I love those snow pictures @AGBF!
I think Teddy is a PERFECT name @eapj!! He is gorgeous! The stories of the drool are SO true! LOL It's much like my SIL's Great Danes....they're drool factories, and love to put their feet and butts in the water. THEN shake! We dress differently when we go visit. Try to get him used to deshedding early, as that will help you in the future.That pic was at a pee pee stop halfway (about a 2.5 hour tip). I can already tell that he’s going to be chilled out and less than 24 hours in, he’s responding to his name (or at least our voices). His name is Teddy! Probably a common Newfie name but I love it anyway.
At the halfway point, we put out a water bowl for him and as you may have predicted, he splashed in it a bit!
I have two other dogs - the really crazy one is fine with Teddy( he’s like a skittish house cat inside and loves other dogs; treats can be a problem but we have a system for that). Our shepherd mix isn’t as sold in general but she’ll get there. We’re already in love even though we know the work ahead through the puppy stage.
@AGBF I saw some of those videos when we were studying breeds in grooming school. I had no idea how strong and rugged Newfies were before that. Having lived in Miami most of my life, I never saw one in person. They're just gorgeous and SOOO sweet. Everything you posted is true and is part of Newfie's AKC description. Wonderful babies! I'm sorry you lost Griffin....that must have been awfully painful.They are water dogs, Patty. Only they and Portuguese water dogs have webbed feet for swimming. They are enormously strong swimmers. The webbed feet help them to push through the water as if they had on flippers or were ducks. They also have an enormous lung capacity, which gives them a very low bark. The lung capacity is for swimming. Their mouths are configured to repel ocean waves.
Newfies were not bred only for water rescue; they were bred to help haul in the fishing nets on boats. They are classified as working dogs and they love to work. They do, however, have a natural lifeguarding instinct that was either bred into them or developed over their years on and around boats. Sometimes they object to their owners trying to jump off a diving board or to enter a pool in any manner. There are videos on YouTube of Newfies crossing in the paths of their owners in an attempt to block a dive. There are also videos of them attempting to drag their owners out of the pool by their upper arms.
Newfies have been used for water rescue, including being trained to jump out of helicopters. This program was started in Italy and the dogs were incorporated into The Coast Guard after proving themselves to a very skeptical Italian military.
There are videos showing all of this, plus Newfies pulling boats full of people (their strength is enormous) on YouTube. I know where the videos are and if anyone would like me to post any, just ask.
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He is really beautiful. What breeder did you get him from?