Is Your Newfoundland Puppy Ready for Water Training?

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rootX said:
Andre's link says they don't bark much.

lol they haven't met my puppy, he's proud of his new voice! He mostly just barks when he gets excited, like when we play chase.
 
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Moonbear said:
:smile: That made me laugh out loud just imagining him scaring himself with his bark. :smile:

That's interesting about the larger breeds needing to wait longer before being neutered. I wasn't familiar with those studies. If you have references for them on hand, I'd like to see them. Thinking about it, it makes sense, since they probably have a longer growth period than a smaller dog and more demands on their skeleton. Of course, if you wait that long to neuter them, it would be purely for birth control and not for preventing any of the bad habits male dogs get when they hit puppy puberty. But, as you said, play it by ear...if some of the bad behaviors start to show up, you can decide then to do it sooner. It's a good indicator if all the males that breeder has are well-behaved.

Unfortunately I don't have any references aside from the vet and the breeder who both told me the same thing on separate occasions. As a science student at the university of Guelph I have access to the international veterinary information service. I can't publish anything obviously since I am not a vet, but I can read at my leisure. Ill have a peek and see what I can find. I should probably research it anyways, as much as I trust my vets I don't know if its wise to take everything they say on blind faith, especially when I am quite capable of doing the research.
 
That third picture you put up looks like one of those bobble head dogs from taco bell. Are you sure his head is supposed to be so big?
 
Moonbear said:
:smile: That made me laugh out loud just imagining him scaring himself with his bark. :smile:

That's interesting about the larger breeds needing to wait longer before being neutered. I wasn't familiar with those studies. If you have references for them on hand, I'd like to see them. Thinking about it, it makes sense, since they probably have a longer growth period than a smaller dog and more demands on their skeleton. Of course, if you wait that long to neuter them, it would be purely for birth control and not for preventing any of the bad habits male dogs get when they hit puppy puberty. But, as you said, play it by ear...if some of the bad behaviors start to show up, you can decide then to do it sooner. It's a good indicator if all the males that breeder has are well-behaved.

Do big dogs have a longer growth period? I thought they just grew faster.
 
Aren't these the dogs that instinctively save drowning people? I've always thought that was amazing. I can't think of a better dog to give to a little kid.
 
tribdog said:
Do big dogs have a longer growth period? I thought they just grew faster.

I don't know about larger breeds in general but I've been told by the breeder that they do have a longer growth period and that growing too fast can be a huge problem. Thats why we don't feed him a growth formula, instead he gets an all organic adult dog food and then mixed veggies, yogurt and some oatmeal
 
tribdog said:
Aren't these the dogs that instinctively save drowning people? I've always thought that was amazing. I can't think of a better dog to give to a little kid.

Yes they are, Manfred will have water training when he is 2 years old. If he successfully completes and passes his water training he will be a certified life guard and can be on any beach, even those that ban dogs. Without the training they can be unruly and take off into the water as they absolutely love to swim. I would like to have the water training so that I can take him with me in the canoe and take him to the lake without worrying about losing him or having him go out too far and drown because he can't get back.
 
Manfed is as of yesterday 22.5 lbs as opposed to his original 16
 
fileen said:
Manfed is as of yesterday 22.5 lbs as opposed to his original 16

Excellent, Fileen; did you adapt the food expenditure balance for the family?
 
fileen said:
Yes they are, Manfred will have water training when he is 2 years old. If he successfully completes and passes his water training he will be a certified life guard and can be on any beach, even those that ban dogs. Without the training they can be unruly and take off into the water as they absolutely love to swim. I would like to have the water training so that I can take him with me in the canoe and take him to the lake without worrying about losing him or having him go out too far and drown because he can't get back.

That sounds really cool. Though, I'm now thinking about that thick coat all sopping wet...