Water work

All my puppies are exposed to water as I want to send puppies to homes where they will be able to swim with you, your children, or anyone else near by. :)

I personally value water rescue work so much! I always feel all the feels when I hear water rescue stories!

These dogs are so empathetic! I personally feel that Newfoundlands do not need to be taught how to save people, they just know how to save people. Water rescue is still absolutely necessary work for Newfies. As they participate in water rescue training it builds their physical strength, boosts confidence, and makes the dog work and grow outside it’s comfort zone. But the actual act of teaching a dog to save someone in need they already know. Our job as people is to help fine tune the skills they already have.

By summer I am hoping to start my dogs officially in water rescue work and conformation. Ultimately we will do the events our dogs enjoy.

Unfortunately Covid-19 has limited participation in many events. We are planning to be able to start participating in water rescue work summer 2022 or 2023.

Obedience

You have to expect a little bit of complete disregard to your commands with Newfs!😄

I enjoy training my dogs and always have trained my own dogs... and other peoples dogs I was suppose to only be watching for them. I can’t resist teaching dogs to work with me.

That being said here is an example of how obedience works ‘round here.

Meija is very well trained and obeys commands but she also knows that I don't demand she listens but I allow her to express herself first and then listen to me. Because we are friends and a partnership I want her to communicate how she feels with me too but in the end to follow the command given. Depending on how she communicates back to me I may change the command.

For example... if we are outside and I tell her to "lay down where she is” and she looks at me first I pause and go look where she is and often there's a pokey thing there (cactus or thistle). I see that and tell her to come to this other spot that's more comfortable and lay down and she does it.

In my opinion, the best training comes from true communication.

“Nana Dogs”

One thing I absolutely LOVE about Newfoundland dogs is their “nana” skills. They are still dogs and they still dig in my garden but they also watch over my children in a gentle way. Where other breeds may watch people with an intensity equivalent to a “helicopter mom”, Newfoundlands watch over children while playing with them. It almost seems like they are not watching at all till they appear where needed before anyone else could have gotten there. It’s truly amazing to see.

Example: family camping trip 2019.

We were camping with our kids and our friends with their kids. We all hiked a beautiful hike up to a waterfall that fell into natural rock pools of water in New Mexico. We were swimming and playing and a fair number of other people where also there with dogs too. Meija was only one year old and she was swimming with us and swimming over to all the other people and dogs around and having a blast. I noticed my 8 year old loose his footing and go under water. As I began to go to him I saw Meija was already almost there. He regained his footing just as fast as he had slipped and Meija sensing the danger had passed swam on and continued playing in the water. I was blown away at how she had already anticipated the problem and was on her way over before he was in real trouble and would have reached him in seconds after he slipped. I was blown away since she was only a puppy still, there were SO many other distractions, and because it was the second time she had ever been swimming. Never underestimate the instincts of a Newfoundland dog and their love of children!

This is the trait that I LOVE the most! The caring heart of Newfoundlands is like no other I have ever seen in a dog.

Many dogs are truly amazing and compassionate but none could have instinctively gone to the rescue of an innocent child as a Newfoundland would.