell that the belly is short. And they love to lay on cold tile floors. One puppy spent his first summer sleeping up against the base of the toilet because it was so cool.

Our biggest Newf is at about 185 lbs, and the smallest was probably only around 115, but she was a bit of a runt.

They're definitely charmers. Big furry lumps of love.

 

[poohlover]

The only problem with letting the dog dry on it's own is potential hot spots. Any irritation with a wet, and humid dog can result in a hot spot. I don't have a dryer, but I am careful with the dogs during the hot humid weather (like what we currently have in New England).

Talk to your breeder about ways to avoid them and treat them.

 

[DMickey28]

Swimming in the toliet ... LOL. Well, should probably child proof the toliet anyway! But then my 3 year old is going to have a harder time potty training!

Fun times coming up I am sure. I need to find a plastic pool pronto ...

 

[yoopermom]

Great picture, thanks, now I think we need more

And don't worry "too" much about your hound with Lymes Disease. Our vet (who treats our 8 hounds and all the local yooper dogs) feels that there are a HUGE # of undiagnosed dogs in the area with Lymes because of the amount of ticks and hunting dogs both. She told me that many dogs never show any symptoms, and with a good dose of antibiotic the dog is usually good as new. Heck, I know many people up here who are living with it! Don't kick yourself over it...

Terri