When I started to think of getting a new dog, I had dreams of a gentle, snuggly ball of fluff that I could love and kiss and spend loving time with.

I researched Newfoundlanders and they claimed to be ‘gentle giants’. When I read that, I thought: perfect. This is the breed for us.

What I didn’t know is that Newfs turn out to be gentle giants but they start out as hyper active, biting machines.

George bites. Everything. He nips arms, cables, sleeves, pant legs, faces, noses, furniture…basically anything he can reach with those sharp, little teeth. Within one day of his arrival, my arms were checkered blue and green with his bites.

Originally, we were worried Ocean might be too rough with him. One second of seeing them together changed that. Now we worry that George might be too much for Ocean.

We’ve had to buy two crates to keep George from biting sockets or something else that would harm him. We’ve had to put away our carpet because he was going to eat the thing. We have things that have suddenly gone missing, from the TV remote to clothing. We seriously thought about giving him up to the SPCA or to the next person who walked by our house.

I’ve found a site for dog training run by the man who introduced Newfoundlanders to Ontario: https://dogtrainingandequipmentsales.com/training/. I’ve talked to Newfie enthusiasts and we are going to do some puppy classes.

If anyone out there knows how to teach a puppy that has piranha tendencies to stop biting, I would welcome any tips.

George comes home

You should see everything I have gone through…and who are you people?

We picked George up from a cargo building at the airport. He looked lost and sad. I reassured him that things would be fine but he didn’t seem convinced. The ride home, with tummy rubs, water to drink and breaks to go for little walks helped convince him we were friendly.

I’m starving

They don’t let them eat before they travel, so this little guy was hungry when he got home. He ate his supper with enthusiasm and then wanted nothing else but to get into trouble.

Sleeping with a new puppy is a complete joke. The only one who slept in our house was George because, whenever he cried, we thought he needed to go out and up we went to help him get outside. Sometimes he needed to go out, other times, he was just bored and looking for tummy rubs.

Coffee was a definite must this morning.

Ocean took one look at the fluff ball and declared all her toys out of bounds…which, of course, meant George wanted them all immediately.

She’s not looking…

We expect a fur fight very soon.

Getting ready for George

I’ve explained things to Ocean, who’s pretty blasé about the idea, and I’ve given her tons of extra kisses to reassure her she’s not forgotten. Still, there are a ton of things to do to get ready for a new puppy.

I’ve found this blog that follows a Newfoundlander owner so that I can see what to do and what to avoid. We’ve bought a couple of things…

Newfies love the water. Ocean…not so much.

I’ve also bought a few more towels to have as doggie towels because when you have a puppy, there are messes. We’ve also got a new fence to enclose a little section of our yard for those times when George and Ocean are both outside unsupervised (we want to make sure there are no fights). We’re also putting a new fence on our deck so there are no sneaky areas he can scramble into under there and get into trouble.

This is George at the vets, getting his first shot.

Unlike poor George at the vets, we are pretty excited.

We got a puppy

Well, after seeing so many puppies and doggies, it was really bound to happen. We got a doggie. He’s not with us yet; he’s too little. But he’s coming and he’ll be with us on June 10th. He’s arriving on a plane–which is pretty exciting.

This little guy is coming all the way from British Columbia to Ontario.

He’s a Newfoundlander. A breed that I’m super excited to have. and he’s going to be called George.

Now, I would have told you all sooner but my lovely hubby and his friend decided to clean up our house this weekend and they cut some cables that seemed to be useless to them…so we had no internet, cable or electricity as a result. It took a couple of days to get someone in to fix things.

Now, I’ve explained things to Ocean, who doesn’t seem very impressed with the idea of a new brother. She’s quite determined to show him who’s boss and who’s toys are hers (all of them). But, I think, once she meets him, she’ll learn to love him.

I am very picky.

So, things are very exciting here. We can’t wait for George to arrive and have him running about the house. We’re probably in for a couple of sleepless nights and all the fun things that come with puppies. But, the best part is that you can hear all about it through this blog and not have to miss a single minute of rest or clean a single accident. We’ll be doing all that over here.