On Sunday, 13th October 2002, Mike and Moo got Suzy, a black Newfoundland bitch, from the Newfoundland Club, as a rescue dog. She was around two years old, and small for a Newf, mainly because she seems to have had a litter when she was young. We were her second rehoming, so we're very keen to make her life happy and fulfilled.
When we got Suzy, she was already very well trained, and we've decided to try to keep up the good work. We've adopted the methods of Jan Fennell, author of the marvellous "The Dog Listener", and "The Practical Dog Listener". She believes that many issues with dogs can be treated by understanding how they look at the world, and by using what she terms Amichean bonding to establish your family as the alpha members of the pack, removing stress and uncertainty from a dog's life. If this sounds strange, it's because you need to read the book(s) - give them a go. Despite the fact that Suzy started off very well, we've found significant improvements in her behaviour since we started following the guidance in the books. Strangely enough, the hardest thing to do is eating dry rice crackers before putting Suzy's food down first thing in the morning!
Suzy (like most newfs) loves water, and though we've not had the chance to give her any really long swims, as we don't want to let her off the lead for long until we're sure she knows to come back to us, her behaviour when she gets to paddle makes it clear what she'd really like to be doing. One of the tasks for which newfs were bred was rescuing people from water, and a number of organisations do water work with them. Mike's a keen scuba diver, and has the wetsuit already, so when the weather gets a bit warmer, the plan is to spend some time with other dogs and owners getting wet and having lots of fun.
Suzy is one of three pets that we have, and has her own section, where you'll find more pictures. As we decided to join the Newf Friends Web Ring, we needed to create a page dedicated to our newfs. So far, there's only the one, but that might change in the future.
Why, you may ask, did we decide to get a Newfoundland? They're big, make a mess of your house, shed hair everywhere, and get in the way a lot. All this is true, but they also have the most lovely temperament of any dog I've ever come across. My parents had a newf called Bella when I was young, who I loved very much and always missed when she died, and we'd always said that when we had a big enough garden, and a lifestyle that would support it, we'd get a dog. A newf was the obvious choice - Moo had met Bella (Butty) - late in her life, and had loved her, too. Neither of us is particularly attached to the small, yappy style of dog, so when we moved to Great Yeldham, Moo agreed that we could start looking for a newf, on the understanding that we'd get a rescue dog. I got in touch with the Newfoundland Club, they vetted us, checking we knew what we were letting ourselves in for, that our garden was secure, etc., and after six months of waiting, Suzy became available.
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