The Log

You have to understand our house is a tad unusual. We live in a huge, almost two hundred year old house. Our nine dogs have full run of the house. This leads to some interesting experiences. We’ll be chronicling some of our stories here on the log.
There is always something going on.

September 25, 2008

Just like we promised, Dan's novel Sightings is starting up. We'll give you the link in a minute.

This will be an on-line serial novel. One chapter a week! Holidays we'll give you two, because we love you guys.

Thanks for giving Melanie a break, Dan!

As promised, it's a Holiday so two more chapters have been added to Sightings. We haven't gotten to the Newfoundlands yet, but they are coming. What do you think happened to Sara?

Presenting
Dan Montague's novel
Sightings
An On-line Serial Novel

Welcome

Press welcome to enter his world.

September 20, 2008

Just a few pictures and stories from the pack and then Melanie is putting up News from the Litters. (Sorry, it’s been so long.)

Don’t forget, with the computer fairies helping, Dan’s book Sightings, will start next week.

We have to take it off one computer. Put it on another. And then put it on the latest computer. We have generational computers here, not just dogs.

What do you do when it’s Bear Season?

We do pack training in the play yard!

For the first time, of course no pictures for proof, we have two dogs that are retrieving balls!

This is new for our pack. During water training, Grace watched dogs retrieve and bring back things to their owners. She did a little of it. And then during pack training play, she got the idea. If she ran and got the ball, she got a treat! Wow. Then Rose got the idea from watching Grace.

It didn’t go any further up the pack chain. The older ladies look on, Mac, Franklin and Ros run with Grace and Rose, but just don’t get it. Then there’s Patsy. Talk about a dog that needs some exercise. She likes to sit up at the top of the play yard stairs and bark. Unless treats are getting handed out. She’ll come down then, but she’s not working for them.

After training there is play time.

Grace with a new ball.
She’s looking for someone to play with.

She found Rose who’s always up for tug a war.

Good thing the ball stretches.

Action shot!

Grace loved that thing.
It is now half a ball.

What a puppy!

News from the Litters

River Bear Sophie (Mac and Patsy pup, Grace’s sister, MA) wrote back way in July.

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all had a nice 4th of July! Sophie was looking Patriotic today.

Take Care

River Bear Roger (Franklin’s full brother, Patsy’s pup) and River Bear Merlin (Mac and Patsy pup, both together in NY) went traveling.

Just wanted to say hi...Gracie is GORGEOUS!!!!!!
We were away last week at a Newfie Get Together in Iowa...People were so excited to meet Roger and Merlin. They think Roger is the most gorgeous newf!!!! They also were finally convinced that Merlin is as big a nut as I say he is. He was so well behaved the first day. Swimming, playing and being a good boy....The second day he spent on leash because all he wanted was the food and garbage...LOL

This is Roger.

This is Merlin.

That just looks like great fun!

River Bear Diesel (Franklin and Ros pup, CT wrote in.

Hi, just checking in Diesel is doing great. . . Diesel now has a regular group of buddies he meets at the dog park 3 times a week, a Bernese mountain, and a doberman. They are quite a crew.He's really social but has difficulty making friends because of his size. I think he weighs around 175. He's been going swimming alot due to the heat.It's funny because he prefers to walk around in the water with his feet touching versus the extra effort swimming requires. I think because he's lazy. At night he won't go out after 9 he prefers to wait until morning. We had our yard fenced in, but he still doesn't like being outside by himself. He barks after 5 minutes. Hope all is well

River Bear Sullivan (Mac and Patsy pup, MA) is very clever!

I think we solved the “great chicken caper” . Last night I was baking cookies and had to leave the room. I took the cookies out of the regular oven and put them on a plate. Some went in the microwave to cool and some went in the toaster oven. I left the room for 2 minutes and came back to find Sullivan on the counter with the toaster oven closed, but he had cookies in his mouth. This time he had not had time to clean up. I know this is circumstantial evidence, and my husband tells me it would not hold up in a court of law, but I now believe Sullivan had, at the very least, something to do with the missing chicken.

I am very afraid. He keeps staring at the refrigerator. I can no longer have food in my house.

River Bear Isabelle (Mac and Mattie pup, Gracie’s sister, MA) is having quite a summer.

Hope you are all enjoying your summer and the two latest additions. They are so cute! I can hardly remember Isabelle being that small already. She is 60 pounds though I don't think she realizes that since she likes to jump and lay all over us- on the couch or in bed at 5 am if she cons us into not putting her in the crate at night by acting like she is a dead asleep when we go to bed. Need to figure out how to convince her to sleep in too!

She has become quite the little swimmer already and loves her boat rides with the wind in her fur! We have been spending the weekends this past month up at the lake so she had had lots of time to work on her doggy paddle. She went from flaying paws to master dog paddle. She isn't quite sure about jumping off the docks yet- she did it once but haven't been able to get her to do it again- that is unless you coax her in by letting her jump into your arms! We have to work on that!

What a Newf Picture!

Of course, Isabelle looks more like a puppy in this one.

River Bear Zoë (Mac and Patsy pup, Gracie’s sister, MA) is quite the water dog.

Just to drop you a little note and some pic's of Zoe (Patsy and Mac's last litter, Miss purple) to show you how well she's doing!! She's having a ball swimming and playing with her best friend Goose(the pomeranian). She has learned to jump of the dock and swim to us, it's so funny to see her do that!! She LOVES the water.. She's growing at lightning speed and she's very good at listening to us!! What a great puppy!! She's just a joy to have around!! hope you enjoy the pic's!! Hope all is well there also with everyone and the new puppies!!!!!!! they are so cute, almost makes me want another one (eyeroll)!! hahaha

That’s a brave dog!

And such a cutie.

River Bear Miss Isabelle has really kept in touch. Izzy is quite a character and is learning to do water work. We’ve patched some e-mails together because she’s so funny. (Mac and Mattie pup, MA)

We found a spot for her to swim just down the road.I sent you two pictures from her first swim. She took to it right away(duh).We are going to catch up with AJ at the Bark in the Park event and hopefully start working with her group.
    Iz has managed to make her way onto our bed at night,she has Michael totally wrapped.She watches TV like Mattie and sadly,we change to animal planet because it's what she likes to watch:)
Just wanted to share that we met up with Aj and the training group at The Bark In ThePark.Iz did so great!!! I was a very proud Newf Mom.Within a few minutes she was retrieving the bumper like a pro.(we on the other hand will require more training,we accidentally walked right through one of Aj's training exercises).We will definitely be continuing the water training as she loves it and seems to be a natural.The demo with AJ's team and their beautiful dogs was incredible! We also ran into Riverbear Sophie who is cute as a button.They were telling me about visiting with Iz and snuffy when they were little.I took out a bag of Izzy's treats and was surrounded by Newfs instantly.I was in heaven!!!:))

A Noble Beast!

And ready to work!

River Bear Snuffleupagus (Mac and Mattie pup, NH) has a new brother! River Bear Mufasa (Mac and Mattie latest pup, NH) We have news of Snuffy and then of the two of them.

We took Snuffy swimming last night. Normally there are a few dogs on the beach and a bunch of people even though we go near sundown to try and avoid the crowds. So to respect those who may be afraid of "the big dog" we keep her on her leash. Last night there was hardly anyone there and Snuffy had a great time. She is a swimmer. I would sneak off and swim out and start to splash and as soon as she heard the slashing she would swim right out to me. I am assuming she thinks I am in trouble and wants to save me. We kept throwing her floating training thing and she kept bringing it back. I would hold Snuffy when we were chest deep in the water and she would stop paddling. My other dog would never stop until they were out of the water. She trusts me. She slept good last night.

Everyone got a bath today and it went well. We took Mufasa and Snuffy out yesterday for the day. We went to yard sales, Petco and the Dublin Craft Fair. Everyone loves the doggies. Mufasa did great for the first day in a collar and on a leash. Everyone thought Snuffy was the Mommy. No one could believe Snuffy was less than a year old.

Totally awesome.

Snuffy is now in Intermediate Obedience.

If we forgot you, we’re sorry, send another e-mail!

That’s all this week, next week Dan’s book!

Take care.

September 11, 2008

Sorry about being off the air, folks. Melanie is getting better! And this caused her medications to be wrong for the last seven months. Did you know you could have hyper and hypothyroid at the same time? This was corrected and she’s just getting to the point where she’s not sleeping all the time. And yet, she’s better! Very strange.

Thanks for your emails of concern.

We still have Big Miss and Little Dude, but not for long. They are both leaving on Friday. Zoë has threatened to leave Thursday night with them and not come back. These have got to be the happiest puppies we’ve ever had. Now Patsy’s last litter was magical. These puppies are just so happy. Their tails are always wagging and they smile.

How about some pictures?

Sharing the water dish. This is not the only thing they do with water dishes.

They like to go swimming.

And dunking.

Yes, we are raising water dogs.

Big Miss thinks its great to find a leaf,

Then run to find her brother,

So he’ll chase her.

After that it’s time for a snack.

That’s Little Dude on the right eating grass.
What’s Big Miss up to?

She’s chewing on a tree trunk.
We swear she didn’t chew the tree down.

Mattie looks on.

Dan and Zoë took the pups in for their health check ups and took Gracie too. The pups weighed 25 (Big Miss)and (Dude) 25 Grace weighed 80 lbs. We had heard one of her sisters weighs 65. Grace really takes after her mother. Grace had a great time at the vets. She got to play with the puppies! She loves to try to catch their tails. Those things never stop wagging.

Mattie doesn’t mind Grace looking at the pups. Grace was looking through the gate at the pups and Mattie came up and expertly cut her out of the area. The next time Grace and Mattie just looked at the pups through the gate. The third time, Melanie was napping in the living room and opened her eyes to see Grace and Mattie next to the chair wagging their tails.

She shut her eyes and then remembered that Mattie was supposed to be on the other side of the gate with the pups. Mattie had let them out so Grace could be with them.
Since Mattie doesn’t approve of any of the other dogs with them Melanie scooped them up (not easy at this weight) and put them back in the West Wing.

Big Miss like to be under the stair outside.

Little Dude gets bored and tries to pull her out by her tail!

Our walk/run is now only on Sundays. It’s Bear Season out there! Don’t want our dogs shot. Dan and Zoë are instituting pack training in the side yard. That’s a lot different than individual training. As in you have to start from the beginning. The dogs are having fun though.

Here’s some pictures from the last walk/run in the forest.

It’s a beautiful area.

Treats are always welcome.

Lots of good smells.

Those smells are everywhere.

Heading back.

Grace in the woods.

Later that day we had a hail storm.
The hail was marble size and lasted for ten minutes.

Mac came in and shook hail everywhere.

Between the woods and the wet, the dogs hair was quite something and plugged up the vacuum.

Nothing going in and it took Dan forever to get that out.

What are Rose (left) and Grace (right) up to?

Oh, they were watching a cutie pie!

Next week Melanie is going to catch up the News from the Litters. Our extended families have been very busy with their dogs.

After that Melanie is going to take a break. But she’s not going to let you have nothing to read. Most of you know that Dan is a published author. Well, she got permission to post his unpublished book, called Sightings.

Sightings is a love story about a man who has lost his wife, thinks he has found her again and has all sorts of Newfoundlands in it.

How could it get better? A love story with Newfoundlands.

So she’ll be putting a chapter a week up. It’s a great story.

That’s all this week,
Take care.

August 14, 2008

HAPPY 5th WEEK BIRTHDAY!

Yes, it’s Big Miss and Little Dude’s day today! Yesterday, they went outside for the first time (of course, it’s the first day it hasn’t rained, since forever) and Mattie decided to share her bone with them.

First though:

Melanie learned that she now needs to put her iPod away instead of stuffing it under the pillows on her bed. Grace decided she wanted to use the iPod, by eating the headphones. Luckily, she hadn’t reached the iPod when Melanie discovered her.

Melanie also learned to use her glasses when disciplining the dogs. She was eating breakfast and thought she had put all the food away. Since she was reading, she had her glasses off. She heard a dog on the counter and turned around. Mac was on the counter. She yelled off. He got off. She squinted, nothing there. He did it again and again. She finally put her glasses on, but it was too late for the entire stick of butter she had forgotten to put in the refrigerator. She figures Mac is well greased.

Dan wanted everyone to know what he’s up to while Zoë and Melanie work with the dogs. Melanie and Zoë want you to know he does a lot of work with the dogs. He also does the shopping and the cooking. And boy, he can cook. It’s like, why go out to eat, because Dan’s food is much better than any restaurant.

Here’s a picture of one of his dishes, beef with anise maranade and summer squash.

It was FANTASTIC!
And the presentation is WOW!

To help Rose get grounded and be less impulsive, Zoë is training her to a mat. That means there is now a mat next to one of the chairs. This mat will be somewhere Rose can go for a calm down time, AND, we can take the mat with us if we take Rose somewhere.

How it’s going: Well, Rose is enjoying it. She will, most of the time, lie on the mat when she’s told to and stay. She gets some treats and rubbing of tummy and head, and told she is a good girl. In fact, we are really complementing her when she is calm.

The thing is (there is always some thing) all the dogs want to use the mat now. They like crowd around and try to get on it first. Jeez.

Here’s a picture of Rose on the mat with a new treat that one of our puppy owners has discovered. Frosty Paws. It’s a high protein, no sugar added, frozen treat. In the frozen food section.

Rose approved.

We are also using the therapy dog vest we got for Franklin and Ellie for Rose on her walks. It’s much easier to get on her than the backpack and yet, she thinks she is working and is perfect on her walks.

We kept Rose, not realizing that Dan would be so ill two years ago. She did not get puppy kindergarten, nor training after that. We have to work extra hard now, but it’s working.

Little Dude (his name will be Mufasa) and Big Miss have been very busy. Beware if you wear shoe laces, pants legs are fair game and getting stuck behind the sofa is fun.

Fights are faster now.
Little Dude on left and that’s Big Miss’s foot on the right.

And Mom’s bone is wonderful.

But the grand thing this week was
OUTSIDE!

Little Dude is a bit concerned about this.
They’re not quite big enough to go up or down the steps yet.

Hiding under chairs seemed to be the first thing to do.

It got hot.

Little Dude!

Big Miss!

This is also Big Miss.
Can you find her?

Taking
a drink break.

A Grinning Big Miss
with a flower pedal.

Mattie dug the pups a hole.
This is Little Dude’s face after fun in the hole.

A love break.

Big Miss in the hole!

That’s all this week.
Take care.

August 4, 2008

Three and one half weeks old!

Big Miss and Little Dude are doing well.

Learning to drink out of the water dish.
This involves stepping in the water dish.
A Lot.
When Mattie gets in with them, she occasionally has to scoop a pup stuck in the dish to her. They go straight through anything to get to mom.

They have become more adorable.
They now can hear and see.
When you come in the room, their heads go up and the LOOK at you.
We’re not sure if they actually see us.
We move faster than they can move their heads.

Cutie. Little Dude, Big Tummy.

Little Dude attacking “The Bunny.”

Not to be outdone, Big Miss attacking a blanket.

Slow motion fight!
Big Miss on left. Little Dude on right.
First, Big Miss attacks.

Little Dude comes back with a vengeance.

Big Miss retaliates.
They both fall asleep.

Little Dude being busy.
Notice the air between his tummy and ground.
They walk!

Little Dude playing with a toy.

Wow. Sigh. So cute.
Notice the wire fence.
They are now in a puppy play fence. This way we can really regulate how much Mattie feeds them.

Now time to join Dan, Zoë, Ellie, Bess, Patsy, Mac, Franklin and Ros on the morning walk/run.

Dan is taking the pictures. He did great.

This is up in a near-by State Forest.

Ellie coming back to check on Dan and Zoë.

Bess and Patsy exploring the wood piles.

Half way through is treat time.

Have to sit!

The walk continues.

Pretty place, isn’t it?

Back to the van.

Patsy and Franklin hoping for another treat.

Grace is now a “Big Girl”. She is not in a crate at night anymore. She still needs a bit more to eat at night (she is a growing puppy) so everyone who’s downstairs, when Melanie goes to bed, gets a chewy with peanut butter on it and Grace gets some puppy treats.

The first night she got to go to bed with the older dogs, Grace went in the crate, got her chewie and treats, but when it came time for her iced towel, Melanie got it out of the freezer and said “Come, Grace, time to for bed.”

Grace was a little confused, but followed Melanie, Patsy, Rose and Ros. Melanie put the iced towel on the floor in her bedroom, had everyone sit, gave everyone another treat, and said, “Okay, bedtime.”

Everyone went to sleep and Grace was very proud. She has gotten up a couple of times during the night since, but just to make sure everyone is there. No accidents, yet. (knock on wood)

What a Grace she is!

That’s all this week,
Take care.

July 25, 2008

TWO WEEKS OLD!

And not a care in the world!

Well, actually, if you notice their bellies???

They’re on diets. We’ve locked Mattie out. In fact, yesterday is the first time we’ve heard either of them sound off because they were hungry!

Little Dude could smell his mom and he was hungry!

This is great because they are beginning to walk (they need the exercise) and their eyes are beginning to open.

They’ve also started slow motion wrestling.
This match ended up with both asleep, but since Little Dude has Big Miss in a headlock, we’re giving him the win.

Little Dude exploring.

Little Dude climbing.

Shss. Big Miss sleeping off a big dinner.

What else is going on? Hmmm. Notice the rain? That was amazing, we had over 3 inches in one day. The river is riding high. Dan has been watching Planet Green with Melanie and decided to go green. He took all the dogs’ water dishes (we have a lot) and took them outside under the water spout from the canvas shades. Free water!

On Wednesday’s walk/run Dan and Zoë were going to take the camera with them and get pictures for the log. They got to the State Forest, walked in the rain for one hundred feet, when thunder from a long ways away sounded. Our Manly Newfy Dudes (Mac: 150 lbs, Franklin: 165 lbs) turned as one and were in the van before anyone else knew what was going on! They wouldn’t get out again until the van was home.

Training Rose and Grace continue. Zoë has learned that Rose and Ros like to keep her guessing who’s who. Mother, Daughter are alike as twins! We have a collar on Rose. Zoë will find Rose, feel the collar, and by the time she turns around to get the gentle leader, Ros is now in Rose’s place! Ros remembers a lot of her training.

Gracie is doing quite well, but Melanie learned something. She’s been training Gracie in the living room because of the RAIN. So today she took Grace outside to train. That was an experience.

She had taken string cheese which works great in the living room where there aren’t many distractions. There’s a lot of distractions outside for a puppy. First there was the lawn mower. Dan was riding it around and then he stopped it. Whew. Then there was the big truck, which slowed down to see Gracie. Then the neighbor’s dogs were out having a great time barking. And there was a butterfly on a dropped apple!

Well! Cheese just didn’t make it. Not for the new commands. So Melanie went back to just the old ones and she could handle that. And on that good ending she brought Grace back inside.

So tomorrow, Melanie will be using the top of the treat chain. Freeze dried chicken breasts! We’ll see what happens.

Part of training is grooming the dogs each day. Rose is doing great. Grace has to have a wooden brush in her mouth to chew and then she can stand the grooming. Under her neck though is a problem. Must be ticklish there.

Here’s how Grace looked for most of the week.
She likes rain.

And one more of Big Miss.

We did not set this up.

That’s all this week.
Take care, Melanie

July 17, 2008

One Week Old Today!

Little Dude
and

Big Miss

But more about them later, first some stories.

Rose and Zoë went to obedience class on Saturday. They did great. Using her gentle leader, Rose did the commands Sit, Stand and Down. Of course, she does know them, but this was with nine other strange dogs and she had to pay attention. This is not easy for Rose. But she did it!

Grace and Melanie went on Tuesday evening. Gracie did great. The trainer was talking about how to tell if your dog is under stress. She talked about exuberance, high energy and unable to focus. (Not Grace) She talked about watching, yawning and licking their lips. (Not Grace) Then she talked about the dogs that hid under the chair and watched everything with their tails between their legs.

Now Grace was under Melanie’s chair. So she looked at Grace to make sure she was okay and not under stress. Grace was asleep. Oh, well.

Grace did great. Sit was already one of her commands, she learned “Sit” while at the side of the human. She learned “Stand.” And then there was “Down.” The trainer showed a different way to train “Down” which was from a sitting position, getting her interested in the treat, and putting the treat behind her front legs. She then tries to get the treat and is uncomfortable and lies down. Supposedly.

The trainer took a small dog. It wasn’t working and she said that it was actually easier with large dogs because they have to work harder to get to the treat. So she borrowed Grace.

Grace must be the Newfoundland Yoga Master. She would not go down and she had no problem contorting herself to get the treat.

Melanie is working with her and she’s getting it.

Dan and Zoë went exploring on the walk / run the other day. They went down a new old road up at the state forest and the dogs disappeared. Zoë had forgotten her whistle and she and Dan called. Only Patsy came up the hill. Turns out the path ends at a cliff where at the bottom was a creek that the dogs were having a blast. It was difficult for the two older ladies to get back up the cliff. Bess, true to herself, was determined to make it up where the others dogs had gone up. Ellie, true to herself, walked up the creek until the cliff was no more and then came up at her own speed.

Today was at the pond for the dogs. Ellie was first in and last out. Everyone was wet and happy. Rose is still not allowed on the walk / run right now, so Zoë took Rose and Gracie to play in the river. They had a blast. So we started out with all the dogs wet to keep them cool.

Dan kept cool last night by Rose and Ros giving him a foot bath! He has been bathing, so his feet weren’t dirty. But we bet it tickled.

We’re sort of glad Franklin didn’t get to be in the movie. McKey’s day starts at 2 a.m. and then lasts until 7 p.m. Can you imagine trying to wake up a Newfoundland before 2 a.m.?

Okay back to the pups!

Mattie had a few hard days after the C-Section. The drugs took awhile to get out of her system. She is now keeping the pups clean and full. Very full. In fact, they’re fat.

They get a lot of exercise though. They squirm everywhere in the whelping box. All of a sudden the bunny will start moving. One of them will have gotten under the bunny and begin to squirm. Sort of strange looking.

Here are the Odysseys of Big Miss and Little Dude.

Here’s Big Miss, sleeping away
Mom comes in and lies down on the other side of the whelping box.

Big Miss on the squirm!

Oh, Joy and Rapture!
Mom!

This is nice.

Now Little Dude smells something.

Something smells good.

Trekking.

Coming in for a landing.

Oh, Mom, not a bath now.

Whew, got there.

We’re still on 24/7 time here, so as soon as we rest up, News from the Litters will resume.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

July 10, 2008

Well, after scaring us to death . . .

Mattie and Pups are doing fine!

Mattie very tired.
She had to have a C-section.

Big Miss (1.37 lbs) on left.
Little Dude (1.1 lbs) on right.

Little Dude being photogenic.
They’re three hours old!

The story (there’s always a story)!

Mattie went into labor three days ago. This put her right on time for having the puppies on July 8th. Which puts her a day early, but that day early is on time for Mattie.

Nothing happened. So we figured, well, she’s have them on her due date. Nothing happened.

This morning we called our Newf guru (Kathy Luce, Dingle Newfoundlands) and she told Zoë to see if there was a blockage. (You don’t want to know.) She couldn’t tell but we called the vet, who said BRING HER IN. He loves Mattie. He thinks all Newfoundlands should be just as well trained as she is. We wonder if he ever reads the log.

Dan and Zoë drove down the 1 hour and fifteen minutes to Dr. Constant, with all of the stuff that goes along with “what if she starts having the pups in the van?” And yes, that has happened to us.

Dr. Constant felt Mattie, he thought he felt some movement, but since there were only two pups, he couldn’t be sure.

Boy, was there a lot of tears and prayers going on.

What a relief when he told us the pups were fine and so was Mattie!

Besides Mattie, we have two other stories!

July 4th was a blast. We took the dogs to the river (three at a time) for their swim. First was Mattie, Patsy and Grace. They all had a blast. Mattie just stood, letting the water support her pregnancy weight while we threw puppy treats to her.

Grace sticking her head underwater.

Amazing Grace!

Next was Ellie, Rose and Ros. We couldn’t get Mattie to move out of the river, so we left her there thinking “Of course, she’ll stay.”

Hmm. Rose and Ros wanted to go under the bridge to go SWIMMING not wading! So off they go. Mattie took one look and said “that looks cool” and starts heaving her pregnant self over rocks. Ellie, who never goes in past her feet, thought “wait for me.”

If you look hard enough you can see a runaway!

Idiots.

Rose going to hide.

Needless to say, their time in the water was less than everyone else’s. Next down was Bess, Mac and Franklin.

All that exercise must have gotten Mac hungry. He went counter surfing (which he never does) in an area no dog has gone before and ate 2/3 of the cake Melanie made for July 4th’s dessert.

Melanie then took the “rest” of the cake, smooshed it together on a plate that said “Everything tastes better with dog hair in it,” took crushed strawberries (no, the dogs didn’t do that part) poured that over the cake, then added whipped cream and sliced strawberries! It was delicious and had hardly any dog hair!

The next story! That’s a night time story. Not one to sleep by though. Melanie did her putting everyone to bed bit went upstairs and fell asleep. But every hour on the hour a dog would do the woo woos. The woo woos are awful. They sound like a dog’s heart is breaking. Melanie and Patsy would pad through the house trying to figure out what was happening, but couldn’t find anything. Finally at 2 am Melanie fell asleep.

Now Melanie was completely out of it. The fire alarm went off in the hall at 3:30 am. Now this fire alarm does fire, CO2, and something else and not only does it scream, it talks! Does Melanie hear this? No, but everyone else did. It went off because of the humidity in the house. Dan takes down the alarm. Gracie was very upset. All the dogs were very upset. Unable to calm Gracie down, Zoë let her out of her pen.

Since everyone then went to bed, Gracie did not understand this. She ended up in Melanie’s room, but Melanie didn’t wake up until she heard someone tripping as they were leaving the room and found a drool spot on the bed. So she gets up and finds Gracie beating at the gate to the living room.

Having just stopped Gracie from eating computer cords that morning, she puts Grace back in her pen. All the ladies (except Mattie who was in pre labor in the West Wing with Zoë) ran down the stairs to help.

Melanie fixed everyone a chewy with peanut butter on it, got fresh water, said good night, and went back to bed. Dan and Zoë got up any Grace is back in her pen! Magic!

Here’s how Newfoundlands go green. They share the fan. One on each side. That’s Rose on the right and Mac on the left.

There is news from the litters, but we’ll catch up next week.

That’s it!
Take care.

Extra
Extra!

Manly Mac

and

Marvelous
Mattie

are having two puppies!

That’s all the vet could see in the x-ray.
There’s always hoping for more!

Rosalind is not pregnant, but next Spring we’ll breed her again.
We’re going to take some time off!

So if you don’t hear from us on Sunday that means Mattie was early.
Supposedly, she will whelp July 9th!

Take care,
and Happy July 4th!

June 29, 2008

It’s gotten to be summer weather once again. Hazy, Hot and Humid. Hot dogs in front of the fans and Gracie behind the pellet stove.

Cute, isn’t she?
Of course, since she keeps growing (and growing and growing), Melanie and Zoë moved the pellet stove so she could get behind it better.

See how much bigger the opening is now?
That should last a couple of more weeks.
Now with all that room, she gets in the smallest place possible.

What a nut!

In other news, Franklin will NOT be in the movie. They want him in one scene in the middle of McKey’s shoot, so McKey can’t come up and get him. Since we’ll have puppies by then we can’t take off for a two day trip to get Franklin there, stay for the shoot and then back. McKey says he will get one of the dogs in a movie some day.

Mattie is getting to be less like a battle ship and more like an aircraft carrier. She’s loving this.

As Zoë was leaving for the renewing of Ellie’s Therapy Dog license, Melanie said, “I don’t know if I should wish you good luck, or keep them laughing.”

Newfoundlands can be well trained do everything perfectly and then decide that testing day is going to be just plain happy time.

Zoë called after the test, said Ellie kept them laughing and passed the test with a near perfect score. The only problem was with the command “Leave It.” The it in question was a squeaky toy. Ellie loves squeaky toys.

We didn’t have a lot of pictures this week. Melanie was out of it, and every time Dan and Zoë saw the perfect picture, they didn’t have the camera.

Of course, here’s a couple they took of Gracie!

Guess who decided that if the big dogs got the sofas, she got easy chair?

Not having opposable thumbs doesn’t get in the way of this dog!

She pushed that yogurt container up against the cabinets all by herself!
It made it so much easier to clean out the container.

News From the Litters:

Another graduate! River Bear Snuffelupagus (Patsy and Mac Pup, Gracie’s sister, NH)

Snuffy graduated from puppy school Thursday and will be moving to the intermediate class this summer. She was one of the stand out students.

We went to Family Appreciation Day today for my work and we had to take the whole family. Snuffy did great and everyone loved her. Most could not believe she was a puppy and so well behaved.

Attached are a few photos we took of Snuffy yesterday.

She must have been the hit at family day!

Cutie pie.

River Bear Abe (Patsy and Mac pup, Gracie’s brother, NH) is doing fine. There is a picture of the Newf part of the family. The biggest Newf is River Bear Delilah, (Lily, Bess pup).

Zoe and the Riverbear clan

            Abe went yesterday for his rabies shot and last distemper. He is growing, getting legs in the last week or so. He already has “paws and jaws” on the kitchen counters. He may be the first male to sit on the dining room table. He continues to be a lap dog. But usually his back end isn’t quite on the chair. He is a talker. He is not shy about letting you know he’s around and wants attention. He's a water dog surfing the stream on our property. Abe and Grace are practically carbon copies in size and appearance.

            Lily continues to do well. We’re working on slimming her down a little. Lily and Bess are strikingly similar too. Beautiful portraits on your web site.

            We have three Newfs now. Lily and Abe from Riverbear. In Late January we had Jezebel (Belle) join our house. She is from Tyche kennel.

            Belle is now seven months and romps with Abe. Lily certainly is the Queen. We’re having a lot of fun watching the puppies grow. Attached are some photos.

Abe in late May
Hmm. About that sitting on the dining room table.
Let’s see, Abe is Mac’s son, who is Bess’s son, who’s father loved to lie down on the dining room table while the family was eating.
He never ate anything. He must have just wanted to be the center of attention.

The three Newfs!

We’ll be putting out a bulletin on Mattie Friday. It’s then that Mattie goes in for her x-rays! Then we’ll know approximately how many puppies.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

June 22, 2008

Now for the News!!

WE HAVE NO IDEA IF ROS IS PREGNANT!

Isn’t that a hoot?

The vet could not feel anything, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t pregnant. There might be only one or two and Newfoundlands are big, so who knows where those pups might hide?

The same thing happened when she had Rose!

Sometimes Ros acts if she is a puppy. Other times she acts if she’s pregnant (sleeping, fussy about what she eats). Could well be she’s having a false pregnancy.

We’ll take her in the first week of July with Mattie and check again.

Gracie got her rabies shot. The vet and staff think she’s wonderful. She weighs 50.2 pounds. It was after four hours before Dan and Zoë got everyone home from the vets. Patsy was so happy!

She did a play bow in front of Grace, wagging her tail and then proceeded to wash her up completely.

Zoë took Franklin to Martha Bodine’s (youngest daughter) school’s field day. He’s still in training for the movie. Here he got to meet lots and lots of people smaller than he is.

He did great!

We love the look on these guys’ faces.

Oh, we were also getting Franklin used to his new vest.

He soon couldn’t be seen.

He’s in there somewhere.

He totally enjoyed being adored.

The dogs have been relatively quiet this week. Let’s see. Grace has not yet gotten stuck behind the pellet stove, but the time is coming. We think we’ll have to call one of the grandchildren to come move the stove to get her out. She grows so fast. She is still helping with the gardening by bringing in clumps of grass with the roots and dirt still attached.

Rose ate last night’s dinner. Not her dinner, our dinner. Steaks and brussel sprouts. We can understand about the steak, but the brussel sprouts? She has stopped growing, but her reach hasn’t.

Mac and Franklin are now back in the house together. No doors shut between them!! No ladies in heat.

Ros has been holding bones in her mouth and talking. She hasn’t done this for awhile. She likes to show off the bones. Zoë remembered that when she had Rose, Rob thought maybe she’d pick Rose up in her mouth, carry her around and talk. She didn’t though, thank goodness.

Mattie is looking like a battle ship. She’s very happy. She loves being pregnant.

Patsy has lost almost all her hair and her tail looks likes a lab’s tail. She spends the whole night next to Gracie’s pen.

Bess is still the Queen. She has taken to sitting in front of Ellie’s sofa and either won’t let her on or off. Jeeze. Ellie complains and we go in and stand in front of Bess so she can move.

Not a bit spoiled, our animals.

Melanie spent some time in the play yard and got some great pictures. The only one we don’t have a picture of is Ellie. She was asleep all three times on the sofa.

Ch River Bear Elizabeth T
Get a look at those lovely eyebrows!

River Bear Patsy Ketchum
She’s been digging in the mud.

Bowater Waltzing Mathilda
Low rider Mattie!

River Bear Robert’s Mr. McKey
Mac stays in the shade ready to bark at cyclists.
His day is made if large trucks or motorcycles come by.

River Bear McKey’s Rosalind
The mysterious Ros!
Pregnant or not?

River Bear Franklin
The would-be movie star.

River Bear Rosalind’s One Perfect Rose
She may not be perfect, but she’s perfectly Rose!

River Bear Amazing Grace.
The wonder puppy!

And another picture of Gracie,
just because.

Of course, being in the play yard means playing.

Who is Rose sneaking up on?

Her father and buddy, Franklin.
Grace had to get into the fun.

Then Rose and Mattie popped the last ball.
Rose ran away with it, while Grace races to catch up.

Love is a big popped ball.

Rose and Grace fighting.
Rose winning.

Rose and Grace fighting.
Rose letting Gracie win.

Not sure exactly what Zoë was doing . . .

But the dogs found it fascinating.

News from the Litters:

We heard from River Bear Sophie (Patsy and Mac pup, MA, Grace’s sister)

Hope everyone is well. Sophie just went to her first puppy class, I knew she was going to be the biggest, but I did not think she would look like a giant puppy compared to the others in the class. Wouldn't you know all of the other puppies in the class were very small, they were mostly Chihuahuas which were about two pounds each. All of the little puppies were very uptight being there, but not Sophie, Miss Social, whatever we asked her to do she did it. She can sit, down, come and her newest feat is going to get our newspaper at the end of the driveway. Every morning my husband will say lets go get the paper, she runs down picks it up and is very proud when she brings it to me at the back door.

Now that is cute.

We can see Grace doing that. Then Rose would want to help, then Ros, Mac and Franklin would come to see what was going on, then Mattie, Patsy would comment from the sidelines as Bess and Ellie would comment from in the family room.

Would not be much left of the paper.

That’s all this week,
Take care.

June 15, 2008

Soooo, we hope all of you managed to get through the heat wave with no trouble. Zoë and Melanie took Mattie and Mac to the vet’s on Tuesday. We were in the van that shows the temperature outside. It was 104 degrees. We don’t remember it ever being that hot here. Though Mac didn’t have an appointment we took him in the office because he would have cooked in the van. The asphalt was steaming. Jeeze.

So Mac was one of the first to hear that he was going to be a Daddy again!

That’s right, Mattie’s pregnant!

We have no idea how many and won’t know until we do the x-ray the first part of July.
We won’t know about Ros until next week.

How did the dogs celebrate?

Let’s face it. Having large, black dogs in the sun and heat can be hard on them. Luckily that heat wave didn’t last very long. Now it’s much cooler (about 30 degrees cooler) and the dogs are happy.

To deal with the heat . . . the older dogs get their walk/run during the early morning and it now includes a dip in the pond. They come home and sleep in front of the fans. Mattie and Ros are getting only walks on a leash (no more porcupines) and then a dip in the river.

Since puppies get very hot and are not aware of much, we have to watch Gracie. She fell asleep in the shade and the sun came around and poured down on her. She didn’t wake up. She wasn’t sure why we were bothering her but she sure was uncomfortable. She is spending a great deal of time behind the pellet stove, but since she has removed all the pink insulation, we don’t worry about her there. She has a hearth stone made of granite and it’s dark.

The other thing we do for her (and she loves it, we did it for Rose when she was little) is put wet towels in the freezer. We pull them out as needed. Cools her down and she loves biting them.

Not only is she laying on an ice towel, she’s wet because she had gone in the dog room and swam in the older dogs’ water buckets.

Melanie was gone most of this week. She went down to New Jersey to see her oldest son’s (Rob Carpenter, here’s his website) significant other, Andrea Gianchiglia, new art opening, Animal Portraiture, at the Visual Art Center of New Jersey.

WOW!! Here’s her website.

Here’s Andrea with one of her portraits.
(A Newfoundland, of course, one bred by Jane Thibault of Nashau Auke)

Rose and Papi (Rob and Andrea’s dog) are in this picture.
Papi is there twice.

Her oils are rich in color.

Yes, that’s Papi again.

McKey was at the opening also and drove Melanie home. He hadn’t been home for awhile.

He’s well loved.

The sweatshirt was clean when he came down in the morning.
That was about five minutes before this picture.

Rose did not like McKey playing with Grace.

She became quite vocal.
Ellie’s on the sofa, trying to tell McKey that the sofa is hers.

We are conditioning Franklin to noise, cars and people, in case he’s in the film that McKey will be in which will be shot in NYC.
McKey and Melanie took him to Northampton.

He was wonderful.

That’s a bib that says “Alpha Newf.”
If he’s in the movie we’ll have to get one that says “Movie Star.”

McKey learned several things about a Newfoundland in a town.

A large Newfoundland (let’s face it, Franklin is big at 169 pounds) is as McKey puts it “A Chick Magnet.”

McKey and Franklin couldn’t go ten feet without someone commenting and stopping them.

Women’s comments:
“He’s adorable.”
“He’s so cute.”
“What a gentle dog.”

Men’s comments:
“What a monster.”
“Now that’s a dog.”

Little kid’s comment:
“Big Woof, Daddy.”
Daddy’s comment:
“Really Big Woof.”

McKey also learned that Starbucks will give really big dogs free water. He thinks we should send them the picture.

Franklin went visiting a clothing boutique shop.
Melanie thought the owner was nuts, but McKey wiped Franklin’s jowls and went in.
The owner loved him.
People would stop and take pictures on their phones of Franklin.
He was a great Newfoundland ambassador.

News from the litters:

River Bear Isabelle (Patsy and Mac pup, NH, Gracie’s sister) has news!

Hello RiverBear!

We wanted to let you know Isabelle graduated kindergarten last night! With being almost 100 degrees here in NH-- she didnt want to practice too much but she did great and had one last romp with her friends in class. She might see them again at Doggie Day Care soon. She is anxiously awaiting to go onto Obedience 1 when she is 6 months old.

Hard to believe she has been with us for 6 weeks already! I swear she is bigger each morning when I come down to let her out. She is getting more adventurous and has decided to take a morning bath in our neighbors sprinkles each day this week. Nothing like a wet pup at 6:30 am and trying to get ready for work. She loves the water and now how her own pool to play in for those hot days when she isnt lounging in the air conditioned house. She has found her voice and loves to talk too- usually demanding attention and playtime! We love her so its hard to say no!

Enjoy the latest pictures of our little bear!! Hope all is well on your end.

Keeping cool the Newfie way.

We see she’s inherited the tendency to own the sofa.

River Bear Sophie ( Patsy and Mac pup, MA, Gracie’s sister) is swimming!

That would be great if Gracie, Sullivan and Sophie could go swimming together. I met Terry yesterday and we went to the lake, it was fun. Sophie has no fear, as suspected she follow Sullivan right in and was swimming. We all looked at each other and said who is going to go after her if she goes out too far. We decided to put a long lead that Terry had and her leash together so we could pull her in if needed. Sophie loves water; she will find the smallest amount and get herself wet.

She is really feeling the heat; she loves our garage floor because it is cool. Unfortunately she can’t stay out there all the time. Last night and today she has the fan facing her crate to keep her cool.

We’ll let you know if Ros is pregnant next week!
Take care.

June 8, 2008

Whew! And to think that on Friday evening we were in sweatshirts (humans, not the dogs). We’re getting a taste of August up here in Western Massachusetts. We’ve got the fans out (not the air conditioners yet) and are spreading them out amongst the dogs. They are very hot.

In fact, Zoë had Rose down at the river early this morning and checked two times to make sure she had Rose and not Ros! She was a perfect angel. So we figure either she’s growing up (cough, cough) or she was just real hot and like the coolness of the river. She also likes the fans.

Grace is keeping cool by digging holes. She is also redecorating the house with the pieces of earth and grass she brings in.

She has also decided that she needs to relax.
She’s chosen Dan’s zero gravity chair.
He uses it for his back.
She uses it to get higher access to the desk and to the counters.

For the walk/run morning exercise, Dan and Zoë decided to take the dogs up to the State area. They rediscovered the pond. Dan figured they didn’t play correctly. The dogs thought they did. Who wants to run around, or play hard, even if it’s swimming, when you can stand up to your chest in water and grin?

Which is what Patsy did again later when she went with Gracie and Melanie to another play date.

Patsy doesn’t like to swim.
Maybe that will change this year.

She’s cute no matter what though.
She played with the pups and then said,
“Enough is enough”
and went back in the van.

The pups had fun!

We’re calling them “The Three Amigos.”
That’s Kathy Luce’s Fiona on the left, then Gracie and then Kathy’s Gunnie. Correction from last week: Gunnie’s name is
Dingle’s Full of Old Blarney.

That’s Fi looking at the camera saying could you get Gracie’s foot off my leash?

Gunnie is a month older than Grace and is quite the retriever.
Grace is now swimming!

Toys are great.

Fi likes water toys on land.
Gunnie dunked her completely under the water.

Gracie starting to learn the command “Give.”

Our Grace!

Now for some news in the movie world. McKey (Dan and Zoë’s grandson) is going to be in an Indie shooting later this June. In talks about his character, they mentioned they wanted him to have a dog. So one of our dogs might be in a movie!!! Isn’t that cool? More later as we find out what is going to happen.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Wendell (Bess pup, Mac and Ros’s brother, MO) has been busy.

I thought it was amazing last week, when Wendell got a plastic bowl of strawberries off the counter and didn't spill one. He brought the bowl to me in the living room. I guess he was asking for some berries, but wanted the stems removed first.

I was ASTONISHED just now, when he brought me the bowl with the left over marinade from tonight's chicken. There was about 1/2" of oily marinade in the bottom of the bowl and he NEVER DROPPED A DROP! Guess he wants me to finish the dishes!

What a Newf!

River Bear Sophie (Patsy and Mac’s pup, Gracie’s sister, MA) is meeting River Bear Sullivan (Patsy and Mac’s pup, different litter, MA) for a swimming lesson!

We are meeting . . to bring Sophie and Sullivan swimming, this should be very interesting to see what Sophie does, she has only walked in the brook and every puddle that she sees. Maybe she will try to do the things that Sullivan does because she is always copying our older dog, she is very funny.

River Bear Isabelle, Izzie for short (Mac and Mattie pup, MA) enjoyed being the center of attention.

I took your advice and ran out and got a gentle leader for my spoiled girl.(we love our walks)So here's the funny part. The girl's at daycare didn't think I had it on snug enough.(Iz thought it was fine)so four of us,yes four were trying to snug it up,so for twenty minutes the four grownups and two kids tried to push her tongue and jowls in to get it snug. I swear she was laughing at us as we gently pushed her tongue in one side and she hung it out the other. She kept a perfect "sit" and "wait" probably because she found the whole thing very entertaining. She continues my education and by the time we can have a brother or sister for her I might be able to get through a week without e-mailing you.:) Can't tell you enough how amazing she is,she keeps me laughing and I love her to pieces!

That’s all this week.
We’re going to go stand in the river!
Take care.

June 1, 2008

First some “what on earth” pictures!

Bungee cords are amazing things.
They keep our dogs out of the food cans (garbage cans, with the tops bungeed down), hold up tarps for shades . . .

But the refrigerator door?

One evening the refrigerator door did not shut properly.
Rose opened it with her nose and had a great time browsing.
Melanie knowing that with Newfoundlands, food and doing something wrong once is enough to form a habit, decided to nip learning to open the refrigerator door in the bud came up with the cord.

It was a surprise to Dan and Zoë in the morning.
Seems to have worked though.

Hmmm. What’s this?

That’s Bess falling under the spell of the new curry comb Zoë got the dogs. It gives a great massage, and gets rid of a lot of dust.

Boy do our dogs sleep heavy!
That’s Ros’s feet on top of Rose’s head.

Speaking of Rose . . .

She is really good with Grace. She’ll get a toy and then wave it around for Grace to follow and play with her.

Rose with a squeaky toy. She enticed Grace up on the sofa with her and wouldn’t let her have the toy.

Grace just walked on top of her to get it.

She got the toy but fell off the sofa.

Then Grace got bored.

Having it on her own wasn’t as much fun, so she left the toy . . .

and Patsy got it.

Patsy story!!
Patsy got on the bed with Melanie in the middle of the night and kept waking her up every ten to fifteen minutes. Melanie finally heard a squeak. Thinking it might be a sick dog, she and Patsy padded through the house, looking and listening to dogs. Nothing. Finally Patsy let her sleep.
The next night she did the same thing with Dan. Turns out it was the smoke detector. The battery was low. Our dogs are good watch dogs.

Franklin story!!
Zoë was traveling with Franklin and got the toll ticket and put it up with the sun visor. When she left the toll road, no ticket. She looked, while the toll booth collector looked at her. She explained where she had gotten on. Franklin was looking on during this whole time. Now those of you who know Franklin, know how big his head is. Franklin turned and looked at the toll booth collector, who asked, “Is that a Newfoundland?” Zoë said yes. He replied, “If he vouches for you, you’re good to go.”

Franklin and Grace story!!

The first thing you’ve got to know is that Grace is still short enough to walk under Franklin’s body. The second is that Grace is very curious. She loves it when Melanie calls Franklin down to go outside, pee and then go to bed in his kennel. She runs beside him, jumping up trying to catch his jowls and follows him outside. Franklin then goes to pee. Franklin lifts his leg and then goes and goes and goes and goes. Grace sticks her head right under to find out what’s going on. Mac doesn’t take that long. Well the other night, after going through all of the above and putting Franklin in the kennel and saying good night to Mac and Franklin, Melanie came back in and noticed that Gracie’s right eye was completely covered white. Thinking some thing awful had happened to her, Melanie changed to her reading glasses (so she could see) and looked carefully at Grace. Nothing wrong. Franklin had slimed her eye. Melanie washed it out. Grace thought it was great. She got to play with the wash cloth and then could see again.

Gracie has been busy. We can’t find a puppy kindergarten up here. We have her enrolled in beginners obedience in July, but puppies need to be outside their environment to see how to play well with others and with other people.

So Gracie has a play date with three of Kathy Luce’s Newfoundland puppies! They are a month older than she.

Gunnie, Bella, Gracie and Finigan.

Gunnie (Dingle’s Full of Blarney) is the puppy Kathy is keeping. She’s the landseer. Gracie’s in the back.

Gracie fell into the pond from a small cliff of two feet.
She was surprised but handled it well.

The pond is in Kathy’s back yard.

Today Gracie went and watched Newfoundlands learning to do water work!

There’s a group in the Pittsfield area.

That’s Kathy Luce (Dingle Newfoundlands) and Claire Weigand trying to entice Grace into the water.
That’s Gunnia in the back. That’s Kathy’s dog; she’s a Bess puppy from Patrick, one of Kathy’s males.
That makes her an Aunt to Grace!

Well, Grace got to chase treats in the water. Put her head under the water. Got to ride in a boat and she swam to Kathy Luce.
We’re very proud!.

AJ Cole is in charge of the training.

Here’s her husband Jim rowing Kathy and Guinna about.

And here is Kathy (freezing) as she tried to call Guinna in the water to save her.

That didn’t go as well.

But here she had gotten in the water and was pulling Kathy back.

Here’s AJ’s dog showing everyone how to pull in a boat with a bumper!

A good time was had by all.
Gracie slept all the way home.

News from the litters.

River Bear Sophie (Patsy and Mac pup, MA) is keeping her owners entertained!

Newfs sure do like the water, we brought Sophie in the brook down the road from us, she liked it. My husband was washing our vehicle yesterday she was having a ball stealing the sponge, getting her face covered in bubbles, playing in the puddle of water, when she was finished with lying and rolling in it she was a muddy mess, she had such a good time.

“...Sophie thinks everything in our house is hers to put in her mouth and try to run with it. She is so cute that you have to remember who the boss is. She sits, gives paw and we are working on the down and walking properly on the leash, she starts her puppy class on June 9th.”

Remember Mr. Blue ? (Patsy and Mac pup, MA) who had to go to the hospital at 2 weeks old. You’d never guess that now!

Mr. Blue is now know as Huckleberry, or HUCK to his friends. We LOVE him. He is just the most beautiful and gentle creature we have ever seen. Please see adorable photo attached. Thank you!!!

He’s not the only one adorable in that picture!

River Bear Snuffleupagus (Mattie and Mac, VT) is going to puppy kindergarten too!

Snuffy started Puppy Kindergarden last week and it went well. She is a fast learner. She is of course the biggest puppy in the class. All of the dogs except Snuffy and one other just sat next to their owners during free time. Snuffy was confident enough to go out and visit the other puppies and make new friends.

Today was a big day for Snuffy. She always goes out with us to Petco and Agway. She always rides with us when we go shopping but today she went with us to the Jaffery and the Rindge Memorial Day Parades. She did great. She made lots of friends and everyone loved her. The weather was nice and that helped but we did have the water, ice, drool rags, poop bags and treats ready for her when required.  Snuffy was even invited to a Newfie play date. One nice lady has a 10 year old Newfie and she lives at the school with 100 acres and they have huge fields, pond and streams. Sounds like fun for next weekend.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

May 25, 2008

All of our pictures are from today. There’s a good reason for that. Zoë and Melanie caught the West Cummington Yuck and were in bed for a lot of the week. They were getting bored and unhappy yesterday and decided that today they would take Gracie to the Newfie pool with a select two dogs. They would BE HAPPY or die trying!

Soooo. . .

The weather was perfect. All the dogs had been on the walk/run or had gone for a walk. Melanie had the battery for the camera charged.

Our Newfie pool is one of the main reasons we bought the house. The East Branch of the Westfield River goes right behind the house and takes a ninety degree turn over a huge rock ledge and catches to pool in a little area just perfect for little (and big) Newfoundlands. The river travels from there under the bridge to the swimming hole. It’s beguiling beautiful.

We have to go into the play yard, through a gate, and down stone worked steps.

We also had to get Gracie in the water because two of her litter mates have already been!

Gracie thinking about all of this.

She figured that she would follow Franklin around.
Franklin is waiting for us to throw dog treats in the water for him to find.

We had to call Gracie from this part of the river. She was following Patsy who likes the river better than the pool. It’s a bit fast for a pup.

Franklin in the curve of the rock ledge.

Grace watching. She was very serious about all of this.

Tasting.

Getting wetter.

Here’s Zoë with Gracie following behind.

River Bear Amazing Grace.
She likes getting dog treats out of the water.

Here’s Patsy luring Grace into the fast water.
Luckily, Grace is food motivated, and comes when called.

Franklin (Gracie’s half brother), Patsy (about to shake) and Grace.

She got very brave.

We then switched out Franklin and Patsy for Mac and Bess.

Here they are waiting at the top of the gate.

Mac (Gracie’s Dad) just before he shakes.

Grace watching everything.

Mac in the Newfie pool.
Now there is a notch in the rock ledge just above Mac. If the water level reaches there, the river is perfect for tubing. The best area is right at our house. We have great waves at the turn and down under the bridge. We used to go much further up the river and come down.
That’s going to be impossible because a huge tree has come down completely covering the river.

Now we pause for a minute in our story. You see, the other dogs are upset that they are not down in the Newfie pool. In fact, we were going to end our outing with Mac and Bess.

Hmmm. . .

The winter took a lot out of our fences. So we now have a gate that we used for the first time since last fall. The gate is not fitting as well as it should, so when Zoë thought she locked it, it wasn’t. It was stuck, but with the force of six upset Newfoundlands, it came open.

Now there was another fence. You saw that one with Mac and Bess waiting to come down. Did you know that with six Newfoundlands worrying a gate that one of them is bound to lift the latch? Melanie bets it was Ros.

So all of them came down.

Here’s three just as pleased as punch and paying absolutely no attention to us.

Here are more. Not sure how many are in there; seems to be some extra tails.

At this point Melanie put down the camera. She noticed that Franklin and Mac were down together. Mac found this very interesting. So we left the ladies for a bit, got Franklin and Mac and Ros in the play yard. Zoë said there was only one growl, she told them off. Rose was escaping with Mattie down river.

By the time we got the boys settled (Mac in kennel, Franklin tied to fence) Melanie was able to get two more dogs (Patsy and someone) up to the gate, Patsy went through, but the other came back.

She then got all the females to leave the swimming hole, (remember that’s under the bridge) when Mattie went across the river and Rose went with her. Gracie thought this was too much and went up into the play yard. Bess went up. Ellie wanted treats and so stood in the river looking at Melanie. Finally remembering that she needed to tell Rose to get Mattie, Melanie got both Mattie and Rose’s attention and they swam across and got treats. They are all sound asleep from the excitement.

Jeeze.

Melanie has a friend in AZ who sent her a youtube link. It’s about a cat fighting a crawfish. What is really great, is that while you are watching it, you realize there is a dog watching. Then you realize it’s a Newfoundland! Thanks Paul! Press here to link.

News from the litters:

Patsy and Mac’s Miss Turquoise has a name! River Bear Rowen (CO).

I wanted to let you know that Miss T finally has a name-- Rowen (tree in Gaelic)! She is doing really well- and we are learning a few things... the crate and the baby gates that we got in preparation for the giant puppy are now in storage- we have found that she is really well behaved in the house and in the yard, and loves to be a part of the action! We took her rafting for the first time last week and she loved it- she is very quickly becoming a great mountain dog!
Hope all is well there-

Patsy and Mac’s River Bear Zoë (MA) went to Maine!

omg!! she is wonderful!!! thank you so much for bringing this joy into our life!! we had her in Maine for 6 days coming home today, and she swam for the first time!! it was great!!! to see her with my 2 other newfies together wa so funny.. big, bigger, biggest!!! hahahaha!! she is doing wonderful... the kids love her and she lovers the kids!!

Warning! Ticks are out! They can be dangerous to dogs and humans. They can cause auto immune problems. One of our extended troops has gotten ill. Everyone be careful.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

May 18, 2008

Hello out there from a one puppy house! River Bear Amazing Grace is finding her way into our hearts. She loves being the only puppy, though she does miss her litter mates.

She has a pen in the family room to which she retires in the evening. After a few nights of barking a bit, she’s calmed down and seems to enjoy it. Patsy (her mother) sleeps right next to the pen. This way it’s a short way to the outside for that early morning pee stop. It also protects her from electrical cords, and overactive Rosies.

Here’s Gracie going outside.

We’ll be training her to use the dog door soon.

She’s helping with the laundry now.

It’s been a long week here. Closing doors, opening gates, keeping ladies in season separate, keeping lucky guys separate from the wrong ladies.

Yes, that’s our way of saying we’ve bred both Mattie and Ros. So in five or six weeks we’ll know if we have pregnant Newfoundlands. We are keeping tabs on both of them. No meeting with Porcupines with this crew!

Patsy, on the other hand, went in to get spayed. If you read about her C-section, you know that there was a hematoma. It would have been very dangerous to breed her again.

The operation is more difficult when they are older and have had puppies. She lost a lot of blood, and had to be kept under much longer than with a C-section. She came home and started throwing up all the water she had in her stomach. She then busted a stitch. Melanie had to wake up Zoë and they worked on Patsy’s tummy together. In the closet they found something called Urgent QR. None of us remember buying it, but we poured the powder on, the bleeding stopped and we put a butterfly bandage on it. She’s fine.

Later that evening, Melanie had shut up Mattie, Mac, Rose, Patsy and Gracie in the family room. She latched the swinging door between it and the dog room and then brought Franklin in from kennels to go outside. No problems. Then she put Franklin back in the kennels and got Ros. Ros went out and peed, came back in, went over to the door and opened the latch with NO problem.

In came Rose, Gracie and Mac. NOW there are problems. Ros is still in heat. Mac is her brother. Melanie grabs Mac’s collar, throws treats outside for Grace and Rose, slams the outside door and then the dog door. Mac is pulling for Ros and thinks he’s winning because Melanie goes in that direction and then throws treats down in the kennel area for Ros. She goes after them, but stops halfway through the door. Which Mac thinks is just fine. Melanie throws more treats further in, Ros follows the trail of treats, Melanie slams that door shut and then puts Mac outside. Her arm was at least an inch longer.

Such is life at our house. We didn’t have to worry about Mac going for the treats. He hadn’t eaten for 2 weeks. He doesn’t eat when the ladies are in heat.

He has a healthy appetite now.

Dan found a pair of underwear in the play yard right next to the fence. Since the weather has been great we’ve had a lot of cyclists coming by. Our house must have an interesting reputation.

When Melanie walks Patsy, she uses a long lead attached to her belt. This way it doesn’t aggravate her arthritis. Since Patsy is recovering, she had the great idea of attaching Grace to Patsy collar and then walking both of them with a little bit of training.

It sort of worked!

Here’s Patsy. Hmm. Where’s Gracie?
Well, Patsy’s leash is red and Gracie’s leash is black.
Gracie is under Melanie’s feet.

Here Gracie has got her mother tied up.

Patsy is not pleased.

Now she has her mom tied up and Patsy has her tied up.

They did get undone and took time to smell the flowers.
They also both sat on cue and then stayed.
Melanie didn’t take a picture of that.
She’d bring the camera up and Grace would move.

Love this picture.

They got it together.
It’s just that Gracie wants to walk her mom.

Luckily Patsy will put up with most everything.

Then there is Mattie.
Dan found her on a chair this morning.

What was she doing?

Watching TV.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Sophie (aka, Miss Orange latest batch, MA) is doing well.

Things are going well with Sophie. I think she is adjusting to her new life with us. The first night was little rough for her, missing her Mom, litter mates and then being in a crate.   She is adjusting nicely with the crate, last night she actually went in it without a sound, in the middle of the night she cries and then we bring her outside to do her business. We are keeping our fingers crossed, no accidents so far in the house.

Her new playmate Ozzy is coming around more and more each day. He is fine with her as long as she does not go near his food or think she is getting on the bed with him. I have attached a picture of Sophie leading Ozzy up our road by his leash in her mouth when we took her for a short walk. She keeps us smiling all the time with the things that she does. There are no more dull moments...

Sophie is a cutie pie!

Miss Turquoise is still searching for her name, but we did hear from her owners.

I wanted to email to let you know that the puppy is doing really well- and we love her so much! She has either gone to work with Eric or has gone out in the field with me every day and is so well behaved. She and Indi are playing really well together (they get very wild at times) and she is really sweet to our older dog, Reba. We are amazed at how much she already likes water- she loves wading in the river and we got her a kiddie swimming pool that she loves.

Thank you guys so much for her- she is such a sweet, affectionate puppy and is fitting in so well with our family. She is also very beautiful- people stop us everywhere to see her! I know I am biased, but she is a great looking newf!

Another of the last batch and now living in CO.
We don’t ship, they came and got her.

River Bear Oscar (Bess pup, NY) and River Bear Zoë (Patsy pup, NY) owners wrote in.

We are all doing well. The past two weekends have been very exciting for
Oscar and Zoe. May 4th, they went to Bear Mt. Park for the American
Cancer Dog Walk. There were a lot of different kinds of dogs and Oscar
and Zoe went swimming in the pond. On May 10th we all went to our Bear
Mt. Newfoundland Club Fun Match. There were a bunch of Newfs there; all
different ages from puppies up. They went swimming again. For both
events they were so well behaved. They are the biggest Newfs anywhere we
go and they are not overweight either, they are just so big. You breed
amazing dogs. Oscar and Zoe are the most beautiful dogs, everyone tells
us so (it sounds smug but it's the truth). People are so surprised to
hear that Zoe is a girl (as if they can't tell by her beauty) because
she is so big. Oscar and Zoe recently went to the vet for their Lyme
shot and were weighed. Oscar is 168 lbs and Zoe is 172. This weekend on
Saturday they are getting groomed. I swear they have more of a social
life than Dave and I.

River Bear Isabelle (Belle, Miss White from the last batch)

Wanted to send you some pictures of Isabelle so you can see how well she is doing in her new home. She had a busy first week of visiting the Vet, starting kindergarten and meeting all the family and neighbors. She is a little shy at first with new people and dogs but she quickly warms up to the attention and new people/dogs to play with. She is a huge hit with all the kids near us and they have been coming over to see Isabelle anytime they see us outside. She is learning pretty quickly though always helps when she knows there is a treat waiting. She loves chasing her tail and holding on to it while running in circles and there is nothing better than going after your bare feet- ouch!! As predicted- she loves the water and helps us water the gardens and yard whenever she can. She has already tried to get into the hot tub too- luckily she is too short still to quite make it. Will be interesting when she gets bigger. I know she is going to love going to the lake this summer and enjoy the boat.

We are having so much fun with her already even if we are a bit tired from those early early morning walks. Thanks again for raising such a great puppy. We’ll keep you posted.

Guess who likes the hose.

She also like to carry her bowl around.
Never know when you’re going to need it!

That’s all for this week.
Take care.

May 12, 2008

We’ve given Rose a job!

Yes, that’s our wonderful Rose walking with a backpack on.
She’s carrying her own treats.

Why does Rose need a job?

We’ll tell you after pictures of the pups.

Here they are just before almost all of them left.

They found out that the tarp makes great sounds when you pull it around the room.

They helped Zoë groom Bess.
In fact, the pups walked around all day with bits of dog hair coming out of their mouths.

Then they found a broom that used to be a Christmas decoration.
Stress the “used to be”.

They came running in from the shed, with one in the lead carrying the broom, and the others hot on her tail!
By the time Melanie got the camera, the broom was no more.

Then they were gone.
Patsy knew what was going on, still does. She keeps a very watchful eye on Gracie and Mr. Blue. We haven’t told her that Mr. Blue is leaving on Wednesday.

Since we only have two pups left, we have let them use the entire house.

Hmmm. Maybe we shouldn’t put that picture in until Mr. Blue’s owners have picked him up.

He’s actually very well behaved.

It was warm enough (not today) to fill the puppy pool up and let them in it. Mr. Blue thought it was interesting, but let Gracie get wet.

Notice how NOT wet Mr. Blue is.

So why does Rosie have a job?

WELL, Ros and Mattie have decided to come into heat. Yup, it’s the season to be in season once again. Luckily, they waited until most of the pups left, because we’ve had to open the No-Tell Hotel once again.

This means Rose has to not only take care of the remaining two pups, she figures she has to help explain things to the ladies and males, who don’t really appreciate any help whatsoever.

She is also helping clean the toilets (you don’t want to know) and when out for the walk/run in the woods has to keep track of everyone. So she now walks with a backpack. It helps calm her down and focused.

Here’s a Patsy story: Melanie finished her lunch and let Patsy lick the plate. She then put the plate back on the table and started cleaning the kitchen. She went to look for the plate. It was not to be found. Now, unfortunately, that is not too unusual for this household. Ellie, Patsy’s mom, likes to pick up pans and takes them in the corner, away from the other dogs, to lick. Melanie started looking in corners. No plate. She said, “If anyone sees a plate, I’m missing a dirty one.” Zoë mentioned she was using it for her lunch. Melanie said, “Well, good thing you’re used to Patsy’s drool, because she cleaned it.” Zoë said that she really didn’t need to know that. Too late.

The boys are so in love. One evening Mattie had been in the dog room sitting on the grooming table until Melanie moved her into the family room, so she could get the boys out of their kennels before they went to bed. She got Franklin first, and he found the table. WELL. That table has never been so smelled before. Then he got on the table and wouldn’t get off. Melanie figured he was waiting for her to come back.

Because there are only two pups now, we got them down to the play yard. It’s difficult to pick up and carry seven pups that weight 20 lbs each up and down the steps.

THE BIG YARD

Gracie thinking about the steps.
That’s all they did, think about the steps.
We had to carry them.

Adorable.

Melanie watched them play soccer and then tested the electric fence by accident. She says it’s working.

Puppy Tails.

Just before Gracie attacked Mr. Blue.

Rose is still a puppy.
But she is taking her older sibling responsibilities seriously. Here she is teaching.

Gracie and Rose have a special relationship.
When Rose gets too much for Mr. Blue, he leaves.
Gracie doesn’t.

Melanie heard Rose playing a bit too rough with Grace and went out to explain to Rose enough was enough.

It was not necessary.

Grace had picked her ground.
The step to the kitchen door.

As Melanie came up, Rosie was darting towards Gracie, who hauled off and hit her right on her nose.
The look on Rosie’s face was priceless.

Grace then turned and went between Melanie’s feet and sat and looked at Rose.

Yup, that one is really going to puppy kindergarten.
Grace is loving to all the other dogs.
She just isn’t going to take any nonsense.

Rose teaching landscaping.
That’s part of the Christmas tree that just got uncovered.

Hope the bushes, that are alive, last the summer.

Melanie promises the log will be back weekly starting now, she just needed a rest.

We do have some news from the litters and will put them up next week.

That’s all for now,
Take care.

April 27, 2008

(Not sure what happened. This was put up two days ago and then just disappeared. So here we go again!)

HERO
DOGS!
At least they think they are and we are very proud of them.

River Bear Newfoundlands’ Dog Pack saved the neighborhood. The pups were asleep, the adult dogs were watching Melanie eating lunch. Very serious. All of a sudden, the radio had a burst of static, then it was fine. The dogs looked at the radio, looked at Melanie’s soup and then kept watching Melanie’s soup. About two minutes later, they all start rushing outside and barking, and coming in and barking, and going outside and barking and coming in and barking. Melanie looked out the windows. Nothing. Thinking that this might a ruse to finish her soup she went back to the table. But the dogs were not interested. Mattie had sent out a call and they were answering. So Melanie went outside.
Mattie and the other dogs were barking from our fence looking down the street where there was a column of smoke coming up right next to an electrical pole. Her neighbor across the street came out of her house saying she had called the electric company. Melanie asked if she had called 911. Well, she hadn’t because she saw the surge hit the pole, but had gone in to call and didn’t realize the sparks had lit the brush on fire. Our neighbor called 911.
It’s very dry right now. There had been a 200 acre fire two towns over a few days earlier. The fire department arrived in goodly time and put out the fire. The dogs got to bark at the fire trucks, the electrical trucks and the next day the phone trucks. They had a good time. We, of course, lost our phone! It’s now back.

We had to take our decorative fence in front down. The snow killed it. It was some kind of really good wood, but we don’t think all of it was. The dogs got to bark at the front end loader that was pulling up the posts. Then yesterday they got to bark at our neighbor (with the runaway horses) as he moved more pea stones into our stockade. Melanie thinks that we should just face facts, they are pee stones.

Dan and Zoë’s son and grandson, Daniel and Brendan were down from Maine for part of the week. Hope they send us some pictures of Brendan and the pups. Hint. They raked and fixed our mailbox. The mailbox had gotten plowed. Thanks!

So let’s get to pictures. First is a picture of Ros’s rear end.

Umm. Morning walk/runs have started again.
They sure love the woods.
The woods love to get attached to them.

Rose turns out to be a delight with the puppies.
She loves them and they just follow her everywhere.
In fact, Franklin will now play with the pups, they have now stopped trying to nurse.
Patsy’s enjoying play time too.
This morning Melanie was working at the computer when a pup hightailed it into the living room and hid under the sofa. Patsy came running in, stuck her nose under the sofa and barked.
The pup started telling her off!

If you get on the floor you are fair game.

This is actually from a week ago. It was on a different camera so didn’t get in the log. Two things here.
Notice the bungee cord holding down the handle for the pellet stove. Yes, it’s needed.
Also, from this picture to this week’s, you will notice the pups have grown legs!

Here’s Miss Purple with a stick.

Pups in motion.
They’ve gotten much better at running.

And fighting.

They are very brave now.
They will go exploring.
The left over pea stone pile is fascinating.

They like to travel in a pack.

But a tail can be just too tempting to bite.

Which can start a five pup wresting match.

Fierce Creatures!

Who Us?

This next part if hilarious. In fact, you won’t see the best part because Melanie was laughing so hard she couldn’t use the camera.

It’s like those commercials:

Ball: $2.99
Give a ball to puppies: Priceless

Mr. Blue starts.

Miss Purple thinks that’s pretty cool.

Whoops, not as easy as it looks.

They start over.

The chase is on!

What you didn’t see, because Melanie lost it, laughing, was the pups chased the ball right to the fence, where they bounced off the ball, getting thrown back. Here they are trying to figure out what happened.

And being Newfoundlands,

they decide to eat the grass on the other side of the fence!

We gave a ball to Mattie. She loves balls. She tamed it and rode on it and was teaching Rose to love it. Rose loved it too much and popped it. Rose then carried the limp plastic ball around in the house for some time.

Remember when we put up Andrea’s (Rob’s Significant Other) picture of Patsy and Rose? Well, the painting won the Community Favorite Award!

We didn’t know the painting was that big!

Congratulations!

Here’s a link to her site:

Andrea

News From the Litters:

River Bear Carl (Franklin and Ros pup, ME) is now helping with the Spring Cleaning.

Have you ever tried to rake with any of your dogs around? I swear, Carl thinks he's a cat- every pile i create, he has to lie in. (not unlike when one spreads out the newspaper to read, only to have the cat come and curl up right smack in the center of it.) The big black child is doing great, and we love him to death.

River Bear Snuffleupagus (Mac and Mattie pup, NH) is learning to pose for the camera.

I have just figured out taking pictures outside works much better than inside for this dog. Anyway you can see we spare no expense to buy our dog only the best dog toys available.

Last of all, but not least, we have a Therapy Dog in the litters!!!

Congratulations River Bear Sullivan!
(Mac and Patsy pup, MA)
This is not an easy thing for an adult dog, much less a Newfoundland puppy.

I just wanted to let you know of Sullivan’s first accomplishment. At 1 year old he passed the Pet Therapy Evaluation. I am so very proud of him. And he had more obstacles than usual. We were at the hospital all day in 80 degree temperatures in the classroom. He was tested at the end of the day and he was so tired and he was without his pack (that’s a big thing for Sullivan).   But he did a great job.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

April 17, 2008

Decide that we weren’t ever going to write again?? Well, here we are with lots and lots of pictures.

First, the washing machine has broken again. We are getting a new one.

Then we had a time with Dan. He went in for a routine “procedure,” had trouble with his heart again. It went a-flutter and back in the hospital he went. Zap! And he’s doing fine.

Zoë and Melanie are exhausted from driving from thirty miles from nowhere (that part we like) down both sides of the mountain to get things done and dogs were they should be. Instantaneous travel would be good and save a bunch of gas. Should get those scientists working on that. It’s been in fiction for years.

So that aside, the pups are wonderful. They went in for their well pup checks and everyone was fine. Of course, Melanie took pics of their first exam.

Waiting for the vet.

It’s scary on your own, better to huddle in a pack.

Dr. Constant
Best vet ever!
He did the C-section and delivered these pups.

Cute?

Everything gets checked.
From tip . . .

to stern.

All of them were very patient and easy going.

But they did get bored waiting and the plastic on the trash can was fun.

We think this one is Miss White.
Dr. Constant says she was submissive like Mattie is.
Hmm, first she’s not related to Mattie.
Second, Mattie is really sweet, but submissive isn’t what comes to our minds.

Actually what Mattie would really like is a Widow’s Walk on the house.
She could then keep an easier eye on the neighborhood and relate all happenings to the dogs sleeping in the house.

Dr. Constant has very good techs.
They are great with the pups and though you only see one here . . .
Everyone in the office wants to volunteer to bring pups to and from the van.

Patsy brought her pups a peanut butter jar.
Their heads don’t get stuck in them anymore.
They’re too big.

The last pictures are of the pups first field trip to the Puppy Yard.
Yes, we have grass!

But first a story,

Rose is trying to be good. It’s hard. The other day Melanie noticed she had an interesting hairdo. Spikes.

Turns out she discovered the shampoo.
She didn’t eat it, but we now need more.

Miss Orange considering her options.

Oh, yeah, Melanie thought she’d remember which pups were which while she took their pictures.

But being tired,
her short term memory is not in existence.

We have to pick them up to get them out.

Dead grass is cool.

Sticks are better.

Mr. Multi (or Miss White)

They have the whole puppy yard to play, so what do they like to do?

Play under the stair.

Starting to pile in.

There are seven pups in this picture!

It’s hot work being a puppy!

That’s all this week.
Take care.

April 7, 2008

What a week! Sorry the log is late, we’ve had trips to vets, trips to town and Melanie found a treadmill on Freecycle that took awhile to set up to get.

The treadmill is for the dogs. . . Literally! But we’re not putting anyone on it until we talk to Rob (artist grandson) who trained his dog to the treadmill. There are days of weather and bad health when we can’t get the dogs out and they need exercise!

We have to wait to talk to Rob, because Saturday a large logging truck took out our phone line. Just ours. Dan spent a great deal of time over at the neighbors trying to find someone to come fix it. The machine at the phone department finally told him “Yes, this is not your fault. We will fix it on Tuesday.” Now the reason the machine told him that is that no one comes in at the phone company on the weekends because everyone in the world has a cell phone.

It’s true we have a cell phone. To use it we have to drive 10 to 15 miles in either direction.

Life in the country.

Speaking of life in the Western Hills of Massachusetts, Friday we had snow again. Melanie got a kick of the view from the second story of the history of eight dogs in the snow.

The backyard gets busy!

The puppies are 6 weeks today!
Think they are bigger?

Melanie thinks that Patsy looks like she has a very full skirt.

For you Star Wars fans . .

The pups have passed into their
Ewok stage!

Adorable.

Lots of things to chew and explore.

Patsy left them part of a bone.

The next three pictures remind of us of the story about the blind men discovering an elephant.

Dan had the vacuum out to clean the pellet stove.

They have made contact with Ros!

Ros would love to come in and play. So would Rose.
Rose is actually much nicer to puppies.
Ros considers the other ladies’ pups to be soccer balls.
She’s very good and gentle with her own.

It’s time to play with toys.

The best toy is the newspaper that is put down for OTHER purposes.
Zoë hears it rip in the middle of the night.
Also they wake up around 1 am and entertain her to no end.
Mr. Multi likes to get up in the bed and sleep with her.
(But don’t tell any of the new owners.)

We always get complements on our photos so Melanie thought she’d share one of her secrets again.

Take lots and lots of photos and then never show the ones that are like the next two.

Not even sure what this is besides the puppy rug and Mr. Blue’s collar.

This is a great picture of the inside of someone’s ear.

Okay, Melanie is keeping a Patsy pup!
She has chosen Miss Red.

Meet River Bear Amazing Grace
Gracie for short!

Zoë was cursing Melanie as she was trying to pass through the living room and the only puppy misbehaving by holding onto the hem of her robe and being dragged was . .

You guessed it!

Gracie!

Don’t know what it is about Miss Red, but almost every female we’ve kept has been Miss Red in the litter.

There is news from the litters but we’ll get to it next week.

Time for a nap!

We now come into the living room and not a pup to be seen.
They are all behind the sofa.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

March 29, 2008

We promise we won’t talk about the five inches of new snow that fell, instead we have a
plethora of puppy pics!
Yes, the pups are now 4 1/2 weeks old and they are just so wonderful. We are spending a great deal of time “socializing” the pups. It’s so nice to have an excuse to play with them for hours.

They love to get under things.
Here’s Miss Orange asleep under a stool.

The whelping box is getting smaller and smaller.
They aren’t in their whelping box unless we are trying to clean and don’t want help, or at night.

They can squirm over this door now, so the two level door has been put in.

Look at that Patsy grinning.
She loves feeding them in the middle of the living room.
There’s now room to spread out. She needs it when all seven are nursing.

Could only fit five pups nursing in this picture.

Play time is getting longer.
Naps are getting shorter.
We had to puppy proof the room.
Cords out of the way and such. That didn’t stop Miss Red from finding Miss Orange’s yarn and chewing.

We think this is Miss Orange playing with the tennis ball.

Dan said he was going in for a nap.
We found him playing with puppies instead.

This is NOT Patsy with the puppy Mr. Blue (on left, on Mac’s tail).
This is Mac, the pups’ dad!
He’s been puppy sitting. He really likes them, unlike Franklin, their half-brother who dances away from them.

We don’t know what it is about Mac’s tail but here’s another pup.

Not sure which puppy this is.

Miss Red after getting washed by mom.

Getting hugged by a big mom!

Other things happened this week, but hey, we didn’t write them down! So here’s a couple more pics of pups and then some news from the litters.

Miss Purple asleep on someone’s head.

Miss Turquoise and Miss Purple.
Can you tell that Miss Turquoise is our smallest pup?

News from the Litters:

River Bear Roger and River Bear Merlin’s owners sent pictures. (Roger and Merlin are both Patsy pups and Merlin is also a Mac pup, NY)

I would love to be on puppy watch!! That's great that you are keeping one of the girls. Someone for Rose to cause trouble with...LOL I agree w/keeping one w/Patsy's head. She is such a beautiful dog. Roger has her head. In fact that looks like Roger nursing puppies in your latest log...LOL I still think Merlin looks like his dad, but every now and then I see Patsy. . .I had bought the futon, Roger is on in the pics, for my daughter's but gave it to the dog's instead. I keep it open so there is room for both of them. I closed it to vacuum, and Roger climbed up on it and looked too sweet. That's when I snapped those picture's.

Roger

Merlin

River Bear Sullivan’s (Patsy, Mac pup, MA) owner sent in a picture. She does water training with her dogs. We hope to get out there this summer.

These pictures are of Sullivan. I had to show these to you in case you were wondering if he has a rough life. He wanted the golden to get off of the couch so he could have the whole thing. He won!

What is it about Newfoundlands and sofas?

River Bear Snuffleupagus’s (Mac and Mattie pup, NH) sent in a picture.

You can not get a good picture of this dog. She either moves or looks like a big black blob. Nothing calms the beast like having her tummy rubbed.

Don’t know about ‘not a good picture’ Snuffy looks great to us!

That’s all this week.
Take care.

March 22, 2008

Happy Spring!

Melanie wanted to share our Spring with you.

See to the left of the tree trunk?
There’s a little bit of dirt and grass.
That’s it so far folks!

Luckily, it’s much warmer in the house.

Patsy is keeping her pups warm.
They are now 3 1/2 weeks old.
Bit bigger, aren’t they?

In the last week they have gone from,
“unclear on the concept of eating” (though enthusiastic) to

“What do you mean, I have to share the plate?”
That’s Miss Turquoise in the middle of the plate.

That’s Mr. Multi getting washed. When Patsy washes everyone gets wet. Ask Dan and Zoë, when in the middle of the night, Patsy gets up on the pull out and decides to wash them up. Usually after she cleans out the whelping box.
The pups still love their mom’s milk. Either when she’s down or doing a clean up of their plates.

That’s Patsy standing up. The pups can now reach her when she’s standing. Instead of a drive thru restaurant, she’s a walking restaurant.

They can now smell when she is near and will wake up.
That doesn’t mean she’s willing to feed them at that point.

Here she is in front of the whelping box. They were sound asleep. After they wake up, she looks in and then leaves. We swear with a smile on her face!
We’re not worried.
They are butter balls.

They are beginning to explore.
Here’s Miss Red under the computer chair.
They all love the computer chair.
Strange.

Mr. Blue relaxing with a lamb.
He’s doing great by the way.
Our vet is very pleased with his progress.

Since it’s over three weeks, the pups are beginning to do slow fighting.

That’s Miss White on top taking a nibble out of Miss Turquoise.

So what else is going on at River Bear? Well, it’s hard to remember. Melanie went down to the Working Dog Show and saw friends and lots and lots of pretty Newfoundlands. That was fun.

The wind has been up (very) and the dogs think that the 50 mph gusts were plows going by, so they’ve been protecting the house from the wind.

We’re not the only ones who get loose pets. Dan was looking out the window and in our "across the road" neighbor’s yard were three of the horses from down the street. They were having a great time exploring. Dan went down and got their owner and drove her to the horses, who had gone into West Cummington proper (1/2 mile) she asked him to stop and said they would come right up to her when she rattled their treat can.

It’s nice to know that our dogs aren’t the only pets in the area who do exactly as they please.

The dogs noticed the horses as they came back from the other end of town at a gallop. They had a great time barking.

By the time our neighbors got back to their house, the horses were in the pen asking what took them so long.

We’re reorganizing the kitchen!! Umm. We just don’t have the brain power to outwit Rose anymore. We’re taking one of our closets in the dog room and changing it into a pantry. It’s already dog proof and rat proof (that’s another story) with a lock! Rose can’t reach the lock. We hope.

Zoë had cooked up an entire chicken and was making stock for the dogs’ food.

Rose really enjoyed it.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

March 14, 2008

Another exciting week at River Bear!

If you count the pups, you can see there are only six.
That’s because Mr. Blue had to go to the hospital for two days because of aspiration pneumonia.

That means he sucked in milk to his lungs. Not good.
The docs at the hospital were great.
When Melanie and Dan left, Mr. Blue was in a plastic see-thru WalMart storage box, with oxygen and heat.

He’s home now.
We’re hoping for an uneventful upcoming week.

Here he is sleeping with his brother.
Doesn’t that look
relaxing?

Patsy was glad to see him. He was very well washed when he came home.

Here’s a close up of Miss Purple.
Yes, all their eyes are open.

Oh, yes, the bunny is back in the box.
This does not mean as much to Patsy as it did to Mattie.
Patsy says she has enough to do with seven pups.

We started them with eating this morning.
This is called “unclear on the concept.”
They enjoyed it, but kept going backwards away from the food, and then couldn’t understand what was going wrong.

Miss Orange caught on.

Miss Turquoise explaining to Miss White that it’s just best to go for it!
Miss Turquoise is our smallest pup.
But she made 3 pounds this morning.
Two and a half weeks old!

Hey it was Dan’s
79th Birthday
yesterday!

This came in our email, it’s so nice to have artists in the family.

Andrea did a great painting of Patsy and Rose.
Here’s more of her work.
Andrea Gianchiglia

Hmmm. We’re pretty tired. All three of the humans have a story of being tired. Melanie is on in the evening, Zoë takes over for the night and Dan comes in about 4 am.

Dan decided to have oatmeal for breakfast the other morning. We are trying to be very careful of Rose’s propensity for stealing everything. In fact, this morning we were thinking of putting all the toys on the counters and closets and leaving everything we don’t want her to get on the floor.

So Dan was fixing breakfast, and put everything away. The butter, the milk, the sugar, in fact the only thing he didn’t put away was the container of oatmeal. Who would want a container of dried up oatmeal flakes. Well guess who did?

There were heaps of oatmeal all over the kitchen floor. We’re still finding oatmeal.

But really that wasn’t anything compared to Zoë’s slip of the brain. She and Dan were taking a nap upstairs and she got up to feed the dogs. We have a hook latch on the outside of their door because the dogs have figured out how to open the latch. Without thinking she locked it.

When Dan woke up, he couldn’t get out of the bedroom and had to call down through the register until she hear him.

Of course, that still doesn’t beat Melanie's slip. She was taking Patsy to the vet’s to get her stitches out and stopped by the bank. They have one of those vacuum things for their drive throughs and Melanie put in the check, told them what she wanted and then stopped thinking about the bank. She was thinking about how long it would take to get Patsy to the vet and back again and would the pups be okay if they didn’t eat on time. So the canister came back and she took stuff out of it.

She was almost to Route 90 when Zoë called and said that the bank had called and wanted their canister back. Melanie looked down on the floor and there sat the canister. Does this make Melanie a bank robber?

Here’s a couple of more pictures of pups asleep.

Wish we slept this well.

That’s all this week,
Take care.

March 8, 2008

Patsy and pups are doing great!

They are doing their jobs: eating, peeing, pooping and sleeping.
No personalities yet.

We are doing supplemental feeding with Miss Turquoise and Mr. Multi. They enjoy it.

They do a great fur ball.

They fall asleep anywhere and against anything.

Miss Purple after being washed by her mother.

After Patsy is finished feeding,
the pups swarm.

Miss Green was still trying to lick her mom.

So most of our days and nights are spent taking care of pups, feeding Patsy (right now the best treat is nonalcoholic beer poured over corn bread) and trying to catch up on our sleep with naps.

People have sent pictures for News for the Litters, which we will put up when we catch our breaths.

Oh, Rose is bored. She got another peanut butter jar. The top was shut, but she got it open and almost the whole thing. That night was interesting. She got sick several times (Melanie has sworn off anything with peanut sauce on it) and then decided to spend the night barking at the river.

The river is high right now. This week has been rain, which is great, we can almost see the top of the fence out front, but it really fills the river out back and it is loud.

At midnight, Rose got put in Melanie’s room with the door shut. She was very good, but she’s not the most calm room mate. She likes to check to see if you’re okay, so Melanie’s face and hands were well licked.

Luckily the rain is bringing down the snow drifts, because Rose and Mac figured out they could climb part of the back fence. The first we knew of it was our across the street neighbor calling saying we had two dogs over at his house.

Mac and Rose thought it was great that we came outside and got them. Dan then shoveled the area they got loose.

Here is the escape path. The yellow bar is actually higher than the fence.

Well, that’s all this week.
We’re hoping for an upcoming calm week (we are expecting snow tonight)
Take Care.

March 1, 2008

PUPPIES!

Well, folks, it’s been a very long week. To skip to the end (we’ll get to the beginning and middle in a minute) we have seven pups (two boys and five girls) that are vigorously nursing on their mom. Patsy is doing well.

The pups were born on Monday with a c-section. Yes, they were due on Thursday, but between Patsy and the weather . . .

Patsy started in the first stages of labor on Saturday night. This is heavy duty panting for hours on end in the middle of the night on top of Melanie’s bed, preferably on top of Melanie. Oh, yeah, the light has to be on.

Melanie in hopes of getting a bit more sleep took Patsy out to pee on Friday night. Patsy decided to go on a pee strike.

Melanie can be very stubborn (just ask her children) and decided that Patsy was going to pee. At ten pm Melanie put this very pregnant dog on a leash and went out to walk her outside on the street.

In the middle of a snow storm.

It was very fluffy snow about ten inches by that time. One car had passed earlier and Melanie and Patsy were walking in one of the tire tracks.

Patsy seemed to be enjoying herself, though she refused to pee. So Melanie kept walking.

It was a ways down the road when Patsy lay down in the middle of the road. Melanie freaked out.

What on earth was she doing with a pregnant dog, now lying down in the middle of the street, while a snow storm is raging. Pictures of rushing a pup wrapped in her coat to the house while dragging Patsy behind her streamed through her mind.

Luckily nothing that bad. Patsy’s feet hadn’t been clipped for awhile and had developed ice balls in-between the pads. Melanie had to clean out her paws four times before they were able to make it home.

After that Melanie decided anything Patsy wanted she could have.

Which worked until Monday. Patsy wasn’t looking right. She appeared to be going into labor earlier than she should but she didn’t have other signs of labor. It looked like it was going to be Tuesday night and Wednesday morning for pups. Right in the middle of another snow storm.

Talking it over with the vet we decided to do a c-section that day.

This is the miracle. If Patsy had gone into full labor, we would have lost her and all the puppies. She had a hematoma. We are still having nightmares.

We brought home nine puppies. We have lost two. One was fine and within 15 minutes was gone from us. The second we tried getting to the vet, but she died on the way.

The others are doing fine, but all prayers are appreciated.

More close ups next week, after we get some sleep.
We’ll be doing twenty four hour days for another two weeks.

We had another snow storm last night. At least when it snows, it’s warmer. Friday morning it was -10 degrees and that was after the sun had been up for a while.

You can just see the top of the car in between the two tree trunks.

Newfoundlands with snow.

Whoops, real Newfoundland with snow.

That’s Mac.

The snow is making Mattie’s hairdo cute.

That’s all this week.
Keep us in your prayers.
Take care.

February 22, 2008

Zoë and Melanie have decided that they don’t like February. Have never liked February and this year it’s a day longer. We hate to complain about the weather, but enough is enough. Again with the ice, rain, sleet and snow. Most of the time in the same day. Melanie took a trip down the mountain yesterday and she saw ground. REAL DIRT! Ha!

We haven’t seen anything but snow on the ground since the middle of November. It’s snowing today. Here’s a picture of Zoë taking Bess for a walk.

Amazing.

The day that it was in the 50’s and raining? Nothing melted. It was so slippery that when Melanie took Mac out for the Pee Parade at night, Mac couldn’t even walk. Melanie wouldn’t let him go back in until he peed (the boys were going in the kennels for the night) so he sat down and slid down the icy slope to the sheltered shed area and peed there.

Hmm. When Spring does come we are going to need to spray with clorox. Also by Easter we won’t be looking for hidden Easter Eggs. Melanie and Kathy Luce (Dingle Newfoundlands) were saying that the snow and ice is doing a great job covering up the poop. Can’t see it at all. Which means come Easter we’ll be finding plenty of hidden treasures. At least we only have eight dogs, she has seventeen.

Melanie grabbed some shots of Franklin and Rose playing outside in the snow.

That’s Rose in front. You can just see Franklin’s nose.

Ros never approves of this.

She stands on the sidelines barking.

That’s Franklin on the bottom, looking up at Ros.
You can just see him saying “Oh, come on, it’s just for fun.”

Considering what they get into in the house,
Ros needs to let them get all their energy out outside.

We have now learned that soup marrow bones that have nothing on them, that are all dried up and old, should not be left in the trash can on the desk.

Puppy Watch!

The puppy bon bons (shelled hard boiled eggs) are still making a hit.
Patsy did give us a scare. Her temperature went down which is the sort of heads up for impending labor.
BUT SHE WAS A WEEK EARLY!
No nesting, no labor.
We called our Vet, he said keep an eye on her.
We called Kathy and she told us when her temp goes down to 98 point something that is when we should gear up.
Patsy’s temperature had been 99.3.

She is sleeping in Melanie’s room with the door shut now.
We want to know when she’s going outside.
Melanie wraps her arm around her and can feel the puppies moving!

WOW

She is not fat but even lower to the ground.
We are taking very good care of her.

Patsy

Patsy’s tummy.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

February 15, 2008

Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!

Oh, yeah and maybe two more!

Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!

Remember when we said we were taking Patsy in for her x-ray?
Well, turns out we were a bit early.
Yup, we counted the days wrong.
She’s actually due February 28th!
Which means there wasn’t enough contrast on the x-ray for Melanie to take a picture of the pups.

Our wonderful vet counted eight, but the way the ones he saw are distributed, he thinks there’s one or two more.

We are taking good care of her. There is still a lot that can happen between now and the 28th when she’ll have a c-section.

By the way, we’ve found the perfect
Puppy bonbons for Patsy.
Shelled hard boiled eggs.

Rose is doing well with her training. If you long time readers remember she came along when Dan was very sick. Her training has been neglected.

PUPPY KINDERGARTEN IS A GOOD IDEA!

So as we were saying, her training is coming along well. She now comes when we call (mostly, when she doesn’t, we go get her), will sit and stay on command. This training has not changed her personality, though she is much more likely to share with the other dogs.

Take Thursday for instance. She decided to do some Spring cleaning. First, she found the charcoal bag. We haven’t used the charcoal for ages; it’s been tucked in a corner way out of the way. She pulled it out and invited everyone to play. They had a great time.

That’s half of the bag inside and half out side.

We left the charcoal outside, figured we could use it for traction.

Yes, traction. We had 8 inches of snow, then ice, then rain. The rain had no where to go but down the middle of the street. The plows were working hard, but there was about 2 inches of ice and slush and then a inch of running water in the street.

So we needed the traction. To get out the back door to the stockade, Dan had to take the screen door apart and crawl through the hole.

To add to that fun, after the charcoal bag, Rose opened the cabinet door under the kitchen sink and pulled out the garbage can. Again she shared this with the pack. It was a big mess.

Zoë looked for the little camera to take a picture, but we can’t find it. There were more pictures from the week, but we think Rose might have decided to use it. Which means maybe in the Spring?

The next thing she decided to clean up was Zoë’s coat out of the closet.
We found that. Rose was looking for treats. She is a mechanically minded dog.

Here’s Bess in that new cut. She is cute. Unfortunately, our groomer is moving to FL.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Wendell (Mac and Ros’s brother, Bess son, MO) wrote us

I miss you all so I'm attaching a photo dad took yesterday while I was in a crazy mood!
All that ice we just got was driving me insane. I love crunching on it.
Wendell

That’s all this week.
Take care.

February 7, 2008

For the last two days, we had rain. Lots of rain. It poured rain. We had an ice dam in the river.

It changed to snow this morning. We’ve had around four inches. It’s beautiful, like confectionary sugar on cake.

It’s not making us too happy though. It’s supposed to do this all week.

Rain ... Snow ... Sleet

All of us have cabin fever. Including the dogs. Rose took to booze.

Franklin told her she was too young to drink and took it away.

Luckily it was empty.

So we threw the dogs outside.
Now what you need to know right now, is that Patsy doesn’t want to do anything but eat, sleep and eat.

She came outside because she knew Melanie had treats in her pocket.

On the other hand, Rose wants to play.
She’s about ready to entice Patsy to play.

She whams into Patsy who just looks at her.
Patsy is bottom heavy right now.
Rose whamming into her doesn’t even move her.

Then a plow goes by.

And Rose loses interest.

And Patsy continues to beg for food.
She is so hungry.

Bess looks on.

Mattie is also very hungry.
She still wants to be pregnant.
We figure she’s going to steal Patsy’s pups.

Rose is usually in motion.
Constantly.

If she is sleeping, she’s sleeping with something.
Like she got so tired it just fell out of her mouth.

Melanie has a favor to ask!

If you go to this web site:

Bissell Pet Contest

Please vote for Patsy!
You only have to vote once. She’s the only Patsy!
She’s the Newfoundland covered with snow.

Now the story behind this. Melanie had seen a documentary on Dyson and looked at their web site. They have some cool stuff. One being a pet vacuum cleaner. So she wrote to the Public Relations department of Dyson in England telling them that if they ever needed a test situation for their vacuum that River Bear Newfoundlands was the place! Can you believe they wrote back? They loved the web site, and said they really weren’t looking for a tester.

Melanie thinks they really let go of a great opportunity.

So someone told her about Bissell’s photo contest where the Grand Prize is a Bissell vacuum cleaner for pets. So, of course, she put a photo of Patsy in. The voting for this group of photos is this week!

Can’t you just see Patsy on the box for a vacuum cleaner??

Hope you’ll vote for her and Newfoundlands everywhere!

Dan had a nice phone call from another breeder in CO. He and his wife had been in Boston and someone had given them a copy of Dan’s book. They read it on the plane on the way home and just had to tell Dan how much they had enjoyed it.

Then we had an e-mail from Cape May, NJ from a couple who has three Newfoundlands and are showing the youngest.

I was looking at your web site and enjoyed it immensely. You can see the love and care you have for the breed. I live with my Newf's in Cape May, NJ.

Myself and my partner, along with our Newf's, Hannah, Abbey and Bella Rose have an old Victorian on 12 acres with sheep and horses.

Once again, thank you for sharing your Love for the Newfoundland and sharing it with the rest of us.

Here are his girls.

Melanie wants that in her backyard.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Isabelle (Mac and Mattie pup, MA) is giving life lessons to her new family.

Lessons from Isabelle
1. No matter what size bowl of water you give it will be used as a pool.
2. Regardless of how many you own , you do not own enough towels.
3. Every towel you do own is now a "dog towel"
4. Do not waste money on pricey puppy toys,the toilet bowel brush and kitchen broom are the best.
5. The whole "I am a big clumsy puppy" is all an act. I am a stealth missile when there is something I want (food, the cat)
6. I will try my best to just lick the cat and be gentle but eventually my excitement will overcome me and I will squish him(accidentally of course,then I'm confused when he's mad at me)
7. I am a skilled landscaper(drag the bushes around),and interior decorator(bring them into the house)like my Aunt Rose
8. I have a special look and kisses that make you want to quit your job,ignore your children and stay home with me, all day, every day.((seriously)

That’s all this week.
Take Care.

January 31, 2008

Patsy is
PREGNANT!

Isn’t that cool?
Okay, the ultra sound above is showing a puppy heart.
Patsy decided to move every time our vet tried to take a picture.
So the black valentine heart shape is a puppy heart.
The words are our vets.
He loves puppies.

She will have an x-ray on February 14th.
Appropriate in every way.
That will tell us about how many pups and when she will be due.

We’re happy here.

Here’s the happy mother.
No long runs for her, no fights, no porcupines, no calcium, just puppy bon bons.
Haven’t quite figured out what puppy bon bons are, but she sure enjoys an empty peanut butter jar.
The white things in the upper left are Mac’s whiskers.

The human health around here is on the mend. Melanie is getting over the flu, Dan’s heart is pumping the way it’s supposed to, again, and Zoë gets to rest, sort of, because she’s the one who’s been doing all the work.

We’ve got some no flash, Melanie’s new lens, portraits of the dogs coming up. She was practicing for pictures of Patsy’s puppies. But first, things have been happening around here, it’s just that we were too tired to write them down. So, Melanie decided she would tell you about nights here right now.

It has been too cold for the boys to be in their kennels, so they have been inside at night. They love their kennel. They love having company. It’s a guy thing out there.

Dan and Zoë go to bed very early. Since they are up at 5 am, this makes sense. Ellie, Bess and Franklin go to bed with them. That means that Melanie is kept company by Patsy, Mattie, Ros, Mac and Rose until she goes to sleep.

Now by “keeping company” the dogs mean they will stay in the room with you and sleep. And snore. Usually the pellet stove fan is going so the snoring can be ignored, but when the stove comes up to heat, the surround sound of snoring is amazing. Mac is usually by the door out to his kennel. The ladies are in various upside down attitudes on the floor around Melanie. Rose is near her feet, Ros is near her side, Mattie is on the love seat and Patsy is as spread out as she possibly can be. All snoring.

Now Dan and Zoë’s bedroom is just above the family room. It’s an old house with wide floor boards and empty space between the ceiling and the floor upstairs. This empty space acts as a resonator and Melanie can here any dog on the floor upstairs snoring.

It’s great.

When it’s time for the boys to go to bed, she sings first to Mac.

Mac, a-doodle, doodle
Mac, a-poodle,
Mac, a-doodle, doodle, doodle, dot.

He loves this. Outside to pee and Rosie comes with. Rose comes with because she knows that Mac is going to get a treat. After a massive head rub Mac goes off to pee and Rose sits for her treat. When he’s done, Mac runs back and tries to stop on the ice and usually runs into Rose. He then gets his treat.

Now usually he would go into the garage and into his kennel. But, right now, (last night it was 5 degrees with 35 mile an hour winds) he is sleeping in the living room. Melanie shuts the door. Goes up stairs to get Franklin. He also likes to be sung to.

Franklin, wanklin
Little sweetie pie,
Time to go beddy, beddy bye,
Come on Franklin
You’re so cute,
With your big old
big old snoot.

(What can we say, Shakespeare she’s not!)

While Melanie is taking out Franklin and Rose, (yes, she’s going for another treat) Zoë is getting up to go sleep in the living room.

Remember when we said the boys like company? Well, Mac doesn’t like to sleep on his own. Zoë is sleeping down there on what we are now calling the double lounge chair instead of the sleeper sofa.

Now the fun starts.

Melanie goes to bed. Patsy, Franklin, Rose (and sometimes Mattie and Ros) come up and get another treat. They supposedly go to bed.

Except for last night. We live thirty minutes from everywhere, but for some reason there were sirens going up and down the highway last night. Mattie, Ros, Franklin and Rose took umbrage to this. Zoë kept yelling and bringing them in, but finally Melanie shut Rose up in her room to keep her from barking. She put a fan on so Rose wouldn’t hear the sirens.

But last night aside, the next part of the night is the conniving of the dogs to do Dan out of the bed.

Bess is in control of the room. No dog wants to go by Bess. She does this not with growling or anything, she is the true essence of alpha bitch. This means in order to get out of the room, dogs will actually get on the bed and walk over Dan and Zoë’s heads to keep out of Bess’s way. Once they are out, they want to get back in. This means standing at the door of the room and talking. Patsy has this under her breath bark that gets louder and louder. Mattie just demands. Those two Dan and Zoë can get to come in by inviting them. Ros won’t come in without help, so she’s bark and wait for a human. Rose doesn’t care.

Then there’s Ellie. Ellie has a “thing” about Bess. Ellie will bark to get out. Dan will get up because about this time, he needs to fill the pellet stove in the family room. So up they get and down they go. At this point, there is a mad rush for the bed. Every dog will try to get up there.

Ellie goes out, Dan fills up the stove and back up they go. No room on the bed. Dan pushes and heaves and pulls on blankets and makes room for himself. Then Ellie barks. She’s still at the door. She won’t come in without him getting up. So he gets up and as soon as he’s near her, she comes running in and gets in the place he created for himself.

More pushing, tugging and we wouldn’t change it for the world.

Our dogs aren’t spoiled!

Speaking of our dogs!
Here they are, eldest to youngest.

Ellie

Bess, she had another beauty day.
She looks like a puppy.

Patsy, still working on that peanut butter jar.
This picture was taken with the flash.
Melanie thinks it makes Patsy look flat.

Here’s Mattie!
She’s not pregnant.
She wants to be pregnant, but she’s just fat.

Mac.
This picture was taken in a very dark room.
Melanie loves her new lens.

Ros!
Franklin and Rose were playing hard the other day and Franklin got tired of her and sat on her head.
Ros thought that was terrible and made Franklin get off.
Rose told her mother off for messing up her fun.

It’s never boring here.

Franklin

Sweet Rose
(cough, cough)

Melanie came down to breakfast the other morning and found this.

She thought that Rose had turned into an early Easter Beagle,
but Zoë said it was the last egg in the carton and she had put it there.

But you can never tell with Rose around!

News from the Litters will continue next week.

Thanks all,
Take care.

January 25, 2007

Sorry folks! Check back next week. We’re under the weather here. The dogs are fine though.

Take care

January 17, 2008

The thaw is over and the river is iced over. The dogs are happy. Here are pictures of dogs that are cool.

Rose.
Rose’s head is broadening out.
Her undercoat is slowly coming in, only in her rear.
She has a bustle butt.

Bess on alert.

Bess has her undercoat in.
In fact, she’s going for a beauty day next week to get some of it out.

Franklin.
It’s slightly out of focus, but it shows him off.

Melanie just wanted to do a big picture of Patsy.

Here’s another.

Now one of the signs of a maybe pregnant Newfoundland is being very sleepy.

Patsy sleeps in Melanie’s room until around 3 or 4 am, when she then goes in to Dan and Zoë’s room, gets on their bed and washes them up. Last night, Patsy didn’t wake up, until 6 am. This was after Zoë had shut the door to Melanie’s room. Patsy didn’t approve of being shut in and woke up Melanie by kissing her.

Melanie saw Franklin and Rose playing outside and got her camera with the new lens and took a picture.
It was after that she realized what they were playing with wasn’t a toy but one of Zoë’s good snow boots.

We were supposed to have a huge Nor’easter last Tuesday.
We only had 6 inches of snow, but the snow plows were out.

Here’s our hallway after the dogs who were upstairs heard the snow plows coming by.

Ellie is doing great after the surgery on the spoon. We have the spoon. It’s wrapped in a plastic bag on the counter. Melanie thinks we should sell it on eBay.

Stories for the week.

One of the dogs’ Christmas presents was a soccer ball with two ropes on it for tug-a-war. Melanie didn’t realize that it didn’t squeak, until Zoë showed Rose how to make it sound. It says “GGGGGOOOOOAAAAALLLL” with a bunch of cheering people. Rose loves doing this. The toy has been banned from Melanie’s room during the night.

Some of the dogs got loose the other day. Melanie was sitting at the computer when she saw some black tails over the snowplow bank. The black tails were just cruising down the street. Melanie went out to call, Zoë was calling and our mail lady in her pick up stopped, opened her door and started calling.

Now our dogs have always wanted to meet the mail lady. They bark at her when she drives by. Here she was calling them. Wow. So they got in the front seat of her truck looking forward to a ride. So if our neighbors’ mail was a bit crushed, they now know why.

It was too cold for the males in their kennels last night. We got down to negative four degrees, so we kept the boys inside. This means . . .
Mac in the living room with the door shut and everyone else free to be elsewhere in the house. Mac started barking. He wanted to be in the kennel with his buddy.

Zoë went downstairs and slept on the sofa to be with Mac. But Mac was concerned and he wanted to sleep with Zoë. The sofa is not that big. She pulled the coffee table right next to her and Mac slept on that.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Carl (Franklin and Ros puppy, ME)

we wanted to show you how happy Carl is in the snow. This was taken on a snow day last week. He is the best hugger in the world. His kisses are clean and warm-I thank Franklin every day for passing that on to Carl. His sense of humor is unending. So is his curiosity, especially when it comes to trying new things to chew. I no longer have a grapevine wreath hanging on the wall outside my door. Nor do I have a balsam ball that was a good 5 ft off the ground, hanging from the ceiling of the porch. And the outside molding at the back door is half gone. And my full pot of turkey stock-3 days in the making- gone in 1 fell swoop. Now that was a real mess. Big. I thought I knew how to newfie-proof a house. Clearly I was wrong. I'm sending one more photo, separately. Be well, merry christmas, and happy new year to you all.

Here is Carl, surfing with our oldest, Pete, during the snowstorm last week. He can really hang ten, that dog.

River Bear Scarlett (Mac and Patsy pup, MA)

Well, one year has passed since the day we picked up Miss Red, and brought her home. What a year it has been. We can't tell you how much fun we have had with her!

In the summer we took her on her first vacation to a Bed and Breakfast in Moose Country way up in Maine. She thoroughly enjoyed that and got to bark at her first moose. That was also where Scarlet finally took the plunge and swam for the first time.

Scarlet is an avid hiker as well. We are out in the woods or climbing mountains 4-5 days a week. Right now we have taken a liking to snow shoeing. Of course, any time we come to water, she has to go in and check things out, no matter what the temperature is out. What a dog! You just have to laugh...

Scarlet also enjoys watching football with her Dad on the couch. She gets right up there and usually has her head rested right on Tom's lap, picking up her head every time the football is thrown. It is quite amusing to watch her watch the TV. A few weeks ago, a dog show happened to be on, so we tuned in, and what a reaction we got! She went right up to the TV and was smelling it as if the dogs were right in the room with her.

Lately, she has also decided that she can't go to bed until she jumps in bed with us and gives us smooches good night. She stays with us until she gets hot and then moves on to a cooler spot for the night, but she has to check on us periodically through the night to make sure we are still in bed... what a funny dog.

So, thank you for breeding these comical, beautiful, loving dogs. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time with Scarlet! I do think that the one who is most surprised though, is Tom! He never expected to love her so much, and have this much fun in life with any animal!

River Bear Isabelle (Mac and Mattie pup, MA)

Happy New Years!!!
Sue thinks I look like my dad....what do you guys think?I'm having a great time training everyone here,I have to be patient but they love me and they catch on eventually.
Love
Isabelle

That’s all this week,
Take care.

January 10, 2008

Happy New Year!

Of course, being River Bear Newfoundlands, you know there are stories. Melanie was sitting in the family room finishing a book she got for Christmas. It is difficult to catch her attention when she’s has just two pages to go but Zoë was able to do it.

“My God, she swallowed the spoon!” The “she” Zoë was talking about was Ellie. The spoon had Ellie’s pills put in peanut butter. Zoë has been giving pills this way for sixteen years. This had never happened, ever, not even close!

Melanie looked up to see Zoë with her arm in Ellie’s mouth up to her elbow. But the spoon was gone.

The vet was very nice. He said to watch the poop and if nothing happened she had to go in for an x-ray today.

(Of course, Melanie had to take a picture of the x-ray!)

Needless to say, she had to have an x-ray and the doctor said, “That’s a big spoon.” Zoë agreed and Ellie had the spoon removed from her stomach. She is fine and has to take at easy for two weeks. Which she’ll like because she likes sleeping on the sofa.

Otherwise . . .

December was the coldest in four years. We had more snow in December then we’ve had in the last few years total seasons. This week it’s been in the 60’s. The river is free of ice once again.

In December.
The dogs loved it.

The river running free.
The ladies aren’t in heat anymore (thank goodness) but we still have wild life.
The beavers have built a dam across a small stream and have made the banks of the stream collapse, causing the small pond in the middle of the upper part of the picture.
You can also see a tree to the far left that’s been very chewed and not by Rosie!

Speaking of Rosie, she is taking advantage of not wearing the bells around her neck. She very carefully sneaks up and steals right under our noses. Zoë was reading a book and Rose got her glasses case. Melanie was at the computer, she tried to lift a pair of scissors and when Dan cooks, she just helps way to much.

Here she is with her mom, Ros, and her dad, Franklin, playing with a sheet that Rose had taken from the wash. Hmm. . . We’re not using that sheet anymore.

Franklin and Ros

The house is much quieter, Rose not withstanding, since they’ve all gone out of heat. Now, it SHOULD be impossible for Mattie, Ros and Rose to be pregnant. Hopefully, Patsy is pregnant. We had to go the artificial insemination for her and Mac. Just let it be said that Patsy has longer legs than Mac.

The boys in their ever ending search to impress the girls, were singing in harmony. Mac’s best effort to impress Patsy happened when they were in the barn in the kennel. Together. But somehow Mac got out of the kennel and then had it lock behind him so he was locked out of where Patsy was. He took down the insulation around the kennel.

Franklin, on the other hand, while in the kennel (what is it about the kennel?) pulled in two double size blankets though an inch and a half space, getting only one hole in one of them. He then barked to let the girls know what he had done.

Is Patsy pregnant? We won’t know until about February 1st. How is she? Patsy is even hungrier than usual. She is definitely a food motivated dog, but she got on the counter and took some chicken. She hasn’t done that for a long time. Then when Zoë was working on the computer, Patsy came in, looked at her and peed all over the blanket that Mac had been laying on.

Hmm. Maybe she thinks that it’s Mac’s turn to have these babies.

Now some photos. Melanie got a new lens for her good camera. Now she just has to find the directions to the camera for turning off the flash and she’ll be set.

Patsy waiting for food.

Mac keeping Zoë warm during the cold spell.

Cool picture of Mac.

Rose still looks like a puppy.
She’s getting a big head.

Mattie

Newfoundlands in the mist.

Mist

To begin the
New Year
We look back to those who have left us.
A friend gave us a beautiful picture and
wonderful words.

I've worked in health care is some capacity for 36 years now. I've seen the rhythms of life - the ebb and flow. I have seen Death come as be welcomed as a friend. And I have fought against Its icy fingers trying to gain purchase. The thing that makes the difference is our reserves of strength - often not physical, but from relationships. Seeing a boy run, proud head up, fur in the wind fills my heart and calms my soul and offers me my strength.

For the New Year,
May all your joys be multiplied and your sorrows lessened.

News from the Litters will continue next week.

That’s all for this week.
Take care.

December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas
and
Happy Holidays!

From all of us at
River Bear Newfoundlands!

Melanie made Dan and Zoë do this.
They thanked her for taking out their wrinkles!

Miss Big and Miss Nab are now in their new homes.

Miss Big is now . . .

River Bear Snuffleupagus!
(Snuffy for short)

Miss Nab (Miss Not As Big) is now . . .

River Bear Isabelle.
They will call her Izzy if she takes after Rose and Belle if she takes after one of our calmer ladies.

Not that our ladies are that calm right now.

Tis the season to be in season as four of our ladies will attest. First came Ros and then Patsy, Mattie !!!, and then Rose. Makes for a very warm household for the boys. Melanie swears it’s why the river in back of the house unfroze, but Dan and Zoë say that was probably because of the rain we had. But, hey, did it rain instead of snowing because of the heat in the house?

A couple of stories. Rose was helping with the laundry the other day and took a pair of pink panties outside. She was very pleased with herself. She showed them to Dan and then thought it was quite a game to let him ALMOST get the panties. Now, Dan at the time, was picking up poop and did manage to have Rose give the pink panties to him. Because he was working, he stuffed them in his pocket. Later, he went to the post office. (You know where this is going, don’t you?) Dug into his pocket for his wallet and brought up something else instead. Luckily, we have very nice and discreet people at the post office.

We are trying to get Patsy pregnant ONLY! Which means all of the doors and rooms in the house are getting a work out. Franklin wanted to get into the living room where Ros, Mattie and Rose were and took down some of the molding around the door. He also took off part of the gate. Now, he’s learned how to open Dan and Zoë’s bedroom door and also the living room door. Jeeze.

Melanie was feeding Patsy and Mac in the west wing when she noticed Mac’s approach to lovemaking. Patsy ate her dinner. Mac ignored his and watched Patsy. When she was done, he nosed his plate to her and then proceeded to have his way with her while she ate. Melanie was telling McKey about this and he said, “Well, at least he gave her dinner.”

We were beginning to think we’d have to put on Barry White to get these two “in the mood.” The other girls are overpowering and much more attractive to Mac. Melanie and Zoë talked to their oracle of all things Newfoundland (Kathy Luce, Dingle Newfoundlands) and are now keeping the single ladies out of Mac’s sight. That seems to be working.

We’re not sure what Christmas songs we should be singing.

For Mac and Patsy? Piece on Earth?

For Franklin? I'll have a Blue Ball Christmas . . .

For Ros and Mattie? God Rest You Merry Gentlemen, cause you're not getting us?

For Rose? Oh Christmas tree, Oh, Christmas tree, I'll soon have you on the ground?

For Bess and Ellie? Oh, Silent Night?

Getting ready for the Holidays is very important.
One of our “musts” is the

McKey Family Eggnog!

Here’s Patsy after helping with the whipped cream.

Here’s Rose after helping with the whipped egg whites.

This morning went well.
We dressed Rose up for her picture.

Cutie isn’t she?

We only let Bess in to help with Christmas morning.

She fell asleep on the sofa.

News from the Litters: (or cute Newfs with Santa hats!)

River Bear Abigail Rose (Franklin and Ros pup, MA) wrote us a letter and sent some pictures.

We have two buckets of water in the back yard and she will go down for a drink and come back soaked from her ears to her nose and all the way down her chest. I think she plays in it more than she drinks it. She loves water, swim or play. She loves to watch her favorite cartoon Clifford the big Red Dog.

Here she is . . .

And here she is with her buddy Duncan.

River Bear Beatrice (Ch Kilyka’s Celtic Raasay UD, and Patsy pup, NY) is doing great.

She adores her family and her new buddy, Duke.

River Bear Molly’s (Bess pup, NJ) sent a lot of pictures. Here’s two.

We had a tree decorating party and here is Molly at her best. Her Christmas card will arrive sometime next week. You will probably recognize the hat from Newf Emporium.......

River Bear Roger (Franklin and Beatrice’s brother, NY) and his half brother, River Bear Merlin’s (Mac and Patsy pup, NY) sent in four pictures. If you remember from a couple of months ago, Merlin is the escape artist. This time he’s getting told off by Roger!

We love the look on Merlin’s face in the next picture.

Then two gorgeous pictures of the boys.

That’s all this week. Small vacation coming up, the log will start again the week of January 7th. 2008, that’s hard to believe.
Take care and have a Happy, Prosperous, Healthy, and Safe New Year.

December 14, 2007

Well, late again on the log. Of course, you know it’s going to be another story and it will have Rose in it.

Who is this dark creature trying to come in the dog door?

Poor Rose.

The Revenge of the Porcupine

It’s 30 miles to anywhere from our house. We usually take a dog or two with us to make the errands go faster. Dan and Zoë had Rose and Mac with them. Dan went into a store. Zoë was rubbing Rose’s tummy. At least she thought it was Rose, when she encountered something that felt a bit more male like. Was she rubbing Mac’s tummy instead?
No. Rose had a lump. They immediately took her to the vet who said he’d never seen anything like that. She was sent home to come back in the morning for surgery.

McKey suggested that it might be an infection from a random porcupine quill that had never been found on her.

She went in Thursday morning for surgery.
Now comes the reason the log is late.
We were to pick her up at 2 pm. Dan left in plenty of time.
For those of you in the North East you know what happened around noon time Thursday. The snow storm hit.

Less than one hour after Dan left we had over 3 inches of snow on the ground. It kept coming.

Dan never made it to the vet. It took him four hours to get down the hill and come back. Two semi trucks were off the highway, a bad wreck in Northampton.

We’re glad he got back safe!

Zoë left early this morning to get Rose. Traffic was terrible but she made it all right.

Hmmm.

At the vet, Rose took over. She was vocal about being there.
She had the woo woos.
The woo woos are heart breaking.
Long drawn out woooo, woooos.
She also went through two of the Elizabethan collars while there.

We think they’ll let her come back.
The vet still doesn't know what the lump was, but thinks the quill might well be it.

We had to dig out from under twelve inches of snow. But that’s okay for this Saturday night they’re talking about two feet. YIKES.

Rose getting kissed by Patsy.

Outside our window this morning, looking at the orchard.

Melanie had all these plans about taking very cute pictures with the pups wearing Christmas bows. She is going to do it tomorrow. After Zoë got home with Rose, Melanie went the other way to Pittsfield and went shopping. Everyone else was also shopping getting ready for the big storm. So here are the pups without bows. You’ll have to wait until next week.

Miss Big on left and Miss Nab on right.
We’ll tell you their names next week. They are leaving in a few days.
We’ll cry. We always do.

Training them for household chores.

Yes, that’s one of our “little” pups chewing a bone.
Mattie’s in the background.

Now pictures from a snowy day!

River Bear Waltzing Mathilda

River Bear Patsy Ketcham

Ros on the lookout!
They don’t like the plows.

River Bear McKey’s Rosalind

Okay this is Mac.

Hmmm. The best way to explain what he’s doing is . . .
We have two more ladies in heat, Ros and Patsy.

We’re going to be breeding Patsy with Mac.
Hopefully, Ros and Franklin will NOT breed.
No more singing in the vet’s office “Just one night, that’s all it took, just one night.”

News from the Litters:

River Bear Molson checked in.

Just wanted to say happy holidays to all at RiverBear
since we haven't gotten cards out yet. Molson (aka Mr
Yellow of Franklin & Ros)is great. He is up to about
140 and still acting like quite a puppy at 11 months.
It finally snowed here and he was ecstatic. I am
attaching a photo of him in the snow and one with our
youngest!

Happy Holidays!

He looks a lot like his Great Grandmother Eleanor.

Two tired looking cuties.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

December 6, 2007

Sunday night and Monday we had our first MAJOR SNOW STORM. Well, that’s what the TV weather people called for. We had six inches and a little of freezing rain. That’s not much for us.

Don’t worry, our dogs haven’t grown horns.
Melanie just likes taking pictures of the Highland Cattle that live near us. There wan’t a lot of snow but it was cold!

Now our dog pack had their heart worm shots this week. A treat comes after the shot. They are funny about this. How many dogs do you know line up to get their shots? Ellie, Patsy, Franklin, Ros kept trying to tell us that they hadn’t gotten their shots yet (not true). Mac would line up and then see something interesting and leave. He finally got his. Mattie and Bess have to be coaxed and then they run around rubbing their necks into legs, furniture pillows and other dogs. We’re not saying our dogs are food motivated, but to wait in line for a shot? Oh, I haven’t mentioned Rose, have I?

Rose is being a teenager. Melanie has been working on sit, stay, come, which Rose was getting perfectly, until yesterday. She has stopped sitting, staying or coming. Why should she? Why shouldn’t she just get a treat for being Rose? That should be enough, shouldn’t it?

Melanie would say Rose, sit. Rose would remain standing, looking off to the right, “I can’t hear you.” Well, Melanie got tired of that quickly, called Patsy over and told her to “Sit.” Patsy sat and got Rose’s treat. Hmmm. Rose is thinking about this. Zoë said she sat for her this morning. For her shot, Melanie explained that this was going to happen no matter what she did, grabbed her collar with the hand that gathers her neck skin and then pop the needle in. She then got her treat for being “pretty good.”

The puppies sit. They also poop, and pee. They are getting pretty good about peeing on the papers. We’ll skip the other.

This collar was on one of them.
It isn’t any more.

They also like to help clean. Zoë was trying to mop the floor.
Miss Big attacked the vacuum cleaner.

Beauty day! A good brushing in the sun with Zoë.

Then Dan held them while Zoë clipped toe nails.

Mattie and Miss Big were playing. When Mattie barked Miss Big decided to chew on the towels.

Then there is fighting.

The big fights are about defending spaces!
Miss Nab under the rocking chair.

Wow, what teeth!

Miss Big eating Miss Nab’s foot.
(The teeth marks are not just from these pups. Around forty have gotten to that chair.)

Rest time.

Back to fighting.
This time a box.

Miss Big is in the box.

Miss Big coming out of the box and getting stuck between piano leg and the grooming box.

Miss Nab in the box.
Miss Big seriously stuck.

Miss Nab helping her sister by biting her in the leg.
Then it’s time for a break.

They aren’t very neat!

News from the Litters:

We asked River Bear Sullivan’s (Patsy, Mac pup, MA) how they did that picture from the other week where all the dogs sat.

Sullivan takes obedience as did all the other dogs in the picture. So
it was pretty easy. We walk everyday (Sullivan and Bentley run). You
should see how fit he is. And how fast. He can run equally fast as the
little Golden in the picture. He is amazing.

We plan to have a Pet Therapy evaluation in early spring. I will put
you name on my list and contact you when we set the date. If ever
someone is in the hospital that you know would benefit from a Pet
Therapy visit especially from a Newfoundland call me and I would
definitely make a special visit.

I truly believe a house without a Newfoundland is truly not a home. I
have so much fun with mine I feel sorry for those who do not have one.

Sullivan’s owner does Therapy Dogs. We’re going to get Ellie re-certified.

River Bear Trixie’s (Patsy and Mac pup, MA) owner told us they have a new member of the family.

We have been given a kitten and Trixie is awesome with her. The Cat is
not always nice and sometimes growls at Trixie but she is so gentle and
kind to the cat anyway. The other day I found the cat sleeping on
Trixie.

That’s all this week.
Take care!

November 30, 2007

Sorry we’re a bit late, the latest “bug” has hit the house, and we’re just coming up from under it. So the log will be short!

Rose had a very good Thanksgiving. Let’s see. One mince pie, several cokes, and two bottles of mineral water. We had company that didn’t understand Rose’s reach.

We have had to stop going up to camp for our walk/run. We have run into hunters who do not appreciate dogs. There was one really nasty one who tried to run the dogs over.

Dan and Zoë are now taking the dogs to run in the neighbors’ meadow near the river. Not quite as many exciting smells, but the dogs enjoy it.

Now some puppy pictures!

Yes, they have begun to chew.

They love shoelaces.

Franklin doesn’t like their teeth.
He likes to move quickly through the room.

We’re trying to crate train the pups. Mattie likes the crate better than the pups. She gets away from them in there!

The pups like to hang out at the gate.
Waiting for friends.

Here are Rose, Ros and Patsy looking for pups to lick through the gate.

Oh, yes, Dan took the pups to the vets for their healthy pup check. He also took Mac who likes to help drive the van. The pups spent the first forty-five minutes asleep in the crate and when they woke up they were a bit fretful. Mac went back and kept them company. He played with them through the wire.

Everyone at the vets fell in love with the pups and they are very healthy!

Such loving sisters.

Mattie is a very good mom. She loves teaching the pups. This week she taught them how to play with the ball.

First she dropped the ball in front of them a few times and chased it. It took awhile but they caught on!

What?

Hmmm.

It’s a lot more fun when your sister wants to play too!

That’s all this week.
Take care.

November 22, 2007

Happy
Thanksgiving!

That says it all doesn’t it?

But there are always pictures of pups that can be added.

(Thank goodness, because Melanie’s list of what happened this week has disappeared)

Mattie is sharing with her pups. REALLY weird.
Mattie doesn’t like to share, but she’ll grab her bone or treat, come into the whelping room and give it to her pups.

Of course, it could be that she’s tired of nursing.
They have sharp teeth now.

Miss Big has found the joys of emptying the trash can.
She pulls out the plastic liner.

Melanie heard her doing it again. (Yes, we do try to stop the behavior, but only after the first few pictures are taken.)
She looked over and saw the trash can moving but no pup.

Now the trash can is next to the piano and the chimney to stop the pups from eating some electrical cords. We thought we had figured it out.
HA.

Miss NAB (formally Miss Little, Dan renamed her Miss Not As Big for the health pup visit to the vet, coming up this Tuesday) had crawled behind the piano on the other side.
Hmmm. Piano’s have two side. Who would of thought of that?

So, now a huge teddy bear is plugging up that hole to the cords.

They’ve gotten a lot better at eating.
Of course, now only the heads fit in the plate not their whole bodies.

We are beginning to paper train.

Slight problem with that.

Paper makes such a great toy.
But since we’re training them to go ON something, doesn’t the empty dinner plate work just as well.

Okay, okay, they’re young, it’s going to take them awhile to get the idea.

An empty puppy biscuit box is a wonderful toy.

Being a puppy can be hard work.

Mattie is coming through with a pig’s ear.
First she circles the pups up.

Then she puts it down for the pups.
Miss Nab at the top, Miss Big lower.

Then one pup gets it (confusing it with the fringe on a blanket which is fun to play with.)

Then the other pup gets the ear.

As mom watches on.

It snowed. The dogs love the snow.
Melanie thought she was taking pictures of Bess and Mac.
But on the right is Patsy. You can tell by her nose!
So Bess on the left and no Mac.

Here’s Rose with another stick. She loves her sticks. But taking pictures of black Newfs in the snow is difficult unless you do close ups.
Melanie decided to get a close up and came up with . . .

Picasso Dog!!

Three eyes and 1 1/2 noses.

Rose with two mouths.

Love that Rose, she’s quick!

News from the Litters:

River Bear Sullivan (Mac and Patsy Pup, MA) is one year old!!

I just wanted to drop you a note to tell you how wonderful Sullivan is doing. We celebrated his 1st birthday with a party with his dog friends. He had Frosty Paws instead of cake, which he really enjoyed, although at first wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do and probably consumed a little of the container in his excitement. He posed for pictures with his party hat. I cannot believe he is a year old. Where did the time go. I wish you could see him in his glory. He is large and tries to act like the adult newfs in the family, until it comes to what he thinks is really scary and puts his tail between his legs and runs right to me. What a brave soul. He weighs about 132 lbs now and is just beautiful. He is sweet, although still gets in trouble now and again. Loves to counter surf. He is extremely athletic as he runs at full speed with his golden retriever friend. He does very well in obedience classes especially in agility. Just loves it even though he is clumsy and makes the entire class laugh.

Sullivan is the Newf in the middle.

What a cute picture!
He’s a good mixture of Patsy and Mac.

That’s all Melanie can remember from this week.
Take care.

November 15, 2007

It’s pouring rain outside, the dogs are upset with the river. It is way too noisy! So they are rushing out to bark and then come back in to shake. It’s going to get cold today and the rain is to turn into snow.
It’s warm and dry in here with the pups, beautiful music is playing and shoelaces are getting untied.

Speaking of snow, we woke up Saturday morning to a dusting.

The apples and leaves are still on the trees.
That’s supposed to mean something about weather,
either it’s going to be cold or mild, or long or short.

Something else got a dusting also.

Yes, the squeaky toy that Mattie has been carrying around in her mouth while nursing.

Well that toy has been around.

Mattie brought it in and set it in the living room.

Then she turned it around so it was looking towards the pups.

And Miss Little got the idea!

Mattie has also brought them a bone.

Miss Big got that first.

We’re not saying that Miss Big likes to eat, but the first time they got into the peanut butter jar was by accident.

This time they fell in love with the peanut butter jar.

They are spending most of their time out of the whelping box now.
Helping Dan with cleaning the pellet stove.

Watching Zoë clean up their messes.

They also like to help with the computer.

By sitting between the feet of the person at the computer desk.

We have moved the electrical cords which they have now gotten interested in.

Bigger is better?

Since this picture we’ve added the second layer of the whelping box.
They haven’t crawled out of that yet.

Zoë comes down around 9 pm or 10 pm to stay with the pups. They wake up for her and play and bark and are totally remarkable.

Mattie loves just hanging out with her pups.

They like it too.

They are having a great time being sisters.
Fighting.

And sleeping.

Of course, we have other dogs. And Rose once again takes the cake. Walking down the road near the old camp, Rose dashed into the woods. Deep into the woods. Dan and Zoë could hear her tramping through the underbrush. Concerned that it might be another porcupine, or another bag of candy bait for bears, Zoë blew her whistle. The noise stopped, then started up again. She blew the whistle again and here came Rose flying out of the woods with one of Bess’s wool socks that covers her bandage. Talk about a surprise. Bess had lost that sock a week ago.

Rose also decided that we didn’t have enough greenery in the house.

She brought that through the dog door.
Amazing.

We are sort of learning where Rose is concerned. Melanie decided to empty the dishwasher and in it was a defrosting chuck steak. She was a bit concerned. Like had it gone through the whole cycle?

Turns out Dan had done it after the dishes were clean but the washer was warm and he wanted to use the heat. Melanie just thought it was the perfect way to keep Rose from eating dinner.

Part of the camp area where the dogs get their walk/run has been cleared. It’s part MA’s plan of bringing back meadows and grasslands for certain birds and hares. We have now discovered where Mattie went to get wet. There’s a pond back there. It is now an easy walk for humans.

Melanie wants to bring the pond home.

Pond’s in the background.
That’s Rose in front, Ros in the far back and Patsy to the right, all exploring the great smells.

Ros in front swimming, Rose to left and Patsy to right.

Rose looks sweet doesn’t she?
She is most of the time.
Then there are the other times.
Melanie said today, it’s not that she’s bad, she’s just curious.

Patsy and Rose.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

November 7, 2007

There’s nothing like a rude awakening. As Melanie can attest to from this morning. Sound asleep, she heard a scratching sound that got her attention. The last time she had heard that it was rats. Now, we do live in an old house. We learned that you do not store apples in the basement. We had an infestation when we did that. But that sound . . . She turned on the light. The noise stopped. Nothing. She decided it was too early (and cold) to get out of bed. She started reading. The rat started to scratch again. It sounded like it was coming from the closet in the bathroom. She got up to go get Dan or Zoë so they could agree that she wasn’t nuts, when she realized it was coming from outside. She looked out the window. Since it was getting cold, we had put the dogs’ wading pool (livestock water trough) upside down. It was cold enough for ice and Rose was on top of it having the time of her life, digging the ice from the top. What a nut! Melanie was relived.

Next some puppy pictures!

Yes, the bunny is still in the box. This is from last week. The pups are bigger now. Today Miss Big weighed 8 1/2 lbs and Miss Relatively Little weighed 7 1/2 lbs.
Three and 1/2 weeks old.

They are getting exercise. Here’s Miss Big (on right) winding up to attack her sister.

Took her about a minute to get that far.

There’s also a bear to rest on.

We introduced the pups to food!
Miss Big got the idea right away. Miss Little wasn’t so sure.

She tried the dish first.

But she got the hang of it.

Then it was time to lick the food off each other.
They aren’t very neat about eating.

Okay, some more stories.

Melanie was doing her walk when she met Dan and Patsy coming back from their walk. Patsy was so happy to see Melanie. (It had been twenty minutes or so since they had seen each other.) Melanie offered Patsy a treat. She wouldn’t take it. This is pretty weird. Patsy LOVES food. She offered it again, Pasty wouldn’t take it but got all excited and jumped on Melanie. That’s NOT something Patsy does. Melanie put her back on the ground and offered the treat again. A HUGE apple came falling out of Patsy’s mouth and she gobbled up the treat, grabbed the apple and ate it. Dan remembers passing the apple a ways back on the walk and turning around to look at it and it was gone. Patsy had carried it all that way. You couldn’t even tell she had it in her mouth.

It rained yesterday and the back deck was slick. Dan was coming up from Poop patrol with all the dogs. Mac was waiting at the dog door and Rose ran up on the deck and stopped. At least she meant to stop, she went sliding just like Bambi on ice all the way across the deck and off of it.

Speaking of Rose. She can’t understand how we can tell if she’s been on the counters.

Bess has her bandage taken off tomorrow, which is good because Dan’s wool socks are wearing out. Can you see her toes?

Don’t mean to say Mattie is just a bit weird with the hormones right now, but we found her nursing the pups with a squeaky toy in her mouth.
She also took the peanut butter sandwich that Dan had made her and put it in the whelping box.
We’re not sure if she was trying to feed the puppies, or getting her evening snack ready.

Think they’ve grown?

They’ve gotten to the age that when they are out of the whelping box exercising, we have to be very careful.
They like to get under things.
(Isn’t Miss Big doing a grand job of exercising?)

Now when we get up or move, we have to make sure there are no pups underneath us.

This is under the computer chair.

They are learning to pose.

And trying to untie shoelaces.

The Question

What Do You Do With The Jack O’Lantern After Halloween?

What Else Would We Have Done?

The dogs all ran down in the yard. At first they didn’t notice it, but then Rose saw it, took off running and then stalked that strange beast.

Then everyone had to see. Mac is actually peeing on it. But Bess is in front of him. The Jack O’Lantern looks happy about the whole thing.

The other dogs heard a car and went to bark.
Rose decided to explore.

Patsy decided to see if it rolled. It did. Then she took the top.

Rose decided she wanted the top.
We think Rose could be a yoga instructor.
That’s her head upside down and her body is on the left.
It’s not even twisting.

Patsy won.

So Rose went back to the pumpkin.

Where she was replaced by Mattie (on left) and Mac.

Then Ros took over.
And kept the pumpkin.
It was like a kill. We’re going to have to keep the dogs out of pumpkin patches. It would be a massacre.

Ros victorious.

The pups say good bye for a week.

Aren’t they cute?

Well, we thought we were going to end the log there but there is a post script.

As Melanie was at the computer, in came Mattie with a present for her pups.

Got to love that tongue!

That’s all this week.
Take care.

October 31, 2007

Happy
Halloween!

Melanie has not yet cut a pumpkin, but she found these on a bridge near here.

The only reason she’s going to do a Jack o’ Lantern is for the pumpkin seeds. For the last four years we haven’t had any trick or treaters.
She says she’s going to give the pumpkin to the dogs on November first.

We had a real scare the other day.
Luckily no dogs were underneath this.

Yikes!

Melanie was uploading all the pictures from this week. All of them were of the pups not of the other dogs. We do have some stories though.

Bess has had to have a bandage on her leg (she’s fine, but she licked it too much) and went to the vet last week. Melanie was driving and Mac came along for the ride. Mac sits right up front in the van, he doesn’t help drive, but he does like commenting on the view. Bess also does this, but she likes to look out the back of the van. Mac enjoyed the men working on the road in their orange vests. Every time he saw some he would wag his tail and move to the back of the van to watch them leave. Now bicycles are a different story. Just like zebras for Bess, bikes just aren’t right for Mac. That was loud.

After the vet visit (he was very proud of Bess for not eating her bandage, Zoë has discovered if she puts a wool sock on that foot, Bess won’t touch it) Melanie went through a drive through. Our dogs love drive throughs. It was an Arby’s and she couldn’t find a small sandwich. They did have a kid’s meal though, so when the employee came through with “May I help you?” She went through this.

“Yes, can I get two Jr. Arby’s sandwiches without the meal?”
“You want two Kid’s meals?”
“No, I want the sandwich without all the other stuff.”
“But it all comes together.”
“Yes, but, you see, I’m giving the sandwiches to the dogs and they shouldn’t eat fries and Cokes aren’t a good thing for them.”
“I’ll have to ask my supervisor.”

The supervisor said yes, and as Melanie pulled up to the window Bess and Mac pushed forward to see what was going on. The window employee said, “Jeeze Lady, you sure you don’t want the extra large sandwiches?”

The dogs loved it. They slept all the way home.

Now Rose has been busy. Bess was wearing the Elizabethan collar to keep her from eating the bandage (the sock works better) and we think she paid Rose to take the collar off and then eat it. Melanie took the collar to the vet and explained. He was impressed. He gave us another one, but said to keep it out of Rose’s reach and to only use it on Bess if there’s a problem. We haven’t had to use it.

You would think that we would learn. We don’t. All of us have left things out and Rose has helped decorate. McKey’s phones have been the most expensive, but Dan might have surpassed even that. Dan took a nap and took out his partial plate. Rose thought the partial plate was great and carried it around, dislodged a tooth and remolded the plastic. Dan spent a whole day traveling around getting it fixed.

For some reason he didn’t take Rose.

Okay!
Now for Big Miss and Relatively Little Miss!
(Notice the slight name change.)

As of Saturday morning their eyes were open!
They have begun playing.
They have begun walking.
Big Miss barked for the first time this morning.
She was surprised.

They are fat.

Here is their week in pictures. You can see the difference a week makes.

Look at that stance!

Here we’re not sure if it’s playing or seeing if she can nurse off her sister’s face.

Getting a bath.

Mom cutting off access. That’s a rare event as you can see from Big Miss’s tummy.

Relatively Little Miss chewing on her sister’s leg.

Big Miss has moved (slowly) out of her sister’s reach.

From this morning. Slightly out of focus, but, oh, so cute.

They are out of the whelping box for a while each day. The rug we have in the living room, is perfect for them to grip and start actually walking. They do this for about 2 minutes and then go to sleep.

Melanie discovered if you put them in the sun to take pictures with the good camera, they also go to sleep. They’re good at sleeping.

The eyes are getting tired.

Down for the count. Cute nose.

Little Miss in the sun.

Big Miss dozing.

Folks, they are only two and a half weeks.

News From The Litters:

River Bear Wendell (Bess pup, Mac and Ros’s brother, MO) has sent pictures of the boat rides.

We named the boat Wandering Wendell and I had decals made. I haven't had time to apply them yet.
Take care and say Hi to everyone.

Looks like fun. Have you got room for all of us?

That’s all this week.
Take care.

October 24, 2007

Could it be because of the puppies that we saw the rainbow over the house?

Pretty cool, huh?

Well, it might not be the pups, but you can’t tell us that.

We’re wondering if Mattie stepped out on Mac with a mole.
Most of the time we can’t find them.

From the left that’s two back feet, two front feet and a nose.
It’s Little Miss.

There she is!

There’s Big Miss, having a snooze.

Good thing Mattie is trained in tracking. There will be nothing in sight in the whelping box. She’ll start sniffing and unearth pups.
They’ve gotten huge. We’ve had to restrict her a bit from feeding them.
Big Miss now weighs 5 3/4 lbs and Little Miss weighs in at 4 lbs.

Big Miss unearthed.

Mom and Little Miss (they don’t like baths).

Things to know about mother Newfoundlands.
They are a bit weird.
We have had a stuffed bunny and bear that we keep in the box.
Zoë had cleaned out the box and put in new bedding.

She left out the bunny.

For those of you who have watched “Con Air,” there’s a quote . . .
“Put the bunny, back in the box.”

Well, Mattie looked in the box, saw her puppies, but no bunny. She slunk over to the sofa, grabbed the bunny and put it in the box.
We have not forgotten the bunny since.
Here’s a picture of Mattie skulking around.

For those of you who need an injection of Rose nuttiness. . .

She’s been very busy. Lots of laundry needs to be done when you have puppies. Laundry piles up on the dog room floor. Rose has decided to put the laundry away. Dan’s sock went on one of the kitchen chairs. A tee shirt went to the sofa in the family room and Rose brought Zoë her pants.

She is also helping out in the kitchen. We USED to have a butter dish. You know the kind with the top? We now have a butter bucket. The cover is the only thing that survived. She also helped Dan. Dan had made lamb chops (Dan is an excellent cook) and had created a mint sauce. The sauce was in a cup and then had plastic bag around it. Rose somehow licked the cup clean, while it was still in the plastic bag, and then carrying it by the plastic bag, gave it to Dan. She was very proud of herself.

Yesterday, Melanie was working at the computer and telling Zoë not to worry about the kitchen she'd clean it after she got back from her appointment. Zoë said not to worry about it, she could hear Dan cleaning the kitchen. Hmmm. Dan then walked down the stairs from the bedroom. It was Rosie cleaning the kitchen. We won’t say the condition of the kitchen was.

Here’s Rose

Hope springs eternal in Rose’s mind.
That’s her mom Ros taking a snooze.

The dogs aren’t going to be able to go for rides on the golf cart until Spring. Melanie and McKey were out at the neighbor’s meadow checking out the beaver’s dam.

When the golf cart died. Luckily, we’ve got a “guy” who’ll be able to fix it after the golf courses close.

Our neighbor, who had a golf cart and upgraded to a club cart with a hydraulic dump on it, totally cool, pulled McKey and our golf cart back.

Okay enough.

Melanie had about 1/2 hour of sunlight in the whelping box and brought out the good camera. Some pics are sort of fuzzy because even with the sunlight, the light level made the camera slow.

Little Miss (if you can’t tell) in front.

Their tummies are so big that they have to squirm to move.

Close up of Miss Big.

Such cute faces.

Not too proud are we.

That’s all this week,
Take care.

October 17, 2007

Late Friday night and early Saturday morning, the pups were born. Our male pup didn’t make it which is sad, but the good news is the girls made it.

We can introduce:

Little Miss and Big Miss!

They’re not gray, it’s just hard to take a good picture in the dark.
In this shot, Big Miss (in front) is just under eleven hours old and Little Miss is just under nine hours old.

Now Little Miss was born not breathing.
Zoë got her up and sucked the liquid out of her lungs and nose.
Nothing.
She did the “hold her high over your head and come down fast between your legs, supporting the puppy’s head” movement.
Nothing.
As Zoë was sucking the liquid out once more, Melanie found the Dopram, a stimulant, and put that under Little Miss’s tongue.
Nothing.
Up and down again.
Melanie took her and roughed her fur backwards with a towel and she let loose with a howl!

YES!

She weighed 1 1/2 lbs at birth and has gained 1/2 lb since Saturday morning.
Big Miss weighed 2 lbs at birth and now is 3 lbs.

Can you find the pups?
Mattie is the reason why they’ve gained weight.
We’ve heard of demand feeding . . .
but it’s not the pups demanding, it’s Mattie.

She’s now letting them rest a bit.

She’s resting also. The first few days, she would only feed them sitting up, which meant that she would fall asleep and topple over.
Needless to say, we didn’t sleep at all.

Zoë calls this picture

Unclear on the concept.

We went with a smaller box for the pups that she can’t get in and let her have that one.

First close up.
As we begin to catch up on sleep, Melanie will get out the good camera.

Mom’s tail is a good place to nap.

Oh yeah,
we have other dogs.

Here’s Rose helping Zoë get the whelping room ready.

Melanie and Patsy took an hour off and went pumpkin hunting.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Wendell (Bess pup, Mac and Ros’s brother, MO) is continuing his boating exercises. Ted and Melanie really have done well getting their dogs used to the boat. They can really train. Hmmm, would they like to take Rosie for a month? With the Holidays coming up you should check out their web site. Martha just got Zoë her birthday present from them.

The Newfemporium

Well, the Newfs are getting so they are comfortable on the boat. For most of the time on the boat last Sunday afternoon, the Newfs chose to lay down on the deck. Both of them were much more relaxed, and that is very likely because I was more relaxed.

Tiny looked over the edge. She appeared to be thinking that would be a fun place to swim. Wendell watched the water, as the wind blew through his hair. Ted got some pretty fair photos, even though he was driving. We chose not to encourage them to swim, as we had a concert to attend in the evening and the timing was not the best for me to be getting in the water with them.

Now we have to spell B-O-A-T, like we have to spell W-A-L-K and R-I-D-E. Although now they can both spell walk and ride. Soon, they'll be able to spell boat too!

Ephraim would have loved this!

River Bear Merlin (Patsy and Mac pup, NY) is very smart. VERY SMART! Here’s the note from his owners and then the pictures.

Hi everyone, just wanted to say hi from the gang. I'm sorry, but everytime I read the stories about Rose, I laugh myself to tears! At the same time, all I see is Merlin in my head!! He and Rose sound so much alike it's not even funny. Merlin is non-stop. Any trouble he can get into, he does. Getting in the way of what ever your doing, he does. Merlin is extremely smart, persistent and determined. He has figured out his way around everything I do to keep him out of things. Example..Taped the kitchen garbage lid. He took off the tape. Bought a bin to keep the outside garbage pails in. I also put a lock on it. He took the whole bin apart. Closed the front gate to keep him in the yard. He figured out how to get by it......He is very draining, but fun. First newf I ever had that challenged me so much...

From the precious pup he was, to the nickname "Mommy's Persistent Pain In The Butt."
Just a few shots to show what a good boy he is.

Sort of reminds you of our house!
Let’s see how are Rose and Merlin related.

Hmmm.
Rose is Franklin and Ros’s daughter.
Merlin is Patsy and Mac’s son.
Franklin is Patsy’s son.
Mac is Ros’s brother.
Soooooo.

Okay, through Mac and Ros they are cousins.
Through Patsy, Merlin is Rose’s Half Uncle.
Yikes.
The important thing is that these two never get together because any litters would take over the world.

By the way, just like Melanie,
the person is taking pictures, instead of disciplining.
Melanie understands this, the pictures have to be taken no matter what!

Whew, we’re tired this week!
Take care.

October 10, 2007

After having August weather the last part of September and the first part of October, we have finally gotten to fall.

It’s in the 60’s and wet.
Nice.

Now for the news!!

The Vet saw three puppies on the X-ray!

Three pups in there somewhere.
Well, what happened to all the others?
Who knows?
Newfoundlands aren’t easy to breed.
Could be the vet counted wrong,
could be from the porcupine incident.
You see, bitches can “reabsorb” their pups if there is a shock to the system of if they feel under a threat.

We really don’t care, we’ve got three coming on the 13th!
Or so.

As we said, it’s wet. As the elder of the pack, Ellie isn’t going out if she can help it. She’s grabbed the love seat.

The others are enjoying the wet and cool.

If you go by tails that’s Mac’s first, then Ros and then Mattie.

Yesterday, before it started raining, Melanie heard an engine outside in the front yard. She figured it was Dan mowing the grass one more time before winter.
She was wrong. He was moving the snow blower over to the barn. He’s now ready for any weather.

Here’s Ros’s coat in the rain.

Beautiful, isn’t?

Some stories!! Dan and Zoë had the dogs over at the neighbor’s back pasture for a walk / run, when Dan heard a huge bellow and then a couple of sharp rap like sounds. Didn’t bother the dogs like last week’s noise. He’s wondering if it was a moose.

Rose has been in trouble. Melanie’s friend, Amalia FourHawks wanted to know what she does to get in trouble. It’s not that she get’s in big trouble, she’s just busy all the time. Zoë was cleaning the other day and Rose was right beside her. Rose’s nose is every where Zoë needed to be. Zoë needed to plug in the vacuum, Rose helped. Zoë needs to vacuum, Rose is there watching the air come out the back, or tripping over the hose, or lying down on the electrical cord. If Zoë is trying to dust, Rose is chasing the duster.

The other day Zoë threw her out of the living room where she was cleaning and Rose went upstairs to the bathroom and kept opening the toilet lid and letting it slam shut. Dan went up, got her out of there and shut the door. Rose went into the kitchen and when browsing on the counters. Didn’t find anything to eat but did find the new thermometer and played with that. The thermometer is important. Bitches’s temperatures drop to below 99 degrees around 48 hours before they whelp. So we need that for Mattie.

At this time, Rosie got thrown out.

Here she is with Gramma Patsy cleaning her back.

Rose starts barking when she hears something outside and this starts the pack off. It can get loud. Melanie suggested putting a leash on Rose. This stops the barking in the house.

It has also started Rosie carrying around a leash most of the time.

We’re not sure if she’s learning self control, or making fun of us.

News from the Litters:

Andrea Gianchiglia (Dan and Zoë’s eldest grandson, the artist, Rob Carpenter’s co-owner of Rosie’s best friend Papi, NJ)
has good news!

Hello-
So I just wanted to share some good news that I had won fourth place in
the animal category in a large local show in Tewksbury with about 500
entries; and i also won 1st prize ( best in show) for an online
competition entitled Animal Planet.

Rosie thought her picture of Papi was the best, but hey, she’s biased.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

October 4, 2007

First . . .

Welcome
Major Martin!

Glad to have you reading the log.
I was telling Kathy Luce (another Newfoundland breeder) about you and it turns out that one of our Franklin and her Dingle’s Wee Bit of Blarney’s pups went to a member of the Air Force Reserve and he named the dog Major!

It’s been an interesting week here in Western MA. The weather reports were all sunny and cool. Except up here in the Hilltowns. We woke up to fog every morning this week.

It would burn off just before lunch. As you can tell, we still haven’t had any rain.

The dogs take everything in stride except . . .

On the morning walk / run,
Dan, Zoë and half the pack were up at the state forest.
Dan said it was beautiful. Fog and slices of sun coming through the tall trees, he said it was like a cathedral.
They had Mattie and Rose on leash
(not wanting to do a repeat of the quills)
when they heard a large animal crashing through the underbrush near them.

Mac heard this, looked, smelled, but his tail between his legs and ran for the van. Patsy joined him. It was a ways away, Dan and Zoë had the leashes of dogs who wanted to move.
Mac kept coming back for them and then going for the van again.
He wanted every one safe in the van.

No one saw anything (thank goodness), though they spotted two more porcupines from the van further down the road.

Melanie was telling McKey about this, and he wondered if predators (up here being black bear, Eastern wolf, coyotes packs and some people say mountain lion) have a different smell than prey that might hit the dog’s instincts.

Interesting idea. Any biologists out there?

Less hazardous but hard to get around is Mattie.

Melanie had been sitting at the desk with Bess at her feet. She got up and went in the kitchen. As she came out the chair was on top of Bess. She didn’t think she had done that to her, but it certainly didn’t bother Bess.

It was only when she switched angles and saw who had tipped the chair.

That’s Mattie under the desk.
We could call her a truck right now. She’s huge and goes where every she wants, no matter what’s in the way.

She’s going in for x - rays tomorrow.
It’s Zoë’s Birthday Present!
We’ll have more of an idea of how many pups are in there.

(By the way, Zoë is going to be 75, but we’re not telling anyone.)

Melanie grabbed some pics of the dogs yesterday.

Here’s Mac and Franklin looking at the camera and saying
“Huh?”

Mac

Franklin

Then here’s Rose, she was saying “Huh?” also, but then something happened. We’re not saying she’s ADHD like her co-owner McKey, but if the paw fits!

News from the Litters:

We had two visitors from NY! River Bear Oscar (Bess pup, Mac and Ros’s brother) and River Bear Zoë (Patsy and Dingle’s Tullamore Dew pup) came up in the new car. Great mini van that’s big enough for two full grown Newfoundlands, dog stuff, and importantly their owners.

That’s Zoë on the left and Oscar on the right.
Bess knew Oscar! She thought Zoë was great!
Patsy knew Zoë! She did not approve of Oscar.
This was the best of the inside pictures. The one of Bess and Oscar didn’t turn out. Bummer.

River Bear Emma (another Patsy and Tully pup and Zoë’s sister, CT) has another member of the family. Johnathan doesn’t seem to have much of a coat for 3 1/2 months, but he’s very cute.

River Bear Wendel (Bess pup, Oscar, Mac and Ros’s brother, MO) is still training to be a boat dog! That’s the way to train your dogs! Step by step and keep them happy.

We took both of the Newfs on the boat yesterday. They looked so cute in their coordinating life jackets! Tiny's is yellow and Wendell's is red.

They both got right onto the boat and my job was the same as last time, to keep the Newfs happy and prevent them from wanting to, or being able to jump off the boat. It went well!

Tiny seemed more relaxed than Wendell had been on his first time, and Wendell was quite content this time. The people at the marina, had the typical reaction, "OH, they are so BEAUTIFUL!". (Of course they are!)

Next time, we plan to take only Wendell and see about him swimming and then getting him back into the boat. Right now, we are working on the two of them being comfortable with walking on the ramp we got for the boat. First on the ground, then we'll add a few steps under it, then increase that etc.............

One day, I'll actually let Ted take a camera and get some photos!

The only sad thing, is that I kept thinking how much Ephraim would have LOVED being on the boat!

And now for our new reader, Major Martin. We’re proud that Newfoundlands have touched so many people’s hearts and honored that you wrote us.

Hello,
I just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying your Newfies on
the website. This isn't the most pleasant environment and it's a great
break to visit your blog and read the stories and look at the pictures.
Our family never had more than one Newf in the house at a time and I can
barely imagine what it's like to have so many. I've been biding my time
until I can have one of my own again - my last two duty stations have
been Texas and Florida and I just think it's unfair to a Newf to have to
live there. In another three years I'll probably be back in Colorado
and settled down, and then I'll finally be able to have dogs again (why
bother with any other breed?!?). Seeing your blog makes me think having
more than one might just be the right way to go.
Anyway, this place can get monotonous and depressing, and the
excitement we get I can do without - but a look at your page gives me
the "warm fuzzies" and makes it all better!

Thank you,
Major Martin
Iraq

That’s all this week,
Take care and keep safe.

September 26, 2007

We’re back in the entire house and Melanie’s back from vacation! How did the dogs celebrate? They found a porcupine.

Rose did actually. Then Ros and Mattie joined. Then Patsy. Patsy got only a few quills. It was off to the Vet’s for the other three. Jeeze. What a welcome home present. The nuts. All the quills are out, and as Zoë was leaving the vets with the idiots, another dog was coming in. Yes, another porcupine. Must be the season folks!

Got a note from Wendell, Mac and Ros’s brother, no porcupines for him! But you’ll have to read News from the Litters to find out what he was into.

Not many pictures even though it’s been two weeks. We took one before Melanie’s vacation and then with the move to the West Wing, the floors were being redone in the main part of the house, the camera disappeared. Here’s Patsy on the new floors.

Pretty, isn’t she? The floors too.
They are supposedly sealed with an almost diamond finish.

Mattie is now due in 2 1/2 weeks. She’s getting a bit portly.

In fact, she looks like a butternut squash.
She was wagging her tail the whole time we were taking the picture.

Here’s some pictures from Melanie’s vacation.
She went to Cape Cod.

That guy down there has his dogs with him.
They looked happy.

The dogs of the sea.
The seals would follow dogs down the beach just fascinated with them.
McKey told Melanie they were saying,
“Here kids, this is what we looked like before we went back into the sea.”

Melanie’s always liked Sand Pipers.

That one picture that was taken before she left for vacation was of Rose.

She finally caught her tail!

One more of Mattie.

She’s hanging on the ground already.

Our Newfoundland club is putting on a Fall Fun Day. If you’re near Westford, you might want to go.

THE NCNE FALL FUN DAY IS THIS SUNDAY!

Please join us for the Fall Fun Day on September 30th at the 4-H Center in
Westford, MA. The event will be held rain or shine as covered pavilions can
accommodate all activities if necessary.
Registration begins at 10 AM for our fun match with classes in conformation,
obedience (on and off leash) and rally. Also not to be missed – the annual
costume parade (at lunch time) and a fabulous brown bag raffle where you can
win lots of Newf prizes, or just come with your Newf to chat and meet other
Newf-friends!
Bring water for your Newfs! Food will be available for sale – new this
year - chili cheese dogs for you (and maybe a bite for your Newf!). Also a
Trick-or-Treat for every Newf who attends!
For directions and more information download our flyer at
www.newfclubne.org.
Hope to see you there!

NEWS FROM THE LITTERS!

Two bits of News from River Bear Wendell (Bess pup, Mac’s and Ros’s brother, MO) First he’s gone boating.

He was SO CUTE! There were lots of other dogs on other people's boats, but Wendell was the cutest!

We snuck out of the house quietly after Tiny had gotten comfortable on the bathroom floor.  Wendell got his seat belt harness on and got into the car. He got safely hooked up in the car and rode to the marina. When we got to the marina, he was so excited, that it took a little bit to get the seat belt off and the life jacket on.

Ted went down and got the boat ready to go, while we walked down to the dock. Ephraim would have been concerned about the planks going out to the dock and Tiny would very likely have wanted to chase the ducks, but Wendell was all business! He got to the boat and walked right onto the flat surface of the pontoon boat. I put on my life jacket and kept him tethered to me.

Most of the trip, I spent just stroking him and telling him how wonderful he is (not a bad job). Ted drove around and we even went to the marina to get some gas.

Wendell laid down part of the time and sat up part of the time, the only thing that seemed to get him interested, was a sea doo that went by us very quickly! After that, he was watching the water to see who needed help, I suppose.

Next time, we plan to take Tiny also.  After that we plan to let them swim. One step at a time!

But, he was great! What a trooper!

Next, he couldn’t let his sister get the better of him.
At least it wasn’t a porcupine.

I'm glad it wasn't a porcupine!

Imagine you are an armadillo living in southern Missouri. You are going about your evening, looking for places to dig up supper in a nice lawn.

You think you've found the perfect place to have a big meal for the day, when all of a sudden, two Newfoundland dogs come out of a building! The Newfoundlands think they are out there for the final potty break of the day, but they find a better thing to do, CHASE AN ARMADILLO!!!!!

The 'dillo found his way beneath the deck and from inside the house we heard that unforgettable sound of Newfs barking, jumping, and deck furniture being overturned!

I could tell something was beneath the deck, as the Newfs were running back and forth barking at the lattice work. After hearing a "scuffle" of feet beneath the deck, I got a flash light and there he was, running back and forth! The Newfs would be fine, and the Armadillo might have done pretty well, but I could see that the deck was going to suffer. Much LOUD encouragement and some of Susan's biscuits, and the Newfs got onto the deck. The 'dillo snuck out the only good entry exit spot and made it for the bushes!

The Newfs are still panting! They seem very proud! They rid the deck of an evil intruder!

Will he come back??????? Not if he's smart!
Wendell (we scared him off didn't we?)
Tiny (don't even think of coming back here!)

Melanie’s youngest son, McKey Carpenter (Dan and Zoë’s grandson, NYC) had a birthday last week! Happy Birthday, McKey. He is also in two commercials. If anyone in the five borough’s area sees the FOX Promo for the Morning Show, McKey is dancing in Manhattan and one other time in NJ with the sky line behind him. Wish we could see it. He got the part because of his abilities with dogs (you put everything in the resume) and he was cast as a dancing dog walker. The dog, a pet of one of the techs, said “Are you nuts?” And refused to do anything that the producer wanted, so McKey just dances as a white collar worker. Cool.

We’ve got another Newfie reader. He’s not one of ours, but he’s as big as Franklin and Roger!

Hi,
I just wanted to say hi. I have been reading your log for a few weeks and find it so great. I enjoy all the stories and just love the pictures. We have our first Newf that we rescued in Nov 05. He is the heart of our family and can't wait to get more of them. Spoiling this beautiful gentile creature is the hobby of all of the family. His name is Figaro I have added a photo of him from this summer while we were on vacation on Cape Cod.
Thanks for the great site,
Joe

That’s all this week.
Take care.

September 12, 2007

Why is Mac taking such good care of Mattie?

Ear washing, eye washing, sharing a fan.

Definitely love!

Could it possibly be . . .

YES!

Mattie is pregnant!

Mattie went to the vet’s today. He pushed and he moved her around and said “Yes, she’s pregnant and she feels full.” Everyone is so proud.

Now what does it mean that “she feels full?” Well, the vet is thinking 6 to 7 puppies. We realize that you can NEVER tell about Newfoundlands. Once we thought Bess had eleven and she ended up with three. On the other hand, we’ve been told one or two puppies and have ended up with five. YOU NEVER KNOW!

But we know she’s pregnant.
And that’s cool.

On October 5th, Zoë’s birthday, Mattie goes back to the vet’s for an x-ray and we’ll know more about the number at that point. She is due October 13th.

It’s been raining for three days.

This causes the river to look like a river.

And Rose to get bored.

She’s been trying to get dogs to play with her.
When she succeeds, what do we do, but yell at them to go outside, which they don’t want to do because it’s pouring.

On the other hand, while Zoë left they all sat out at the fence waiting in the rain, until they forgot what they were doing, came inside and found Dan, which they thought was great, and proceeded to dry themselves off on his clothes.

Melanie was sitting at the computer and they couldn’t reach her.

Patsy and Melanie went into Northampton to walk yesterday.
They went very slowly because everyone wanted to pet the “bear.”
Was Melanie proud??
Duh.
People would ask how old “he” was and how much did he weigh?
Melanie would say “she” weighs around 150, and yes, we’re working on her losing weight, luckily she loves green beans, and then would say, “Well, her son weighs 178!”

That’s good for an awed look.
Except we found out that he’s lost weight this summer .

Oh well.

For yesterday’s morning’s walk/run, Patsy got out of the van, ate some grass and got back in.

We figured since there was no adoring public, she didn’t see the point.

The front came through last night with a blast of wind.
Melanie went out to roll up the tarp that shades the back door.
She was rolling it up when the rain hit. Wet leaves were stuck to the tarp, rain was pouring down, water was dripping down her sleeves as she got the tarp up in it’s cradle, and she looked in the back door and there is Rose watching her as if Melanie was nuts being out in the rain.

Fall is getting closer and closer.

Here’s Mac out amongst apples.

The red apples against the green was so great.

Mac won’t eat off the ground, we have to pick the apples up or off the tree and hand them to him.

Not sure our dogs would make it in the wild.

IMPORTANT!

No log next week!
Melanie is going on vacation!
She going to the Cape in a 1970’s VW camper.

And looking forward to it!

That’s all for this week.
Take care.

September 06, 2007

The river is beginning to have some Fall (ing) leaves in it. Very pretty.

As least, we’ll think it’s pretty until there are so many leaves on the ground that the dogs come in covered with them, and leave them all over the rugs, floors, furniture, beds . . .

Sorry about the log being a day late! We now have satellite link up for the computer. It’s wonderful. It’s fast. At least it is until you upload and download over the amount for the fair usage during the day and the speed goes back to dial up. After discovering this, Melanie woke up at 3 am to upload some of McKey’s stage monologues on a new site and then stayed up to download some software. Needless to say, the log was not written yesterday. She will put a link to one of McKey’s monologues on News from the Litters because she’s so proud, but be aware you need high speed internet to watch it.

During this time the dogs discovered she was up. First up was Rosie. She thought it was great that someone was awake and yodeled and wiggled, then went outside, came back in and went to sleep. Next was Ellie, she came down, went outside, came back in, licked Melanie, went back upstairs and barked to go back inside Dan and Zoë’s room. That means while she was gone, Bess got up and lay in front of the door. Ellie won’t go by Bess without human support. She wakes up Dan or Zoë. Melanie could hear Dan say, “Come on in Ellie.” Then silence came again. The next two dogs were both Mattie. She came down, went out, came back in, licked and got petted, went upstairs, twice.

So let’s see, having to pee a lot, sleeping a lot, pregnant? We still won’t know for a week and a half. There is no way to find out before five weeks. We’ve tried. When we first started breeding dogs we bought a human pregnancy test. Have you ever followed around a dog trying to get a sample?? Not easy and it doesn’t work. So now we wait.

Mattie, gestating?

Ellie got a beauty day.
The dogs love it when someone gets a beauty day.

That’s Ellie on the sofa getting welcomed back by Ros.
Why is it that dog’s that get beauty days get bandanas?

Here’s Mac sporting our new dogware.
It’s bear season.

We think Dan figured out what all the candy the dogs kept finding up at the old camp was about.

Bear Baiting.
YIKES!
Orange for our dogs.

Why is Rose hooked up to Dan’s foot?

Well, it’s getting cooler now. That means there are no air conditioners on and no fans running.
THAT means Rose hears EVERYTHING.
THAT means Rose is BARKING AT EVERYTHING.
If she is on a leash, she doesn’t.

So after she stops barking, we let her go. And then when she starts, we grab the leash.

At least that’s the idea. She’s pretty fast.
Now she runs out barking and comes back in,
bringing us the leash in her mouth.

We’re sure she actually laughing at us.

News from the Litters:
Here’s McKey’s link to a Shakespearean monologue of Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing. The Director of Photography was Dan and Zoë’s grand daughter, Elyse Montague. She’s getting her MFA in film.

Press Here!

August 29, 2007

We could use some rain up here. We know that we complained in the Spring, but hey, this is the river right now.

Little low.
The dogs want the water back.

Each of our dogs are different. They get marrow bones to chew several times a week. Bess likes to chew her bone and then collect bones as they are discarded by the others. She usually gathers about three around her and then dares anyone to come after them. Ros has begun to do the same thing. EXCEPT . . . the other night she was upside down playing with a bone, when Ellie whined. And whined. And whined. Ros got up and gave her the bone. Ellie enjoyed that. Mac, on the other paw, waits until everyone else is finished and then while everyone watches, he eats the bone.

He does the same thing with his dinner. He eats his dinner in the bathroom downstairs. He now waits outside the door and watches everyone eat. When they are done, he goes into the bathroom and eats. Dan stands outside the door and makes sure no one helps.

They have different friendships. Mac and Mattie are a couple. They love to sit in front of the fan and clean each other’s ears and eyes. Ros likes to take care of Ellie. Ellie didn’t appreciate that when Ros was a puppy, but enjoys the attention now that Ros is older. Franklin and Rose love to play. Mac and Franklin are guy friends as long as no one is in heat. Patsy gets along with everyone and Bess is Queen.

But they are all Zoë entourage.

Zoë is reading in the West Wing and her entourage starts in the living room and continues towards her.

There’s five you can see, but all of them were there.

Next week will be pictures of the dogs in their new vests. Bright red! Bear hunting season starts September 4th.

News from the Litters:

Dan and Zoë’s daughter, Martha Bodine and all her children, Rachel, Will and James, went on vacation last week. The highlight of the trip was the mechanical bull.

Here’s James!

That’s all this week.
Take care.

August 22, 2007

I know we don’t humanize our dogs (much) but yesterday it appeared that Mac was pouting.

Now, for those of you who treat your dogs as family and you know who you are (any one who has a dog) it is important to remember that you as the human are Leader of the Pack. Everyone hum the song now.

Okay, dogs are dogs and people are people. Humans must be Leaders of the Pack but that doesn’t mean that dogs don’t do some things that humans do.

Take Mac yesterday on the walk/run. Franklin found a long branch. At least five feet long and over an inch around. He was carrying that around when he decided to involve Mac. He dragged it in front of Mac who got in the spirit of the thing and grabbed the other end. They had a great time until Franklin decided they were done, grabbed it back and took it into the van with him.

Now Mac considers himself the Captain. He sits up front with Dan and Zoë tells them how to drive. He makes sure that all the dogs are with him on the walks. He leads. Not that everyone follows, but he doesn’t notice.

So Mac was left without the branch. He didn’t like that. He decided he didn’t want to play, he wanted to stay in his kennel. Except for walks, he stayed there. Of course, we were worried about him, but he ate and peed and pooped. Today he’s just fine.

The Captain is back.

Now the dogs look a bit funny.
We’ve had them all groomed and all the matts were shaved off.
This meant some weird looking coats, but coats always grow back.

With this last year, their coats were just too much for us to handle.
Now that things are as back to normal as it gets,
we can start grooming again.

Melanie grabbed to pictures of Mattie.
This is after two weeks of growing her coat back.

Mattie does love the couch.

Here comes Rose to start everyone barking.

Ellie takes the laid back approach.
She doesn’t run the fence.
She sits and howls.

After saving the house from whatever, it’s time to graze.
That’s Mattie in front, Ros’s butt, Franklin looking past the golden rod and Bess way in back.
The white phlox is the only flower that has done well in the dogs’ play yard.

Patsy exploring under the stairs.

Okay, we don’t know WHAT this is.
But it was definitely cool.

Melanie took Patsy out on a golf cart run. They found this lady in the tree and took a picture.

News from the Litters:

Just wanted to check in and let you know how Molson
(aka Mr Yellow of Franklin & Ros) is doing. He is now
7 months and doing great. He weighed in at 105 last
week when he had to go to the vet.. .he is wonderful.
He has had lots of time at the beach and is a pretty
good swimmer. Luke (my 3 year old) and he are
basically litter mates and play constantly.

Well, that’s absolutely adorable.

From the Human side of the River Bear Litters.

Will Bodine (grandson of Dan and Zoë) was racing in a duathonlon (sp?). He came in under his expectations for himself.
Congratulations, Will!!

That’s all this week.
Take Care.

August 15, 2007

Well, the weather continues to be changeable. Melanie’s in a sweatshirt and long pants, Zoë’s in shorts and short sleeves. Hmmm, maybe it’s just the humans.

The dogs have been having a great time. Dan pulled up the rugs in the kitchen, dining area and family room. Yup, we’re going back to wood floors. Our wood floors are beautiful. Eight to fourteen inch planks of pine. We’re having them redone. Lots of scratches for some reason. When we moved in eight (has it been that long) years ago, we had them done with a latex varnish. Having learned, we are requesting a varnish made out of diamonds.

Here’s Rose helping Dan.

She’s such a big help.

Rose and Ros have been very busy on the walks up at the old camp. Zoë called Ros to come and she didn’t. That is highly unusual. Zoë could hear her in the woods right up in the trees in some underbrush. She sent in Rose. Rose didn’t return. Blowing the whistle got Rose coming and she was carrying a bag of candy. Concerned, Zoë and Dan went into the woods where Ros was. She had unearthed a trash bag load of candy!

Someone’s Halloween candy for last year? Some mother got tired of sugar wired children during the summer? We’re not sure, but later Dan and Zoë went back sans dogs and cleaned it all up.

At least they thought they cleaned it all up. The next morning in a different area, here came Rose with a sucker in her mouth. Dan and Zoë told her not to run with a sucker in her mouth (they got plenty of practice with that with my siblings and me. She didn’t pay any attention either.) That candy stash was cleaned up and so far so good.

We had to get rid of the two recliners (if anyone knows of any that need a good home, we’re available) and we brought in the love seat from the living room. The dogs have been enjoying the love seat, though Franklin has a large problem.

He’s sort of big.

Otherwise, Mac and Mattie are just about finished with the No-Tell-Motel. Did anything come of this tryst? Check back in about five weeks.

The other dogs have had a blast in the Newfie Pool.
That’s what we call “our” part of the river.
Enjoy our nuts!

Rose looking charming.

Patsy exploring.

Franklin. Melanie loves taking pictures when they shake.

The next picture is actually of our foundation bitch,
Ch. Kilyka’s Castlepines Jamielee

Jamie
She died a couple of years ago.

We put her on the log again so you can see how much Bess looks like her mom.

Then there’s her daughter Ros.

Here’s the crew with our other foundation bitch
Nasau-Auke Eleanor CD

Ellie

They’re hunting for treats.

And heeeeeeeerrrrrreeeee’sssss

Franklin!

We hope we get more water in the river.
Franklin loves to ride the rapids.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

August 8, 2007

Happy Hot, Humid, h-August!

Whew, last night the rain came, but didn’t cool us down. It must be 90% humidity and hot. Thank goodness for air-conditioning.

McKey Carpenter (actor son of Melanie and actor grandson of Dan and Zoë) was up this last weekend. His girls love him!

Rose has just finished rolling him back on the chair and
Ros has decided to give him a bath.

Watching TV can be a contact sport at our house.

Oh, both of the recliners have been retired. They were unstuffing themselves towards the end. One of the nice people who took them away, had two Newfoundlands growing up. You can meet Newfie people anywhere!

McKey had been rubbing Rose’s ears when she collapsed.

Speaking of Rose, Franklin is now helping Ros with the disciplining. On the morning walk/run Rose came barreling down on Franklin to use HIS body to stop herself. He side stepped her, she fell down and he sat on her. When she got up, Ros put her head over Rosie’s back and walked with her until she calmed down.

In the afternoon we’ve been taking the dogs down to our part of the river to have a dip and playtime. They are enjoying themselves. We have our waders, Ellie and Patsy, our splashers, Ros and Rose, Franklin just loves to play and Bess stands in the water having a wonderful time. We’re going to have to take a picture of Bess because she looks just like her mother Jamie. Jamie loved doing the same thing.

You didn’t read Mac or Mattie’s names because they are busy in the “No Tell Hotel.”

We had one of our apple trees start dropping its apples already. Zoë takes Mattie on a leash out to the orchard where she eats and eats. This morning Zoë gathered a mess of apples and divided them between the dogs. A good feast was had by all.

Ros is a lot like her mother Bess, in that she loves to collect other dogs bones, keep them near her and not let anyone else have them.

For some reason, the other dogs don’t like this and it’s up to the humans to reapportion the wealth.

News from the litters:

Lots of pics from two families!

River Bear Bluebear’s (Mac and Mattie’s pup, NJ) owners wrote in. Bear looks like a complete beautiful mix of Mac and Mattie.

Hope all is well with you Dan, Melanie and the gang!

Thought you'd like to see some pics of Bear (from
Mattie and Mac's litter). He's terrific and we just
love him so much! Bear reminds me so much of Mac - he
even sits like him (half on the couch and half off).

Bear really enjoys his own pool and yes, he's
definitely a back seat driver!

We’re not sure how long he’ll fit in his pool.

River Bear Roger (Patsy’s son, Franklin’s brother, NY) and River Bear Merlin (Patsy and Mac pup, NY) are loving the water and friends.

Hope everything is great. Thought you would enjoy these pictures of Roger and Merlin playing w/their gang. I brought my daughters w/me that day and the people were amazed at Roger. Every time my daughters walked off to explore, it didn't matter what Roger was doing, he would stop and catch up w/Patricia & Emily. He would proceed to follow them every where they went until they decided to come back. After they were back w/me, he would go right back to having fun. Gotta love that Guardian Instinct. It's such a beautiful thing to see.

Merlin showed hunting instincts, as he proceeded to sniff through overgrowth and eventually flushed out a rabbit. The rabbit was way too fast. In fact Merlin went in the complete opposite direction than the rabbit did..LOL.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

August 1, 2007

The Dog Days of summer are here. It’s getting hot up here, but still cooling down nicely in the evenings.

During this time of “heats” the boys stop eating regular food.
Zoë has been supplementing their diet.

Isn’t that amazing??
Looks tasty, doesn’t it?

What the boys really like is their ‘before bedtime’ treat, created by Zoë and given by Melanie.

Vanilla ice cream with Iams puppy bisquits scattered through the ice cream like chocolate chips.
Feed by spoon.
Our dogs aren’t spoiled.

If anyone knows of a good recliner . . .
Rose is out of heat and bored.

The stories from the week.

Zoë was walking Mac and crossed over the bridge. Mac likes to look over the side of the concrete wall. Zoë stopped, Mac stood on his hind legs and they looked at the river. Mac leaned over to Zoë, gave her a lick, and her glasses went flying off into the river.

Melanie and Zoë went to find the glasses. Melanie to the river and Zoë on the bridge trying to see where they went off. Melanie went swimming. The glasses were on rocks across the river. They were not broken.

As of yesterday Rose, Ros and Patsy are all out of heat! Hip, hip, hurrah! No one got pregnant, though not without trying. Mattie is now in heat and we have her with Mac. If they want to get pregnant that’s fine with us, if they don’t, that’s fine with us. Guess we’ll know in awhile.

This means that Franklin can come back into the fold. He’s missed everyone. And has been told off by every lady to leave her alone. And no, licking their ears doesn’t seem to bring them back in heat.

Rose is glad to have her father back. They love to play with each other, though Rose can be a bit of a handful. Zoë and Dan had Franklin and the two Rs out for their morning run. Rose kept bothering Franklin and Ros, not letting them have any nosing around time. She just kept jumping on them and running into them. Ros had enough and wacked Rose down with her paw and kept her down. When she let Rose up, Rose was a complete angel. Rose is as big as her mother.

Looking out the window, we saw the ‘across the road’ neighbor with a new dog. Sort of a lab. It took us a couple of seconds to realize that Mattie had gotten loose. Melanie was going to take a picture of Mattie and her haircut, but Dan wouldn’t let her. Mattie got a buzz cut and looks like a cross between a black lab and a Shar pei. It is helping with her skin irritation from allergies. With less hair we can get to her skin with powder and meds. Also, dog food without corn is helping.

Melanie is entering a photo contest for a “Sense of Place,” a series of six photos that define a place. She picked, duh, River Bear Newfoundlands. Here are the photos, she’s thinking about entering.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Beatrice (Patsy and Ch Kilyka’s Celtic Raasay UD pup, NY) sent in a picture of her new pal Duke.

Duke’s on the left and Bea is on the right.

That’s all this week,
Take care.

July 25, 2007

Ummm. Has it already been a week? Yikes! All we’ve done is work, work, work. That is ‘keeping dogs separate’. We have about a week left.

Melanie went to the cameras and not a single picture has been taken. That’s okay, she has a picture for you anyway.

Most of the stories this week are adult only, but there was one that we’re willing to put on the web.

Dan and Zoë get up very early in the morning. Try 5:00 am. The night of the morning before . . .

Melanie had been trying to keep the girls from lying in front of the fan that gives air to the boys in the barn. The boys like the smell, the girls like the howling and singing which show that they are appreciated. She finally had to shut the girls in the house until she went to bed. The girls were fine for awhile.

At three in the morning, that changed. The girls wanted some attention and sat in front of the fan. The boys showed their appreciation. Dan and Zoë dealt with it this time. Which meant they really didn’t get a lot of sleep between 3 and 5.

For that morning walk . . . First, Zoë took Franklin for a quick walk down the street as Dan was putting Mac and the non-in-heat ladies in the van. At least he thought he was putting in the non-in-heat ladies in the van. When he loaded Mac, he found out that instead of Bess he had Patsy! Mac said “THANK YOU!!!!” Patsy is no shrinking violet and said, “THANK YOU!!!” Which meant Dan was trying to hold back Mac while trying to get Patsy out of the car. It wasn’t working.

Then Zoë came back with Franklin, and saw the van rocking back and forth and she opened the front door to find out what was going on. Franklin noticed before anyone else and jumps into the van, an interruption to which Mac takes great offense. Zoë pulls Franklin out of the van, slams the door shut, shuts him up in the kennel, runs back to the van, pulls Patsy out, slams the door.

So Patsy’s still not bred, Mac and Franklin are still frustrated, and Dan and Zoë are exhausted even before the walk started.

Melanie slept through the whole thing.

What she didn’t miss was Franklin going missing from his kennel. That happened at night. She went out to let each boy have his half an hour outside, and he wasn’t in his kennel and he wasn’t in the barn! Melanie raised the alarm, but he hadn’t gone far. He was trying to get in the West Wing where the girls were.

He now has a Franklin proof latch on his kennel.

Okay, the picture is not a photograph. When Rob and Andrea were up the other week, Andrea decided to do a charcoal drawing of Rosie! Andrea will be using this for her upcoming one person show in New Jersey!

First here’s Andrea Gianchiglia’s web site:
www.agillustration.com
Here’s Rosie!

Is that not fantastic!!

News for the Litters:

River Bear Trixie (Mac and Patsy pup, MA) has been a great girl.

I have to share this story: Since I have always had “tough dogs” with my kids before Trixie (pit-bull) I was wondering how her protection of the girls was going to be. Yesterday my Dad came down from New Hampshire and only saw trixie for a few minutes when we first got her. He came in the door without knocking and Jennifer, My 5 year went running toward him. Trixie came running out of Cassy’s room at the same time and immediately ran in between Jennifer and my Dad and nudged Jennifer backwards with her head and would not move out of the way for anyone. She was very non-aggressive towards him and seemed like she wanted to get to know him but showed that on no certain terms was he to get to close to Jennifer. I was thrilled! My questions and doubts came to a halt. She was at least as protective as our Pit-Bull ever was but with more class! Thank You AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! She is a dream come true!

That’s all this week. Thank Goodness.
Take care.

July 18, 2007

This is NOT going to be a long log. We’ve been very busy moving dogs here and about. Franklin feels that if we would just let him with the others life would be fine. Mac doesn’t think that way. The ladies are hormonal and life goes on.

That’s Rose on the left and Patsy on the right.

For those of you who love to read the log and thought
“Maybe I’ll have puppies some day,”
we would like you to know a few things.

The males are big and they are “on task.”
Hence, the following rule . . .
There will always be two shut doors between the males and between the males and females.

We also use this gate. It has two heavy locks on it.

This is what the doors end up looking like.

The metal piece above the handle is there because the dogs figured out how to use the handle. Their paws are too big to open the door with Dan’s invention there.
We have to admit some of the damage is from the females.

Now a lot of that is because we keep all eight of the dogs in the house with us during the day.

The males never threaten us in anyway.
On the other hand, the females got them fighting.
Yes, the females.
(Hormones)
So we spend much time on door locking strategy.

The funny thing is that as soon as the boys hit their kennels, they love each other.

Who knows?

It is a rumor that Eleanor Roosevelt came to our town and actually stayed in our house. Eleanor and Franklin are named because of that rumor. Melanie was searching around in the attic and found an ancestor of the dogs that might prove that rumor.

She loves PhotoShop.

We went for a quick visit to see Kathy Luce’s puppy she kept from a recent litter. Cuddy is adorable.

Dingle’s MacGillycuddy Reek

He’s at the age where he looks wonderful and as soon as you snap the picture, he turns his head.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Roger (Ch Kilyka’s Celtic Raasay UD and River Bear Patsy Ketcham, NY) and River Bear Merlin (Mac and Patsy, NY)

Roger is on the left. He looks so much like his brother Franklin.
Merlin (on right) is still growing into himself. He appears to be a good mixture of Mac and Patsy.

Love the water off the tail.

Everything is going great. Merlin just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Thought I would send a couple of pictures of Roger & Merlin in their element.

Franklin and Roger’s sister, River Bear Beatrice’s owner wrote in.
The pictures didn’t download and she’s going to resend them. Duke is Bea’s new buddy.

Duke has gotten much bigger since those pictures and Bea had her undercoat brushed out by a groomer. She looked like she lost 20 pounds when I picked her up.  The groomer had to bring me in the back to show me how big the pile of hair was. I was taking her swimming in a nearby river every week and all of the sudden, her coat got so thick and matted. Now she is soft and beautiful again.

Blanche from Ontario wrote about her Grace.
She’s not directly related to any of ours that we know of, but it’s good to have friends all over the world.

I was just reading your log and I do believe you vacuum every day! I only have one Newf and have become accustomed to balls of fur blowing across the floor. Sometimes its easier to just let it all roll together into one big furball......and pick it up.
     I thought I would send you a pic of Grace, taken last August.......during "the big shed". Most people thought it was another dog sitting beside her.......but no.......its all fur.
We are not quite there yet this summer but with the heat we've had, the big shed is coming soon. Good luck getting the belly mats out...............Take care, your Canadian friend.........

That’s all this week.
Take Care.

July 11, 2007

We’re Having A Heat Wave!

Can you tell?

The air conditioning is on and Patsy is the only one with one eye open!
That’s her with the glare in her eye.
Front left is Ellie, Mac next, then Patsy. Bess is upside down in front of the green chair which Rose is destroying. Rose is next to her on the right. (Zoë wants you to know we actually do vacuum at least once a day.)
You can barely see Ros, she’s the black blob in the hall way.
Mattie was asleep in the dog room (also air conditioned) and Franklin is on his own right now in the West Wing.
He’s WAY TOO INTERESTED in the two R’s.
Ros and Rose are both in heat.
Mac doesn’t care yet.
Emphasis on “yet.”

Oh, about the air conditioning. Hmmm. The one in the dog room wasn’t working this morning. Melanie noticed on the front a green plug was lit up. So she unplugged and replugged and tried a different plug. Then she tried to download the manual from the internet. She found it but the website couldn’t believe that people still have dial up and kept cutting her off. She finally called the number on the side of the air conditioner. Nice woman on the phone. Turns out the lit green plug stands for energy saver. Hmmm. It’s working fine and has been along. Oh, well.

The dogs love the air conditioning, but they really love the fan on the floor.

That’s Mac.
Melanie was taken aback by how beautiful his coat looked being blown by the fan.

Then she noticed the mats.

We’re working on their coats. But they go swimming every morning and the mats love to get going on their bellies.

Ros in love with the fan.
Melanie finds it cool that if you take a picture with the flash that the fan looks like it’s not moving.

That’s Mac again. He had sat on the fan to get it right where he wanted it.

Different angle of Mac.

The moths of River Bear are becoming prolific.
Instead of a few large moths we are now attracting lots of small ones.

Unfortunately, the sparrows have discovered our plethora of moths.
No more to be said about that.

Last night Melanie took Mac out for his own little Poop and Pee Parade. He got very interested in an area near the barn.
He would look down and then jerk his head up.
He had found a toad.
Melanie ran in for the camera.

This is what happens if you try to take a picture at pitch dark with 90% humidity. Somewhere there is Mac’s toad.

Melanie slept downstairs in the West Wing with Franklin, (it was too hot to have the boys in the kennels) he discovered he could reach her just fine on the sofa. At 3:30 am, he decided she needed a bath.
Melanie’s just glad it wasn’t thundering.
Nothing like having 178 lbs of shivering Newfoundland on your stomach.

Now for a walk with
Mattie, Ros and Rose.

Melanie doesn’t usually go on the walks, because Dan and Zoë leave at 6:00 am to do this. Dan and Martha (their other daughter) are visiting Dan’s sisters, Marty and Harriet Sue in Ohio.
Melanie is not a great morning person.

There is a huge State Forest near us and that’s where we went this morning.

The girls had a great time.

They found a little stream.

Love Rose’s tongue in this picture.

If you remember, Rose’s new job is to find Mattie.
When we were beginning to leave, Mattie was out exploring on her own.

That’s Ros on the left and Rose on the right.
Zoë has just asked “Where’s Mattie?”

Rose found her!
We know we sometimes call Rose a devil dog, but those eyes are weird when they catch the flash!

One last story.
Melanie was a tad tired after waking up early the last two days.
She was working on the computer and leaned back . . .
and fell asleep at the desk.
That’s a first!

News From the Litters:

Nothing on Dogs, but Dan and Zoë’s granddaughter, Elyse Montague has won the Princess Grace Award, a grant for her film work to finish her MFA. We are all very proud!

That’s all this week.
Take care.

July 4, 2007

Happy Birthday to
The United States of America!!

Speaking of birthdays, River Bear Robert’s Mister McKey (Mac) and River Bear McKey’s Rosalind (Ros) say thanks for the birthday cards from their litter mates!!

Going to tell a story and then it’s over to Rosie. When Dan and Zoë take the dogs for their run/walk in the morning, they pile the dogs in the van. Mac has always sat in back, but the other day he discovered the front window. What we think is that he discovered the windshield wipers and then realized he could see outside. In fact, he discovered he could get right between Dan and Zoë and watch. Then he discovered he could put his paws up on the dashboard and see even more. Before he tried crawling through the window, Dan and Zoë explained he needed to sit. WELL. No one sits between Dan and Zoë except for Mac now! He has discovered being a mid seat driver. We’re hoping he doesn’t discover the gear shift.

The big news is Rosie’s favorite friend in the world came for a visit. Oh, yeah, Rob (Melanie’s artist son,(www.robcarpentertattoos.com) > and Andrea (www.agillustration.com) , Popi’s owners (Oh, and both are fantastic artists) came up for a break.

The last time they were here it was just before Christmas and Papi and Rose had a wonderful time.

Well, they are a tad bigger now.

They had a wonderful time.

They fought, they chased, they panted.
We thought we had all the other dogs out of line of sight.

We forgot about Ros, Rosie’s mother.
She saw her daughter having fun without her and started the alarm.
“There’s a stranger in the yard. There’s a stranger in the yard.”
All the dogs were barking. Including Rosie, she was looking for the stranger, but couldn’t find anyone but Papi, so she decided to just play again.

All this running around a break was needed.

Then some more chasing.

It was a cool day, but these two were really working out, so we went for a swim.

Hmm. Neither of these two ever slows down. The picture Melanie was trying to take was the two of the kissing. She was less than a second late.

On to more chasing.

Rosie couldn’t catch Papi but she found if she clipped his back legs he’d go down.

He didn’t think much of that.

We think this is one of the strangest pictures we have of Rose.

She did catch him in the end.

He didn’t mind.

Popi left last night.
This morning Rosie found his toy and carried it around looking for him.
We nearly cried.

She’s feeling better.
Zoë turned on the fountain.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Wendell (also just turned three with his siblings Mac and Ros, MO) has been a therapy dog. Ephraim was their older Newf.

Yesterday we were sharing some photos of Ephraim with our grand daughters. It has been almost 10 months since Ephraim's battle with osteosarcoma ended.

Both Ted and I were "tearing" up, well I was crying. Ted gave me a hug and Wendell jumped up to give both of us hugs!

Later, I was sitting at the computer and tears were still flowing down my cheeks, Wendell sat beside me and put his paw on my knee as if to say, "It's okay Mom, I'm here".

Ya, gotta love these guys!

She isn’t a Newfoundland, but meet Tuppence.

Melanie’s friends Amalia and Leonard lost their wonderful Corgi, Peabody, at age fifteen.

Tuppence is a rescue Corgi who is cuddly and cute and is fitting right in with the rest of the family of Callie, a Great Pyrenees, and the two Norway Forest Cats, Basil and Sage.

That’s all this week.

Take care.

June 27, 2007

Whew, it’s hot and humid. And this after a week of wearing sweatshirts. McKey says it was too cold. He was up finishing a shoot near us. He’s gotten used to NYC weather. When the Indie movie Bay State Blues comes out, we’ll let you know.

Mac is spending more time outside after the sun goes down.
It’s cooler.

Unfortunately, he’s allergic to the gnats that come after dark.
They like his eyes. So the poor boy looks like someone hit him.

In news, we’re having the house painted. The dogs have been telling the painter how to do his job. Also, the house across our river has children visiting. They love to be in OUR DOGS’s river. The dogs don’t approve of that. Actually, what they would like is to be free and go help in the river. For some reason, most people seem a bit disturbed when faced with eight Newfoundlands running right toward them.

Hmmm. Doesn’t bother us in the least, we just bend our knees just in case they crash into us. Dan and Zoë have taken to holding on to each other during the walks, especially when Rosie is running. She is fast, she is quick, she doesn’t know how to stop.

On the walks, Dan and Zoë now have a whistle! The dogs know when the whistle is blown, they will get a treat. They come running from their explorations and stop right in front of Dan and Zoë, drooling.

Well, then there’s Mattie. Not one to really understand the concept of coming when called . . . So Rosie has gotten herself a job. If the whistle is blown, first she goes and gets Mattie and brings her back to Dan and Zoë.

Having three litters so close together with no break did make us a bit tired. We are coming back slowly, and have instituted Queen or King for the day. Each day, one dog gets to be special. All dogs go on the walk / run. Then . . . Melanie and McKey took Ros to The Old Creamery (the only food store within 20 miles) where she got an apple and then they stopped so she got to go swimming in a different part of the river. The next day was Bess’s turn. Zoë dragged cheese through the yard, leaving a jackpot at the end, and Bess had a wonderful time tracking. The next day was Mattie’s tracking time. Ellie got to go down to “her river,” all by herself and had a good time wading and eating grass.

Each dog appreciates this time, and the others have a grand time welcoming them back into the fold.

Since the one squeaky toy was such a hit.
Zoë got two more.

That’s Bess on the left. She doesn’t understand the allure of squeaky toys. The middle dog is Ros checking out the yellow toy. Rose has the green one.

That’s Rose and Ros after the yellow squeaky.
Each dog must have the one squeaky toy the other wants.
There are two squeaky toys.

Rose ended up with both. The yellow right in front of her.
She’s hoping someone will try and take it.
The green squeaky toy is in between her legs.
You can just see it.

What new modern art piece is this?
If you look carefully towards the top,
you can see dog hair.

Here’s a hint.

Yes, the top picture is of a finished peanut butter jar.

Two more moths have made the back yard door.

Melanie likes the white ring around it’s upper back.

This one was small and so delicate looking.
Luckily, it was high enough that it didn’t hold any dogs’ interest.

News from the Litters:

Last week was Roger’s beautiful portraits.
Here are pictures of Roger’s half brother River Bear Merlin (Mac and Patsy pup, NY) Roger and Merlin live together.

Dan got Merlin to sit still long enough for some pictures...
I had to include the garbage can shot. That was the second time that day he tried for it. The first time he got it over and I caught him and Sassy fighting over the goodies inside. Roger my good boy was laying far away. Guess he remembers when he got caught and corrected for it..lol Dan said after he took the picture, he corrected Merlin about the garbage and had him sit stay. Thats how he got the pictures..lol

He’s got Patsy’s chorus girls legs!

What a cutie pie!

That’s all this week,
Take care.

June 20, 2007

Happy Day before Summer begins! We started the day off in tee shirts and here it is 3 pm and we’ve put on sweatshirts. Nothing like the Berkshires for weather.

First news! Zoë decided to move all grooming upstairs so as to have doors that close between her and all her helpers. That meant moving the grooming table.

Hmmm. Dan and Zoë were able to get it as far as the hall.
It’s really heavy.
Especially when . . .

the dogs are helping get it up the stairs.
They finally had to get their grandson Will Bodine to help.
He just picked it up and carried it up the stairs.
Vague mumbling of swearwords could be heard by Dan, Zoë and Melanie, something about youth being wasted on the youth.

Second piece of news . . . Zoë bought toys for the pack. The first was a squeaky toy. Squeaky toys are well loved in the pack. They are also loud.

After a great deal of
I’ve got it,
No, I’ve got it,
No, I’ve got it,
No, I’ve got it . . .

Rose ended up with it.

Attractive, isn’t it?

She decided to take it up at 4 am and play with it in Dan and Zoë’s bedroom.
Melanie hasn’t seen it since.

Zoë and Dan had the dogs up at the old camp. It had rained the night before and they discovered a spotted newt. Dan and Zoë figured they had found an endangered species and were discussing this when Mac came over to see what they were doing and squashed it flat.

Zoë discovered from our hair stylist, Patrick Brady, (he’s lived here for years) that the newt is NOT endangered. Good thing. Or else we would have never written it here.

The second toy Zoë bought came in the mail.

Melanie thought it looked so cheerful she took a picture of it.

It was a tunnel!

Which the dogs looked at . . .

Thought it was not not as cool as the bike that went by . . .

That was awesome!

Not to give up . . .

Yup, that’s Zoë trying to explain to Rose how to do this.

Rose decided to eat grass.

In fact, everyone started to eat grass and stuck their heads
in so far you can’t tell who is who.

The tunnel went down the street to our friends who breed Bearded Collies. They were having a play day for Beardies. The Beardies fit the tunnel better.

The moths of River Bear are back again!

A wing span of 7 inches!

Here’s a side view.

Dan and Zoë called the next one
Darth Vader.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Roger (Patsy and Ch Kilyka’s Celtic Raasay UD pup, NY) (oh, he’s also Franklin’s brother) owners sent pictures of Roger and a note about Merlin (Mac and Patsy pup).

Just wanted to write and let you know everything is going great. Merlin is getting big. What a baby face, compared to the majestic look Roger has always had. Merlin's face is so innocent looking you would think he never gets into trouble. Well, lets just say he has been re-assigned to the crate again at bedtime. Merlin is a rooster and wants up at 4am. When I say no, he says "oh yeah" "well I'll just make you get up." Next thing I know he is up on top of me! I explained very nicely to him that if he wants a sane mommy, then he must let me get my sleep. His energy is never ending. It took Roger well over a year to be able to catch Sassy. Merlin catches Sassy like a cheetah bringing down a gazelle. The funny thing is Sassy always goes back for more

I went to watch a dog show a couple of months ago. I had Roger and Merlin w/me and a photographer fell in love w/Roger. He asked if he could take pictures of him to add to his portfolio. When he saw Emily, he wanted her in the pictures w/him. I wasn't paying him anything so I said sure....Thought you might like to see a few. They still need some touch up. I need to get some updated pictures of Merlin. I will send them soon

Just to let you know,
Melanie is very envious of this guy’s
lighting system!

That’s Emily on the left and Roger on the right.

Cute toes.

The Noble Giant

So beautiful.

All I know is that after the shooting I knew I would never be a handler in a dog show. Roger was so well behaved. He did everything asked of him, except NOT DROOL...LOL Of course my job was to keep him clean. For 2 hours all I heard was "Jane Drool" "Jane Brush." I think I was more tired than Roger & Emily put together. It was alot of fun to watch, and when you have a great listener, like Roger, it's even better.

They also serve that stand and wipe drool away.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

June 13, 2007

First a picture of River Bear Rosalind’s One Perfect Rose

This chair is now Rosie’s Look Out.
She’s watching for Dan and Zoë who have taken five dogs out in the van.
She also watches for bikers, skaters, birds and squirrels.
She’s taking after her Grandmother Bess in Homeland Security.

Things were calmer, sort of, this week. Dan got the battery in the golf cart and Melanie thought she’d take it out for a run. She and Patsy (all the dogs love to ride in the golf cart) took off down the street and over to the neighbor’s meadow to the river. The gas pedal was making absolutely no difference on the speed of the cart. In fact, it was doing one speed only. Slow. So Melanie and Patsy chugged their way down the road, waving at cars, trucks and people working in their gardens.

To get to the meadow you have to ride down one ditch and up the other side. Getting to the meadow was no problem. Patsy didn’t bark at the horses. She was in the cart. She doesn’t bark at anything when she’s in the cart. She thinks she the Queen of England. They went to the river, looked for the new beaver dam, couldn’t find it. Started back home. The cart went down into the ditch and did not come up the other side. Melanie and Patsy get out and with Patsy pulling (sort of) and Melanie pushing got the cart out of the ditch. That’s when Melanie remembered the doctor saying “Try not to do too much on the ankle. It’s swollen.” Melanie has spent the rest of the week with her foot in the air with ice on her ankle.

Dan fixed the cable to golf cart and we’re now zooming around.

Here’s Rose playing with the fountain.
She loves water.

Dan and Zoë have a story about the morning run. They had been up to the abandoned camp and were coming down River Road when they saw a large black animal walking down the road. Zoë was sure that one of the dogs they had left at the house had gotten out and was trying to find them. As they got closer, they realized it was an adolescent bear, still in that leggy stage. Our neighbor was walking her dogs, and Dan and Zoë stopped to let her know there was a bear up the road. She said she had seen it and had thought it was one of our dogs.

Kathy Luce, another Newfoundland breeder, had another bear story. Her house was crowded with workers and friends when someone looked out the front window and told Kathy that one of her dogs and two puppies were loose. That got Kathy moving. She ran and saw a mother bear with two cubs on her front lawn eating bird seed. The cubs were only around 10 lbs apiece. Must have been very young. She said the cubs played just like puppies! The bears stayed most of the morning.

We were worried when we hadn’t heard or seen Rosie for awhile.
We discovered how to keep Rose quiet. . .
Give another dog the empty peanut butter jar.
That’s Rose watching Bess taking her time licking.

Melanie went visiting and found some of her pictures had been framed and hung!

She’s going to be famous . . . someday.

News from the litters:

Kathy Luce took River Bear Guinna of Dingle (Kathy’s dog: Dingle’s I Aint No Saint Patrick and Bess pup) to Canada. Guinna placed in her class.

Pretty bitch, isn’t she?
And such an angel (cough, cough)
She usually spends her time at the pond catching frogs with her father and bringing them, live, to Kathy.

We heard from River Bear Carl’s (Franklin, Ros pup, ME) owners.

Carl is now 70 lbs, and lost another molar last night in the living
room. His fur is absolutely better than a down quilt on a cold night-
soft and beautiful. I can't keep my hands and face off of him. But I
seem to have black hair in my mouth and throat all the time now. He
tries to be very good most of the time. What a happy, sweet dog we
have. Everyone at Katy's school loves him to death, and they've
enjoyed watching him change week to week. No one can believe he's the
same dog some days. Can you imagine what it must be like for him to
try to keep up with his own body,changing so rapidly? He has a
wonderful sense of humor too. Our older son(22, and living at home
for summer-largely because of dog-) still opts for sleeping with carl
on the floor over his own bed half the time.
Hope all is well with you and your family- we thank you daily for
your kindness in March, and for the love you gave carl to make him the
dog that he is today.

We understand about the dog hair in the mouth.

Melanie found the picture of River Bear Oscar (Bess pup, NY) and River Bear Zoë (Kathy Luce’s Dingle’s Tullamore Dew and Patsy, NY)

That’s Oscar on the left and Zoë on the right.

The dogs are great. I think they would like to feel cooler but other than that they seem well. The picture is from the park. They just finished running around so they were exhausted, it is the only way I could get them both to look at the camera. This is a rare shot. In February Zoe was 172 lbs and Oscar 169 lbs. They are two big dogs. Zoe is getting even cuter, her personality is getting and louder and she is so playful. It really is cute. She has Dave wrapped around her finger. Oscar’s birthday will be soon, I can not believe he will be three years old. Dave and I are starting the process of buying a bigger car (for the dogs.)

That all this week,
Take Care.

June 6, 2007

Summer was here for about one week. It’s now Spring again and the dogs love the weather, and we’re back to wearing sweatshirts. We are NOT complaining.

Most of the log will be about NEWS FROM THE LITTERS! Melanie’s not sure if she got all the news and she might have repeated some, but promises to keep up better.

But first there’s Rosie . . .

Melanie tried to convince Jane Thibault that Rosie would be a great addition to her household. A look of disbelieve came upon Jane’s face and she said, “I read your log. Forget it!”

Oh well, good thing we love her. We need something to get this puppy busy. Let’s not forget that though she is not yet 11 months she is bigger than Mattie.

Since we haven’t figured out a job for her, she’s come up with some doosies.

Furniture Mover

Dan had made up a whole story about why the chair was in the middle of the room. It had to do about one of his grandson’s moving it to watch a movie and something else that Melanie didn’t understand because when she went to bed the furniture had been where it was supposed to be. Turns out Rosie had been busy.
That chair is not going to last through Rosie.
It’s last through thirty some pups but not Rose.
Since it came from the Salvation Army to begin with we’re not to worried about it.

Garbage collector is high on Rosie’s job list.
Melanie thought Zoë had given her an empty box of puppy treats.
Zoë had thought Dan had given her an empty box of puppy treats.
Dan had thought Melanie had given her an empty box of puppy treats.
We ALL hope it was empty before she got it.

Her latest job is tasting the air out of the back of canister vacuum cleaner.
Sometimes it’s best not to ask why.

Mac’s found his perfect job for hot days.

To hog the fan.
First it’s on the belly with face in the wind.
Then it’s on the back with other things facing the wind.

Otherwise things have been going about the usual. On their morning run, the dogs roll in everything that smells good to them and then Dan and Zoë make sure they swim in the river. There are cyclists to bark at but the real barking happens to the people skate training for their winter cross country skiing. The dogs just feel that’s wrong.

On the moth side of River Bear. We had three visitors that looked just like dead leaves.

Cool

Now the long awaited . . .
Sorry if there are repeats . . .
NEWS FROM THE LITTERS
(the puppies probably don’t look like this anymore some are from the first part of April)

I just wanted to give you a quick update on Moslon
(aka Mr. Yellow). He is doing great. He had a vet
appt on Friday and weighed in at 26 pounds. We
finally have given up on trying to make him sleep by
himself and he has moved into our bedroom and is much
happier! I am attaching a picture. Thanks for the
great pup!

(River Bear Molson is a Franklin and Ros puppy, MA)

We heard from River Bear Wendell (Bess puppy, Ros and Mac’s brother, MO)

We have two fenced areas for the Newfs, the front yard and the back yard. There are a total of 6 gates which can get you in and out of one and connect the two. Some are people walking gates and others to allow vehicles to go through. ALL of them are kept locked with a clip that is closed so the Newfs are kept safe.

The other day the Newfs were in the front yard (sort of a treat for them, the back yard is theirs) and Ted was working in the garden which is beyond the back yard fence. Ted came into the garage and had closed the gate, latching the gate, not locking it, as he was only getting a trowel or something, less than a minute in time, and when he returned to the garden, there was Wendell waiting for him.  Wendell has seen us open those latches many times. He always waits when instructed to do so. But, I guess he figured that Dad needed his help and was ready to do so.

Luckily Tiny (our escape artiest) was so happy to be in the front yard, laying in the flower beds, that she didn't realize what was going on and she missed the whole action. She loves to go visiting! Wendell is like a Velcro shadow, never leaving our sides!

He is so SMART!

River Bear Conan’s owners wrote in.
(Franklin and Ros pup, CT)

I just wanted to give you an update on Conan (Mr. Blue). He is adjusting
extremely well to life at our home. Loves everyone in the family and
doing well with house training. I have attached a few pictures of him
for you.

Today was actually his first day on the job. He went with my wife to the
nursing home (where she works as an OTA). Our last newfie went once in a
while to lift the spirits of the patients, and since her passing, the
patients and other workers have asking for Conan to come to work. So
today is the day. Since he is just a great puppy, I am sure he will do
well and everyone will fall in love with him like we have.

I think I might have started a bad habit with him. The last couple
nights I have been working at home on my laptop. He will come up to me
and climb into the chair. Of course I have to stop working and let him
lay in my arms getting pet until he falls asleep. Sad thing is, I look
forward to him being 160lbs and doing the same thing!

River Bear Carl’s owners wrote in.
(Franklin and Ros pup, ME)

We are so happy with this dog. He's been going to work with me, and
the children at the school absolutely love him. He went to his first
lacrosse game yesterday to watch my daughter play, and met lots of
friends- canine and human.
He is a beast- I can barely carry him anymore. He's a fast learner,
mellow, devilish, loving, and great company. Thank you again for such
a wonderful newfy.

River Bear Sampson and River Bear Delilia’s owners wrote on the occasion of Sam and Lily’s second birthday.
(Kathy Luce’s Patrick and our Bess’s pups, VT)

Samson and Delilah are two years old. They enjoyed their birthday celebration. The snow from the last two April storms is about gone so they are able to sniff out the turkey tracks better. I will try to send some updated pictures this weekend. Not only of recent frolics in the snow but also of the October trip to the North Carolina Outer Banks. Lily wanted to chase sandpipers, Sam was interested in bigger challenges - chasing pick-up trucks.

River Bear Roger (Patsy pup, Franklin’s brother) and
River Bear Merlyn (Mac and Patsy pup, NY) owners wrote in.

Roger & Merlin are doing great. Merlin is getting big, but not the same way Roger was. Merlin is taller and very thin, where Roger was huge!!! Thought you would like some current pictures of them.

Half Brothers! Merlin on left, Roger on right.
The owner also said a neighbor was graciously letting them use their pool for Newfie exercise!

River Bear Abigail Rose’s (Franklin and Ros pup, MA) wrote and sent pictures. She has two big brothers to take care of, Duncan and Shamis.

Abigail Rose is a joy. She is also a Big Eater. She follows her big brothers around everywhere. At the Buffet table she’d rather eat from the big boys’ bowels rather than her little girl bowl. So, therefore, they switch back and forth, until every crumb is gone. She climbs all over their brother Duncan all the time and once she’s comfortable she falls asleep almost on top of him. The other dog, her brother Shamis, prefers to watch from a distance.

Abigail Rose

Abigail Rose and Duncan.

We also hear from River Bear Oscar and Zoë.
Melanie put the letter and pictures somewhere safe.
When she remembers where she put them, she’ll post them on the log.

That leads us to a bit of sad and then happy news.

River Bear Beatrice’s (Patsy pup, Franklin’s sister, NY) owner’s wrote in that their little black lab pup had died.
An accident caused by a collar.
They sent us a web site:

• The Break Away Collar

Because of little Blackjack’s death, we have taken off Ros’s collar until we get a safe one.
Rosie liked to take hold of her mother’s collar and pull.
That has now stopped.

Bea’s owners wrote just yesterday after two months they have decided on another lab puppy.
Bea will be happy.

Bea.

That’s all this week,
Take care.

May 30, 2007

It’s been awhile but things are just as nutty here as usual at River Bear Newfoundlands.

Melanie discovered that Rose does NOT like thunderstorms. She starts barking at the thunder (Rose, not Melanie). The first time this happened the storm was away off and to stop her barking, Melanie put a leash on Rose and attached it to her belt and started working at the computer desk. Rose settled down and fell asleep at Melanie’s side.

The storm got closer.

Now what you need to know is the computer chair is for one person. It’s a nice chair, leather with arms and a high back.

The storm got closer. Rose slept on.

The storm got closer. Melanie unplugged the computer.

The storm hit with a huge bang of thunder.

That’s when we discovered that 170 lb Franklin was scared of thunder. He climbed up in the chair with Melanie, getting behind her and sitting on one of the arms. Melanie can’t get up because if she does he’ll go flying off backwards. Rose has gotten up and is entangling everyone with the leash.

Wish we had a picture.

Well, we do sort of. This was the next storm and he got up on top of Zoë. Notice the other two dogs in the picture are fast asleep.

Rose has been very busy. She intensely watches everything we do. It was 3 am when we discovered she learned to lift the toilet lid. And then bang it closed, and the lift it, and then bang it closed, and then lift it and then bang it closed.

She also decided to help Dan with the chores. She took the trash basket out the dog door and spread the trash around. After that she tried to bring in the hose through the dog door. Thankfully Ros, her mother, has not taught her to turn on the hose.

We needed some more stones in the stockade and Dan picked up some bags and put them out in the yard to spread out later. Rose handled it though.

She opened those bags with no trouble.
Much easier to rip up than the rugs in the house.

Mac and Franklin love their kennels in the barn. They are always ready to go out and get in them. At night, Melanie puts the boys in around 9 pm. Now both have been asleep for hours; Franklin upstairs in the bathroom and Mac next to the barn door.

Melanie wakes up Mac (not easy to do) and they go outside to the stockade. Mac first has to have his head and back scritched, then Melanie says “Go pee, Mac.” Now, if you have show dogs it’s very important for them to know those words and act upon them. You don’t want the dogs going in the ring. It took Melanie 2 weeks to train Mac to do this. And Mac does it “his way.”

First he walks off about 8 feet and comes back. He wants his treat. Melanie tells him that he hasn’t peed and he’s not getting a treat until he does. Mac goes out and stands next to a chair, comes back for his treat. Melanie tells him that he hasn’t peed yet and he’s not getting a treat. Eventually, he pees and runs up for his treat and gets one. He’s smiling the whole time. He then gets to go in the barn and to the kennel.

We had to move the kennel 8 feet closer to the door. Mac now goes over to where the kennel used to be and sits where his kennel was and waits for another treat. Melanie tells him that the kennel isn’t there anymore and get in. He does, smiling, and gets another treat.

Now, it’s Franklin’s turn. Melanie calls him from downstairs. He comes to the top of the stairs and waits to be invited down. Then it’s a race outside. It took Franklin about 2 days to get trained for this. He’s very food motivated. Franklin goes out and then stands and pees for 5 minutes. The dog must have a huge bladder. He gets his treat and then it’s in his kennel.

The next step is very crucial. You see, it’s happy time in the kennels next. We have two very large intact males living in the house with intact females. When the ladies come into heat, the males become VERY MACHO. So they have their own space and happy time. They are fed treats right next to each other with the fence between them. They know this will happen and that if they want treats they have to be nice to each other. When the ladies are in heat, the boys will be next to each other in the kennels, but have different times in the play yard.

Okay, a break for a moment and then back to the boys.

Here’s Patsy with a peanut butter jar.
We give the dogs their pills in peanut butter.
They love to finish the jar.

Our dowagers, Ellie and Bess, have gotten kennel cuts. They were beginning to look like yaks. When ladies have been spayed when they are older their coats grow and grow and grow. Here’s a picture of Ellie a few months ago, she even had more hair when she got her haircut.

The kennel cut is the fur being cut by clippers to a length of one inch except on the head, belly, feathers and tail. A strip down the belly that as close as can be to the skin is hidden by the “skirt” of hair left.

Here’s Ellie with her new cut.

Here’s Bess

Cute!

Well, what was upsetting was the boys. They wanted to know who these hot chicks were that we had brought home!

We were told that it was actually the shampoo that was attracting the boys and not the haircuts.
Who would of thought it about oatmeal shampoo?

So back to the boys and their kennels. Dan gets them up in the morning. Rose and Ros help. Dan goes and gets Mac, who has to have a treat at his door. Then Mac goes up out of the barn into the dog room and has to have another treat before he goes outside. Ros gets a treat and goes outside and Rose gets a treat and stays inside. Dan gets Franklin. Franklin gets a treat at his door, goes into the dog room and gets another treat before he goes outside. Rose has learned she’ll get another treat if she waits for Franklin.

It’s a wonder that our dogs aren’t overweight.

Melanie went to the MA Sheep and Wool Fair to see the Border Collies in action.

This dog held this position for 5 minutes while waiting for his shepherd's whistle. Our dogs will hold a position for 5 minutes if they’re sleeping.

Melanie was getting out of the sun and took off her hat. Her hat is wonderful, it’s a baseball hat (her boys shaped it for her) with a Newfoundland on it, she’s attached 8 Newfoundland dog pins on it. A woman noticed her hat and remarked that she didn’t realize that Newfoundlands were herding dogs. Melanie explained that our dogs wouldn't know what to do with a sheep and if any of our dogs had seen one out on the field in the sun and heat, would have barked, found shade and gone to sleep.

Oh, we had a visitor the other day. Came in the night.

Weird.
Melanie said that the original Star Trek series must have based the Andorians on this moth.

We have a lot of news from the Litters that Melanie still hasn’t gotten together. BUT, if you have any more news or pictures send them along and she WILL get to all them next time.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

May 10, 2007

River Bear Newfoundlands
now has an

ANTHEM!

Thanks to
Amalia FourHawks!

Sung to “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain”

There are big dogs in the kitchen Zoe said
And they’re gonna hang around til they get fed
So lets parcel out the crunchies
And we’ll give em all their munchies
And then maybe after that, they’ll go to bed

There are big dogs in the river said McKey
Where the waters cold enough to freeze a flea
They will all get nice and muddy
Then they want to be your buddy
Now there’s big ole Newfie pawprints all over me

There are big dogs, Dan says, barking in the yard
And it sure is nice to know that they’re on guard
To protect us from the bikers,
And the menace of the hikers
Along with poodles, shadows and leaves that fall too hard.

There are big dogs in our lives says Melanie
On our beds, and by our side and at our knee
How we all love all our Newfies
The smart ones and the goofies
And we even love the mischevious Rosie!

Can’t you just see us all lined up the morning, singing and barking away?

Melanie is not quite right yet. (Though by her son’s opinion, she never has been) So she doesn’t have any thing from the litters today. But she is getting better.

Speaking of McKey Carpenter

Here he is with Mac. McKey is going back to NYC this Saturday.
We’re not sure if we could have gotten through this winter without him.

Rose has been her charming self. She loves to retrieve. Toys . . . bones . . parts of bushes from the play yard . . . Dan’s underwear. Her best retrieval story is from Dan and Zoë. They had gone on the morning run. Through the meadow, over to the river, going for their swim, and Rosie bringing them a very nice wrist watch. Very gently. That was unusual. Melanie took it down to the neighbors and sure enough it was one of their boys’. He had lost it the week before.

Zoë came down to a few napkins spread around the floor of the kitchen. That’s right. We’ve gotten lazy and left the napkins out. Zoë followed the trail of napkins outside. Mac, Ros and Rose were having a GRAND time. They thought Zoë had joined the fun when she started picking them up. Needless to say, Zoë took no pictures.

Shedding season has begun for Mac and Franklin.

Dan got two pictures of Zoë grooming Mac.

He loves to get groomed.

Here’s 1/2 of Franklin’s chest.

Zoë bought a tent for the dogs.
We do this every year. This year’s tent was much bigger and more confusing than ever. So we invited McKey’s cousins William and James Bodine to help put it up.

Will and Rosie

James and Rosie.
Not sure who’s inside.

The next group of photos took place in less than ten minutes.

So this is a tent, huh?

Patsy thinks tents are old hat.

Mac and Rose think it looks pretty cool.

Somehow Mac has gotten stuck through the wall of tent.

That’s Rose tying to figure out what’s going on with Mac.

Well, she couldn’t bother him that way. Maybe if she comes from the outside.

Yes, now she can bother him.

Well, Mac isn’t stuck anymore.
But what happened to the tent?

Hmm. Can’t get in it anymore.

On to something else.

Zoë and Melanie needed a puppy fix.
They went down to Kathy Luce’s.

Rose is never bored.

What on earth?

Oh, one of McKey’s last jobs.
Fixing the weather vane.
Isn’t that a cool Newfie on it?

Well, that’s it for this week.
Take care.

May 4, 2007

Hey All!

Melanie has been ill and still isn’t up to par.
Next week she promises to be up to a HUGE entry!

So here’s a picture of seven of the eight crew.
Melanie thinks there should be a song about
“Big Dogs in the Kitchen”

Take care,
We’ll be back next week.

April 19, 2007

ALL THE PUPPIES HAVE LEFT!

Whew.

That’s an upside down Diesel with
his Great Grandmother Ellie on the left and Grandmother Bess on the right. He left the next day.

That was 6 months of puppies, Dan’s heart surgery and recovery.
We were all ready to start relaxing.
Bess had a head start!

When winter hit again . . .

Dan got knocked down and injured his knee, Melanie got sick, McKey had a production week,
and Zoë was back to doing everything.
Oh yeah, the washing machine quit, the hot water heater had to be replaced and the van stopped working.

We need to clone ourselves or something.

The dogs are fine though. Not a lot of stories, because none of us had the brains to write any down. Rosie is missing the puppies. She’s behaving “pretty well.” She acts just like a big dog and then her puppiness takes over, she steals underwear and prances with it in the side yard.

Here she is being a perfect angel.
Zoë is working with her every morning. They are working on heeling, sit and being polite.
She’s doing quite well.

Ros is losing all her fur.
Except . . .

her feathers. She’s this skinny thing with a bustle.

Mac decided he wanted to be on a table.
He chose the 14 in by 24 in side table.
It didn’t work as you can see.

No one got a picture of him doing this.
They were laughing too hard.

At the last show Melanie ordered Patsy a new collar.
It’s a collar that is a modified choke.
It can never get real tight but if you’re holding on to the collar it tightens up so they won’t slip out of it.

Now once, Patsy had a beautiful red collar with trim on it. That was when Mac, Ros and Franklin were puppies and they ate all the trim off of it.

It’s Mac’s collar now.

When Patsy got her first points, Melanie bought a new collar.

Blue with trim.
That’s Franklin wearing it now.
It’s the only collar that will fit him.

Patsy’s new collar came this week.

She’s very pleased with it. She shows it off to everyone.

But modeling is hard work.

People have written in and told us their news. But Melanie’s still not altogether back and she will do News from the Litters next week. That way she can scan the pictures in.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

April 6, 2007

We wish everyone a Happy Spring!! Oh, yeah. Wait a minute.

We had two inches of snow and

an Ice Storm!

So it’s been a very interesting week. Mud is one of the words that come to mind. Lots and lots of mud. Mud with ice. Mud without ice. Mud on the floor. Mud on the rug. And mud showing up where it shouldn’t. As in we caught Miss Rose!

And she was trying to tell us that she was behaving.

Diesel is still with us for less than a week. We hope that his owners will recognize him. He’s grown legs.

That’s Diesel on the left and Rose on the right.
Hmm. Notice the mud?

Diesel and Rose are very busy.

Here’s Rose holding Diesel down.

We’d stop her, but Diesel explains that this is what he wants.

McKey was putting the big boys out in the kennel the other night.
He found Mac like this.

Mac was pretending to be asleep as McKey called him to go out.
Mac tried to keep a straight face, but then he started grinning and wagged his tail between his legs.

Zoë was sitting in the chair that Mattie wanted to get into this morning.
So Mattie just crawled up and went to sleep.

A lot of our new puppies’ owners have written in say thanks and hi. We want to remind people about puppy kindergarten and training. These guys get big and we want the HUMANS to be pack leaders!

Of course, you still have to spoil them, too.

River Bear Conan! (Ros and Franklin pup)

I just wanted to give you an update on Conan (Mr. Blue). He is adjusting
extremely well to life at our home. Loves everyone in the family and
doing well with house training.

Today was actually his first day on the job. He went with my wife to the
nursing home (where she works as an OTA). Our last newfie went once in a
while to lift the spirits of the patients, and since her passing, the
patients and other workers have asking for Conan to come to work. So
today is the day. Since he is just a great puppy, I am sure he will do
well and everyone will fall in love with him like we have.

I think I might have started a bad habit with him. The last couple
nights I have been working at home on my laptop. He will come up to me
and climb into the chair. Of course I have to stop working and let him
lay in my arms getting pet until he falls asleep. Sad thing is, I look
forward to him being 160lbs and doing the same thing!

River Bear Abigail Rose (Ros and Franklin pup)

Thank you again for our Fluffy Bundle of Joy. Abigail Rose is a handful. She's learning very quickly were the door is to go potty. We have maybe one accident a day. Very good so far.
        She's definitely not afraid of her older Brothers.She'll think nothing of Charging across the yard after her 172 lb. brother Duncan, to steal his big giant stick! The two of them run around, both with one end of the stick in there mouths, while there older brother Shamis watches from his favorite resting area near the tree.

River Bear Molson (Ros and Franklin pup)

He is doing great. He had a vet
appt on Friday and weighed in at 26 pounds. We
finally have given up on trying to make him sleep by
himself and he has moved into our bedroom and is much
happier! I am attaching a picture. Thanks for the
great pup!

That catches up with the new group.
Here’s news from other litters:
River Bear Sullivan (Patsy, Mac pup) lives in Western MA.

I just wanted to update you on dear sweet Sullivan. He is the most serious dog I have ever met. Even in his play, he is serious. He concentrates on everything that he does. And he is into everything. Things are a little better between Olivier and him. They still have their disagreements, but Sullivan will never back down. I think he is rising in his rank as top dog. We will see. Olivier isn't too happy about that, but he wont assert his authority to the extent that Sullivan backs off.

I cant wait to let him swim. I think he is going to love it. Lily . . . is very confident with him and allows no mistakes by Sullivan. If he so much as walks too closely to her, she lets him know. She is truly a princess in her own world.

Sullivan is doing well in dog obedience and loves his daily hikes in the woods.

Hope to see you at summers events this year.

For those of you in Western MA, the summer events Sullivan’s owner is mentioning is training for Water Rescue! As we know more about dates and times, we’ll put it on the web.

River Bear Wendell is at it again. He’s a Bess pup (MO). He’s also brother to Mac and Ros.

e have two fenced areas for the Newfs, the front yard and the back yard. There are a total of 6 gates which can get you in and out of one and connect the two. Some are people walking gates and others to allow vehicles to go through. ALL of them are kept locked with a clip that is closed so the Newfs are kept safe.

The other day the Newfs were in the front yard (sort of a treat for them, the back yard is theirs) and Ted was working in the garden which is beyond the back yard fence. Ted came into the garage and had closed the gate, latching the gate, not locking it, as he was only getting a trowel or something, less than a minute in time, and when he returned to the garden, there was Wendell waiting for him.  Wendell has seen us open those latches many times. He always waits when instructed to do so. But, I guess he figured that Dad needed his help and was ready to do so.

Luckily Tiny (our escape artiest) was so happy to be in the front yard, laying in the flower beds, that she didn't realize what was going on and she missed the whole action. She loves to go visiting! Wendell is like a Velcro shadow, never leaving our sides!

Newfoundlands are smart. Give them training or they’ll train themselves!
(They’ll do that anyway.)

That’s all this week.
Take care.

March 28, 2007

Finally, the log is on Wednesday! Whew.

All the puppies have homes! All over the North East. Everyone has left except Mr. Dark Blue, with the rose collar. His owners were going on vacation so we have him a little longer. That’s okay with us!

After much voting our family has agreed on the name Diesel.

So now we call him “Diesel” instead of “Little One,” “Mr. Dark Blue,” or “Hey, you.” He really appreciates the name.

Here’s some pics of the pups getting their beauty day before they leave.

This is Diesel.

Not sure who’s in the tub, but Mr. Blue wants in. Last time we heard Mr. Blue’s family were considering three different names.

Not sure who this is either.
Newfoundland puppies sure look different when they get wet.

Here’s the last two having a bit fight.
“My mouth is bigger than yours” went on for 30 minutes.

Diesel still has plenty of playmates.
Here’s another “my mouth is bigger than yours” discussion.

That’s Ros, the upside down mom, with Rose on the left and Diesel.

Rose and Diesel being charming.

We do know two other names.

Mr. White's name is officially (we think) Carl, after my grandfather. It was Henry, then Oscar, but Carl feels pretty right.
I LOVED your book- I am lamenting that I finished it already. So many things were represented so accurately- the woowoowoo, the deep sounds from the huge breathing chamber of such a big dog, the leaning, and companionship. I was so happy to have seen your home before I read Dan's book. I could picture it all while reading.
I've wanted to write since we got home, to tell you just how happy we are with this little beast. I love having met the whole family, and have spoken much about Franklin to anyone who will listen. I still can't believe how big that dog is.
I got to work this morning and was sent home- my co-worker is sick. What a treat- I get to spend the day with Carl. We're going to make fish chowder now, so I have to go.
Thank you again for the lovely book, and for bearing such an incredible puppy in Carl. He is a gift.

ps-we had to go home last Wednesday via boston, to pick up our son at BU,so he could spend the first day and night with the baby. We've taken to sleeping on the floor with Carl. I know this is bad, but he is so appreciative, and so well behaved. He wakes us up to go out. woof.

Mr. Yellow is
now going by Molson. He is great pup. We will get
some photos to you soon!

By the way folks . . .

Neither Franklin nor Mac are for sale!!!
Neither are Ellis, Bess, Patsy, Mattie, or Ros.

Hmmm. Rose?

That might depend on the day.
Right now . .

Melanie caught her being very cute the other morning. We don’t use the oil heat if we can possibly help it, but it came on while Rose was around one of the vents. Rose put her face right on top of the vent and then slowly pull her face back, then put her nose right back. Then she went to the sides, feeling where the air was. Totally cool. Did Melanie have a camera? No.

With the snow thawing, toys are becoming visible and are being found, bringing happiness to the dogs. The OLD DISGUSTING LARGE BONE that Rose unearthed with such joy, got picked up in a hurry, wrapped in plastic and dumped.

Mac likes to hang out with the guys of the house, especially when looking at the river. With Dan, Mac will put his front feet on the top railing and Dan puts his arm around him. McKey has now become a Mac river buddy. McKey was standing at the fence looking at the river. (Really rolling now. All that melting snow.) Mac came up and sat beside him. Mac put his front feet on the lowest railing. Looked at McKey. He put his front feet on the middle railing. Looked at McKey. He put his front feet on the top railing. Looked at McKey. Then Mac put his front feet on McKey’s shoulder’s and licked his face.

Fence buddies. Nothing like it.

Here’s another thing McKey and Mac.
They just look at each other for minutes on end.

Taking the dogs for a walk. One of those wonderful times that all people love. Melanie and McKey went on a walk in the woods with Mac, Franklin, Rose and Bess. And since they were with Newfoundlands, their lovely walk had a quirk in it.

They were walking near the abandoned scout camp. The dogs had disappeared for a second and McKey whistled. Here came the four of them each trying to grab hold of an object that had a rope trailing behind. Rose finally got the object. It was a head. Luckily of a mannequin. It was so WEIRD. The dogs were totally into stealing the head from each other. The head had hair and a face. It was trailing a rope. McKey finally got the head and we threw it away.

Steven King’s got nothing on our dogs.

Before we take you for a NORMAL walk with our dogs. Just thought we’d let you know how Joanne (our wonderful handler) is doing.

A while back, we wrote about pulling a Joanne. Which Melanie really wants to do. Joanne has ancestral land in CT and has been trying to build on it. They got the permits and they have started building!

HI everyone! check out the new page... it is finally happening!
Torrey Hill Farm
Joanne

She designed the house and will have a solar energy collecting array.

Congratulations Joanne and Family!

Now enjoy a walk with the dogs.

Starting with a treat.

And off they go.

Franklin was on the wrong side of the fence.

Time for a dip.
That’s Franklin (left back) ,Mac (right back), Bess (left front), Mattie right front.

Bess likes to dip in the snow after dipping in the river.

Time for another treat.

Then a bit of grazing.

Mac testing the ice in the meadow.

Terrifying Rose.

Mattie looking for the right grazing.

And a beautiful picture of Ellie!

Melanie thanks McKey for taking the pictures.
That’s all this week.
Take care.

March 22, 2007

The day after last week’s log, the river broke. This is totally cool. Melanie noticed it first. Looking down from the window she saw and then heard, large chunks of ice breaking off and the cruising down the river.

That continued through the morning. The dogs were NOT pleased. They could hear the clunking of the ice chunks. Our pack spent most of the morning barking at the river.

THEN

Zoë heard the river roaring, looking out she realized the river had turned into a giant slushy mess.

Dan estimated that the mess was headed down the river at 8 or 9 miles an hour. It took a few hours to clear out the river but now it’s free of ice.

The dogs hated the river roaring.
We humans went out to look from the bridge and they were very concerned about us.
“Don’t go out!! It’s not safe!!”
When we came back,
“Oh, you’re safe!! Oh, thank goodness!! We were wondering who was going to feed us!”

The dogs stayed in a pack and wouldn’t get near the back of the stockade towards the river.

That night it snowed 14 inches.

Winter in Western Massachusetts
You gotta love it. Mac does.

The pups in the snow!

Under the desk.

Notice there are only four pups.
Mr. White has moved to Maine!

Funny story about that. Melanie likes to look at different sites about science and photography. One of the sites combines both. The Astronomy Picture of the Day
More than a year ago, she was looking at a multiple exposure of the Winter Solstice sun in Maine. She realized that she was also seeing a dog. The silhouette of a Newfoundland? So she wrote explaining her interest. Yes, it was a Newfoundland dog that had helped take the pictures. Her name was Gracie. When Gracie died, John remembered our web site and looked us up. Mr. White is going to a great home.

Soon our puppies will be gone. This is going to be so weird. We’ve been on the go since August. The dogs might get groomed? We might train Rose? Zoë and Ellie might do some therapy dog? Hmmm. The possibilities seem endless. Patsy’s getting her year off. Ros needs a break. Of course, we might just breed Mattie her next time . . .

Melanie went down and saw Newfoundland dog friends at the Working Show last Sunday. She saw River Bear Sullivan at the show. He’s Patsy and Mac’s pup from Patsy’s last litter. He’s the one that flushes the toilet and moves the furniture. He’s also the one who’s being trained for Water Dog! He’s adorable and Melanie, of course, hadn’t brought the camera.

His owner was apologizing for not wanting to put Sullivan in Dog Shows. Melanie mentioned that the owner has to love what they’re doing with their dogs. That love just goes down the leash and inspires the dogs!

Melanie was able to see the Sweepstakes, but had to leave to pick up McKey from the train. We hope all our friends won.

News from the Litters:

Speaking of McKey, he had his TV show debut! The Science Channel has a program called “Exploring Time.” In the second hour, McKey is on for 5 seconds as an EMT!!

He’s the one on the right.

They forgot pants for him so the long shot shows he’s wearing shorts.

COOL!

He’s not the only one who’s being photographed.
Melanie and Ted of The Newf Emporium sent the picture of Wendel modeling once again.
The Newf Emporium

He is so cute! He just sits and waits while we take his photograph!

What a good model!

Wendel is Mac and Ros’s brother, Bess’s son!

That’s all this week.

Take care.

March 15, 2007

Blame the whole missed week on Melanie. She was sick. It’s her fault!

Okay, besides that . . . we had a bit of Spring this week. And tomorrow they are calling for a Winter Storm. Yikes.

For those of you in the North East, the Working Dog Show will be held this weekend at the Big E in West Springfield. A good place to go and see wonderful Newfoundlands, great breeders and handlers and not us because ours still don’t have enough hair.

Melanie did get out the good camera, pressed into service some puppy wranglers and got the pups out for the first day outside.

That’s Lady McKey on the left and Mr. Dark Blue on the right.
In the middle
Mr. Blue on Right and either Mr. White or Mr. Yellow on the left.

Mr. Yellow on left, Mr. Dark Blue on right.

Mr. Dark Blue (rose collar) eating in front.
Lady McKey being ladylike. (That’s not usual)

Mr. White

Mr. White

Lady McKey exploring. (That is usual)

During Melanie’s downtime, Zoë and McKey took up the camera and grabbed snapshots of the crew. But before those, a story.

Melanie and McKey drove to NY so McKey could catch the train in for an audition. (Cross your fingers folks!) McKey being an actor, keeps all around him entertained. Here is Melanie’s description of McKey talking about the puppies. She wishes you could see the body language.

I’m calling the puppies “Lemmings” now. I was coming into the living room from my side, opened the door and then shut it again when I remembered that I needed to get my coffee. All of a sudden, the door was hit by 10 feet. Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam. They knew where I was. By the time I got my coffee, they were leaning against the door, talking to each other and I couldn’t get in. I had to force the door open, slowly so I wouldn’t hurt anyone.

When I got in, it started. “Hey, how you doing? We going somewhere? What are you doing? You going somewhere now? What’s happening? Give me a treat?

McKey describes this as a flood of puppies that stay right in front of you with out you able to make a step. They sit and look straight up and wag their tails. They are adorable and if you don’t have treats you aren’t going anywhere.

When I do start to move, the pups move with me. They want to be with me. That’s where the lemmings come in. They would follow me anywhere. I am all important. Of course, they follow behind me. But also beside me and in front of me. The ones in front of me, have to keep checking if I’m with them. They sit down and look up at me. “What do you think? I’m I going the right way? Which way is the right way? Want to play? Oh, you still want to go, okay I’ll lead the way.”

Now understand McKey is doing this whole monologue with the physical acting while driving a car.

It’s interesting living with an actor.

Here are more snapshots from the last two weeks.

Flat puppy

A favorite place.

Franklin cleaning one of his puppies.

Learning the stairs.

Yes, we still have pieces of the hula hoop around.

Bess and McKey have a “thing.”
Bess uses him to wipe off her mouth and he tries to get away.
She usually wins.

Franklin and freezing rain.

McKey, Rose and the rest of the hula hoop.

Patsy is willing to put up with most anything.

This chair has made it through all of our litters.
It might not make it through Rose.

News from the Litters:

From Patsy’s first litter!! River Bear Beatrice (Patsy and Ch Kilyka’s Celtic Raaasay UD, NY) She’s Franklin’s sister.

Bea has turned out to be a lovely lady. After lots of training and socializing, she outgrew her lunging at other dogs and is adored by everyone. She has a good life. Once a week, I drop her off at a Doggie Day Care so she can play in a large warehouse with all of her friends, large and small. My neighbor also comes over a couple of times a week with his three dogs just to see her and they all play in my yard for hours.  We lost our Golden Retriever last summer to cancer. Bea was so good to him, especially towards the end.  A few months later, I wanted to get another pup from you, but my husband didn't want another enormous dog in the house, so I had to settle for a Black Lab. We got him three weeks ago. After having Blackjack home for just minutes, we all completely fell in love with him, even Bea. I'm so proud of her. Some people felt that she would be jealous of the pup, since she is so close to me. I knew better. Bea accepted the pup as if it were her own. She is gentle and playful. She loves to drag toys and sticks in front of the pups face until he grabs it. When they are outside, Bea will calmly lay there while Blackjack takes running leaps at her head, tail, ear or whatever he can get his sharp teeth on. She just lays there and takes the abuse. She loves her new brother. I'm really glad Bea is in my life.  I look forward every morning just to see her beautiful face. I can't imagine life without a Newfy.

Think Bea looks like her mother?

That dragging toys in front of Blackjack is from Patsy!

That’s all this week.
Take care.

March 1, 2007

We’re hunkering down here for the Winter Storm coming tonight and tomorrow. The pups have their healthy pup check up at the Vet’s tomorrow. It might have to wait.

It was quieter here for a couple of days. Mattie is going out of heat and Melanie and McKey took Patsy (in a great deal of heat) to Lancaster, PA for a road trip. The boys stopped singing and actually were wagging their tails at each other.

Here’s Patsy on her trip.

She is so food motivated.
She loves drive throughs. Every time Melanie or McKey would slow down her head would come up looking for the bank or MacDonald’s.
She learned this from our banks. They give bones to our dogs.

So Dan and Zoë had three quiet days and then the boys started singing again.

The pups have had their puppy shots so they are ready for visitors.

Here they are waiting.

They love people to come in and sit on the floor.
They all try to get in your lap and eat you up!

Here’s McKey under attack.

Notice his shoe lace.

It’s difficult walking through the living room right now.
Just ask Ros.

The big dogs were locked out side and we let the puppies out of the living room. They got as far as the hall when they discovered the toilet paper.

They never got further than the hall.

Melanie sat on the floor and snapped pictures so people could see what it’s like to have an avalanche of puppies in your lap.

Cuties!

Their big sister Ros has been busy again . . .

First Ros was taking the hula hoop through the dog door while it was still a hoop. She found it easier to take it apart and then pull it through the dog door.

That didn’t always work.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Roger and Merlin’s (Patsy pups both, NY) owners sent more wonderful pics.

Hi Everyone,
Just a little update on the boys...Merlin is growing rapidly. He house trained quickly. No accidents in 3 weeks. Though I do make a point of putting him out quite often. He listens very well, though he has been caught being a newf puppy....Found him on the kitchen table...sneaking emily's toys....trying to steal Emily's food etc.....He is such a good dog, just like Roger....Thought you might enjoy these...

Merlin on left and Roger on right.
We call this game “My mouth is bigger than yours.”
It was a shock to see a National Geographic special that was showing bears doing the same thing.

What hams!

That’s all this week.
Take care.

February 22, 2007

Hello from the snowy Northeast!! We’ve been trying to get the log back on Wednesdays. Today is Thursday and there lies a tale!

Ellie covered.

Remember that right now we have Ladies in Heat. Mattie is still in heat and Patsy has decided to join her. This is driving our boys nuts. We are determined not to have any surprise litters THIS time. So the boys are in the kennel and separate yards from each other and from Patsy and Mattie.

So Tuesday when the wind had calmed down (we’ve been having 20 degrees below wind chill factor) we decided to take the dogs out for a run at the new place we’ve found. About 3 miles away, it is up a hill with dirt roads and no river that’s iced over. Iced over rivers can be very dangerous for dogs and humans. The van had decided it needed to go in to the shop and we had the all wheel drive Subaru Outback. Melanie and McKey took three dogs first. They had Patsy, Mattie and Ellie.

Melanie was driving and when she got to the turn off, decided that she could make it up the dirt road to the abandon camp. Did we mention it was 40 degrees out?

Snow gets slushy and snowmobiles are not heavy enough to stabilize a snowy road. With that not in mind, Melanie got the car stuck. Really stuck. Because it has not been a snowy winter, the car did not have a shovel or any thing for traction. All they had in the car were three confused Newfoundlands. Being dog owners they realized the most important thing was to get the dogs walked first. So the dogs had a great time, McKey found a two by four by six and brought it down to the car.

The dogs got in the car and Melanie made helpful suggestions that McKey (very kindly) ignored. It took a half an hour to get the car unstuck. McKey was VERY polite. Melanie was proud of the dogs and her son.

Of course, that meant yesterday Melanie was too exhausted to take pictures for the log. She just napped most of the day.

The male dogs had a great run though. They found every place that Mattie and Patsy had been.

We’re busy with the puppies and figuring out where it’s safe to open doors and put dogs. We don’t have enough time to play with Rose, who doesn’t mind. She’s been very busy.

She’s decided that she can empty the dishwasher.

Of course, things don’t look quite the same.

She’s also enjoyed moving things in and out of the dog door. Melanie was working at the computer and heard the banging of the dog door. And the banging of the dog door. And then the banging of the dog door. A whoof. And then the banging of a dog door. She knew the door was open and didn’t want to get up. A few more minutes of banging and in came Rose with the Poop pail. Melanie got up in a hurry then. For once, Melanie didn’t take a picture.

The puppies were 5 weeks old yesterday. That means one more week and people can visit them. They are barking. They come when you call “Pup, pup, pup, pup.” (That is so cute, because they try to run) They are definitely in the ewok stage. Rubbing bellies is very important. And like big dogs, if you hit the right place with your scratching, their legs move.

Playtime!

Lady McKey
Her blaze is just a gray hint on her nose.

Mr. White
He’s the one that Ros had on her own in the middle of the floor.

That’s the white tip of Lady McKey’s tail.

This is Mr. Blue. Melanie woke him up which is why he looks startled.
He’s McKey’s favorite.

Mr. Yellow going down for a nap.

We know that’s a Rose colored yarn on his neck, but this is
Mr. Dark Blue.
We ran out of Dark Blue yarn and changed to Purple.
We ran out of Purple and changed to Rose.
McKey is calling him Mr. Ever-changing Color.

The log has readership in Germany and New Zealand. Now we have a reader in Canada.

I am from Innisfil, Ontario. That is actually Alcona, which is on the western shore of Lake Simcoe. While surfing some Newf sites a few months ago, I came across a link to yours. I have been checking weekly and looking at your logs. Its gives me a smile and chuckle to start the day. Your herd of Newfs is just great.

     I only have one Newf..........Newfhill's Amazing Grace. We ended up with a little Beagle that had been abused. They are amazing together, despite the difference is size and the Beagle, which we call Beni, has been a great addition.

Cute!

A long time ago, before the web site, Melanie found a great web site for Newfoundland lovers. Elle (the woman who runs it) took a leave of absence for a while and is now back.

• www.ilovenewfies.com

Elle lives in Alaska and her site is full of great stuff, including free Newfoundland e-mail postcards.

Hope you visit her.

News from the litters:

River Bear Sullivan (Patsy and Mac pup, MA) is going to be the best trained puppy we’ve ever had. He’s also the one who moves the sofa and flushes the toilet.

I am having so much fun with Sullivan.
He is just so cute. I wont be putting him in the water till the ice
melts. Somewhere around April, but I cant wait to see his reaction. He
graduated from Puppy Class and on to the next class. He is just so
smart.

Just let me know when you and Eleanor are ready for the therapy thing.
Newfs make the best therapy dogs. I have taken Sullivan a couple of
times already. I go to the psychiatric floor and I just love it. They
are so great on that floor and just love my dogs. It's a lot of fun.

Zoë and Ellie are Therapy Partners. Another reason we need a break from puppies! Oh, by the way, Melanie was looking at Rose and thinks it will soon be time to show her. Of course, she has to be leash trained and ring trained. Hmmm. Zoë is wondering if we’re keeping all the dumb ones. Melanie thinks it’s just because Intact Males and Females during heat seasons have much more important things on their minds then “STAY!”

What is important is singing. Mac is very good. Franklin is getting better. McKey is really good at imitating both of them. When the temp reached 0 the other night, Mac slept in the West Wing where he serenaded McKey at 2 am. He also was singing to Zoë, Ros and the puppies, unfortunately not the dogs he wanted to impress!

That’s all this week.
Take Care.

February 14, 2007

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Here’s our two love birds.

Well, that’s enough of that!
No pictures of the boys today because they have been regulated to the West Cummington Jail for the duration. (The kennel)

Mattie’s in heat.

Sometimes Mattie thinks it’s best to hide from the whole situation.

Before we get to some puppy pictures, some stories about our almost eight month old puppy Rose.

Rose can now reach, with ease, the counter. You would think that the humans in the house would remember this.

Melanie came in the kitchen the other morning and found the above.

Now, she grabbed the camera, thinking this was cute, and took a picture. It was after that she had found that Rose had eaten all the bacon. She did not think that was cute.

Melanie was also lucky to find the left overs of the dryer vent.

Several parts were missing.

Melanie went in to the hardware store with the parts she could find and explained she needed new parts that would make up what she had.

The man’s look, when she explained about the almost eight month Newfoundland puppy, was quite a study. Then enlightenment occurred. “Newfoundlands are those big black dogs, right?” He then started talking about when he met his first Newfoundland.

Melanie has noticed this. Mention you have or raise Newfoundlands and EVERYONE has a story. This guy had met his first Newfoundland at the top of Mount Washington. He had thought it was a bear, except it was so graceful. He talked to the owner. The dog weighed over 200 lbs. (Thanks goodness none of ours weigh that much. They already run the household.)

Dan installed the new dryer vent and it’s working fine.

What isn’t working is the chimney on the West Wing of the house.
We have our own glacier.

We’re so proud.

As long as we’ve lived here, we’ve never really used the oil heat in the West Wing. Things being what they have been this fall and winter, it seemed easier than dealing with the wood stove. Because the house is almost 200 years old and things have been added hodgepodge, the chimney is a distance from the oil furnace.

That means “the the heated air from the furnace has moisture that condenses on the cold chimney causing the water to leach from the inside of the chimney and Voila . . . a glacier.

ENOUGH OF THE STORIES, YOU SAY?
WHERE ARE THE PUPPIES?

Okay, puppy pictures and then some Newfoundland in snow pics.

Yes, they’ve grown big and sassy! They are four weeks old today!
That means in two weeks they will have their first set of puppy shots and people can visit!
The chimney guy (visiting for our glacier) thought it was unfair to let him take a peek but not let him touch them.

Tough.

Feeding time is very important.

This is Mr. Yellow holding down Zoë’s boot.

They are still sleeping more than anything else.

Lady McKey
You can just see the smallest white tip on her tail.

Today was a day to curl up and nap . .

Unless you are BIG DOG in the SNOW!

Bess in the Snow
Zoë has told Melanie that a large print is going to be made of this.

Here’s Rose, Ros, Bess and Mattie barking madly at something.

McKey plowing the moat around the play yard!
They want him to hurry up. If we don’t have the moat, the dogs can’t use the play yard, because most winters they could walk over the fence.

When he was finished, it was play time.

Ros and Rose have McKey down.
That’s Patsy in front coming to tell on them.

McKey Carpenter and his girls!

Hmm. This looks like an opportunity.

And Rose is off, and McKey taking second place!

Rose is making the turn . .

Tackled!

McKey won!

Nutty dogs

Melanie likes this photo.

Patsy portrait!

Ellie’s tired of the snow.

News from the Litters:

Patsy’s and Mac’s pup, River Bear Sullivan (MA) is keeping busy. He’s been to Puppy Kindergarten (something we recommend for all our puppies’ owners) and we found out how he’s flushing the toilet.

Sullivan flushes the toilet with his mouth believe it or not. Good thing we have a well instead of city water. He has moved on to bigger things. Loves to move furniture. He apparently does not like where we keep the couch. He takes it by his mouth and moves it clear across to the other side of the room. I sure hope our house is securely on its foundation. I believe he will move that next. He is so much fun.   He passed puppy kindergarten with flying colors. Sit, stay, down, come, knows it all. We are now working on water rescue stuff. I cant wait to see him in the water. If the toilet is any indication of his enthusiasm, he will be the very best water dog there is!

River Bear Roger (Patsy and Ch Kilyka’s Celtic Raasay UD pup, NY) and River Bear Merlin (Patsy and Mac pup, NY) are having a good time getting to know each other. Melanie’s put three pictures in the log, because the dog sofa and the dogs were just too wonderful.

Just wanted to write and let you know that everything is going great. Merlin is doing wonderful. He is just as smart as Roger. He spends the day usually tied in a knot with Sassy as they wrestle for hours. Roger loves running around playing with him. Though there are times Roger will put him in his place. That is usually when Roger is tired of having his mouth, tail, nose, body etc...bitten by Merlin. Merlin does respect Roger very much and follows him around, as a little brother would.

That’s Roger with Merlin.

Merlin on the dog sofa.

Okay, Roger on the sofa. And if you look in the upper right . . .
that’s Sassy on the human sofa.
Gotta love these dogs.

That’s all this week!
Take care.

February 8, 2007

Whew, the dogs are loving this weather. The humans on the other hand are inside to stay, unless it’s absolutely necessary to go out.

Our house has wonderful wood floors. The planks are 18 inches wide. Old aged pine. Beautiful. Which is why we covered them up with indoor outdoor carpeting. This decision proved a good one, once again, when Bess decided she was hungry. Zoë keeps a pot of soup for dogs on the stove. In it goes any left overs, lots of chicken and water. Now understand that though this pot is at the back of the stove, that did not bother Bess in the least. She got the entire pot down and the dogs had a wonderful meal.

At night we are keeping the curtains shut on the dining room door. Not only to keep the cold out, but Rose has decided that the dog reflected in the door is a threat. She’ll notice the dog and then start barking. Which starts all the other dogs barking. Then they all run down the stairs and out the dog door, which slams with every dog, and bark at the nonexistent threat. This is usually at two in the morning. She’s been bored because Miss Wonderful has left us to go with a great family in CT who recently lost their Newfoundland.

Here are some good bye pictures of Miss Wonderful, now known as, River Bear Mocha.

Playing with Mattie Mom.
Mattie has been a little down. So has Mac (Dad). Mocha would sleep with him at night. He also took care of her when the other dogs played too hard.

She’s a lap dog!
That’s McKey with her.

Getting a bath. She actually isn’t as pudgy as she looks with dry fur.

Being a lap dog with Zoë. Mocha fell asleep while being brushed.

Checking out the Littles!

Which brings us to the Littles.
Ros and Franklin’s puppies.

Today they are three weeks old!
Eating food.

They still like Mom the best.
This is Mr. Purple using the whelping box to nurse off his mother as she eats the rest of their food.

Mr. Yellow on a mission.

Mr. Blue tired out.

The pack on the move.
They have sitting down pat. Walking on the other hand . . .

is just plain funny.

Mr. Yellow in the sun.

News from the Litters:

We heard from Mattie’s and Mac’s Mr. Red and Mr. Yellow owners, (MA)

The boys are doing just fine and seem to be mastering the potty training.
The four of us have chosen Maxmilliam ( Max ) and Finnegan ( Finn ) for the
names under the theory that Newfs should always have big names.

Mattie’s and Mac’s Mr. Blue gave his family (NY) a scare. He is now River Bear Blue Bear or Bear for short.

Here's a "Bear Scare". The other night, Dana scooped
out of his mouth what she thought was a rock and it
turned out to be a decayed squirrel head. YUCK! Dana
got upset, Patrick cried and I brought everyone (the
head included) to Oradell Animal Hospital, a large
24-hour veterinary medical facility. There he was
examined immediately by two doctors (and the head
also) and declared fine. Meanwhile, my pediatrician
called Poison Control and they said squirrels do not
get rabies so basically it was a non-issue for Dana
(since she got it out of his mouth). It's amazing the
sort of things a pup could find while exploring the
yard!!

Life is never boring with a Newf around.

River Bear Sullivan (Patsy, Mac pup, MA) is keeping his pack and family entertained. Here’s a family picture taken by AJ Cole.

That’s Lily, Olivier and Sullivan

I just wanted to give you an update on how things are going with the new puppy. Your suggestion of spending quality time together in a fun way with Olivier and Sullivan has proved to be very effective. I wouldn’t say they love each other yet, but things are going better. I think in time they may even become friends.

I definitely say that Sullivan is confident. He is not afraid of anything. He plays with a lot of other dogs, both adults and puppies and seems to do very well socially. You definitely breed smart dogs. There hasn’t been one thing I have asked of him that he hasn’t done in puppy class. He seems to learn so fast, and really enjoys pleasing me.

We also learned that Sullivan has learned to flush the toilet!
That is a smart dog. He flushes it, runs away and comes back to flush again. We’d love to know if he’s using his paw or his nose and how is the water bill.

River Bear Massey Ferguson (Patsy pup, MA) is doing great.

Massey weighs in at about 135.4 lbs, she and Cider both attend doggy daycare. They both love the teacher and look forward to going there twice weekly. Ms. Ferguson is especially happy that a new member has arrived at the daycare, someone more her size. Her name is Belle and she’s a Great Pyrenees. Her teacher tells me often about them “watching the land” together in the cold temperatures when the other dogs decide it’s time to go inside the playhouse.

Here is Massie’s pack.

That’s all this week.

Take care.

January 29, 2007

Mattie’s two boys, Mr. Red and Mr. Yellow, have gone to the same home. We don’t know their names yet, but they are going to have a blast. That leaves Miss Wonderful here. Having only one puppy, of that age, we took down the X-pen in the dining room, and put up in crate. Not that Miss Wonderful sleeps in it. She’s decided she’s sleeping with the big dogs. We feed her in the crate so she won’t eat all her food and then start in on the big dogs’ dinner.

Sometime during the middle of the night, the dogs got bored,

and proceeded to move the crate all over the room by the attached rope.
That’s Bess waiting to check out the crate for puppy food.
Mattie is not happy about having her puppies leave.
She’s been sleeping in the crate.

Here’s a picture of Miss Wonderful.
That’s not a white spot on her nose.
Well, actually it is.
Frozen white slobber from Rosie.

She’s quite a lap dog.

She almost fits.

She misses her brothers and needs a stuffed animal.

Usually we save the e-mails from our puppies’ owners for News from the Litters, but the following story leads to one of our stories! River Bear BlueBear is a Mattie + Mac pup, NJ.

“Mr. Blue is now named BlueBear or "Bear" for short.
He is settling in nicely, no longer cries at night and
has begun potty training. He is such a joy for us and
very well loved by everyone!

Here's a "Bear Scare". The other night, Dana scooped
out of his mouth what she thought was a rock and it
turned out to be a decayed squirrel head. YUCK! Dana
got upset, Patrick cried and I brought everyone (the
head included) to Oradell Animal Hospital, a large
24-hour veterinary medical facility. There he was
examined immediately by two doctors (and the head
also) and declared fine. Meanwhile, my pediatrician
called Poison Control and they said squirrels do not
get rabies so basically it was a non-issue for Dana
(since she got it out of his mouth). It's amazing the
sort of things a pup could find while exploring the
yard!!”

Now this brought up the story about Ros, when she was still pregnant and very hungry, who was running in the field with Zoë. It was freezing out and the vole which she caught must have been very cold. Zoë was trying to get it out of her mouth, when she heard a big swallow. Hmmm.

Speaking of Ros, here are some pictures of her 10 day old puppies.

Mr. Blue
(a little bit of a milk chin there)

There are three puppies here. Mr. Yellow is on top. Not sure who else is there.

When Ros rolls completely on her back, the pups climb the mountain.
All five are there.

Puppies in Pools of Sunlight.

Now Melanie is aware that this is not a good picture.
What is in focus? The paws.
But she’s trying to take a picture of Lady McKey.
Lady McKey has a grey blaze on her nose, a white milk chin, and a white streak that goes down her chest. Very cute.

The other night Melanie noticed that she has the smallest white tip on her tail.

Hopefully she will be able to get a picture, in focus, for the next log.

News from the Litters:

River Bear Atticus (Patsy, Mac pup, MA) is very busy.

Atticus continues to be a furry, sweet, willing, funny GENIUS. He learns very fast. He has the chore routine down now; his favorite thing is to grab a mouthful of hay and run around with it in his mouth looking for all the world like a big green mustache. The first time the donkey brayed the poor little man went tearing off to the house, tail between his legs and it took two days of bribery to get him back to the barn. Wish we could take the whole lot of pups! Best to all of you.

River Bear Merlin’s (Patsy, Mac pup, NY) owners sent a picture.

Merlin is precious and Roger is an excellent teacher. Walking on the leash is not hard at all. He is a little nervous in the beginning and then he catches up w/Roger and walks right next to him. Roger is definitely playing with him, and forget about Sassy. She drains him.
Take Care

That’s Merlin on the left and Roger on the right. They’re half brothers.
Roger is a Patsy and Ch Kilyka’s Celtic Raasay UD.
Franklin is Roger’s littermate.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

January 21, 2007

There is news today!

Two puppies went to excellent homes!

That leaves 8 more puppies.

Wait . . .

You’d think that with Zoë and Melanie being former math teachers, they’d be better at the math.

Let’s see . .

We had five.

Patsy’s Mr. Green left.

Mattie’s Mr. Blue left.

That’s three!

EXCEPT ON WEDNESDAY ROS HAD HER PUPPIES!

See Ros winking? That’s because there’s a story!

(Ros and Franklin are the parents)

FIVE HEALTHY PUPS!

Mr. Dark Blue
Mr. Light Blue
Mr. Yellow
and Lady McKey (the only girl)

Wait, that’s only four puppies.
Which is what we thought we were having. The x-rays showed four healthy puppies. And one that wasn’t complete.

We were taking turns with Ros during her labor. Except Melanie, who was sick. McKey had built her a fort (designed from his childhood forts) in the West Wing. She loved it. She spent Wednesday outside digging in a hole or in her fort.
McKey was a great midwife (excuse me, he says he was training to be a great midhusband). He was outside with her in 2 degree weather. He’d stay with her as she napped outside.

Dan was watching her around 8 pm on Wednesday night, when he came in and said, “Puppy coming!”

We had been ready for two days. Everything went smoothly. Ros had her fourth puppy around 2:15 am. McKey had done almost everything. Melanie did the shots. Zoë supervised and did the “gunky stuff” as Melanie’s boys put it.

Since we knew there were only four viable pups . . .
McKey had work the next day and went to bed.
Melanie was sick and went to bed.
Dan is still recovering and went to bed.
Zoë was with Ros and pups.

Zoë heard a cry from the wrong area. Looking, she saw a puppy in the middle of the living room floor. She was dumbfounded on how that puppy had gotten out of the whelping box. She picked him up and put him with Ros and counted. FIVE PUPPIES. All sucking strong!

Cool, huh?
Proves that it’s all in the camera angles.

Here’s two close ups.

All lined up to feast.

Cutie pie.

The three Mac and Mattie pups are good to go!

Mr. Yellow
No white on his chest!

Mr. Red

White on his chest!

Miss Wonderful.

It’s always hard to take a picture of Miss Wonderful. She’s very busy. First she was helping Melanie take pictures by eating her shoes.

Next she was taking Mr. Yellow for a walk.

Next all three lined up and Melanie grabbed the picture.

And there she was licking her chops!

Patsy went for a beauty day. When intact females have had puppies, they lose their coat. In fact, they don’t just lose their coat, they blow their coat. For two weeks, Patsy’s coat was coming out in chunks. Over everything, in everything. We have a plate that says “Everything tastes better with dog hair in it.” Patsy was proving that!

When she had just a little bit of fur left, Melanie took her to a dog groomer down the road. She had heard of him from her friend’s father who has a Great Pyrenees. Melanie figured he wouldn’t be bothered by a Newfoundland. Nice guy, but couldn’t figure out why Melanie insisted that NO CUTTING should be done. Patsy is going to be shown again. Once she gets her coat back and she needs every little bit.

When Melanie picked her up, Patsy had on a bandana and was skinny! A lot more fur had come off. Melanie thanked Amalia for the name of the groomer and she said, “Melanie, my dad got the name from Massey Ferguson’s owner. The “Fergler” is one of Patsy’s puppies!

Weird.

Patsy is now a skinny dog with a really big head.

It’s finally gotten cold here.

Melanie’s artistic shot of Frost on window.

Zoë got a different Frost shot.

Frost on Mac!

She took the dogs out for their run and Mac decided it was still warm enough to swim. He had frosted tips!

News from the Litters:

Patsy’s Mr. Green has gone to live with his half brother, Roger. Roger is Franklin’s brother. His owners brought Roger up when they came to get Mr. Green.

See a resemblance? Roger isn’t as big as Franklin.
Now what you can’t see to the left of the picture is the Bijon that is also a member of the family. She’s wearing a black collar.
Roger remembered us!

We heard from Atticus’s (Patsy pup, MA) owners.

Good morning everyone at River Bear-
Couldn't find Atticus yesterday afternoon and we all went on a hunt...he can go upstairs but not down. Not in his usual spots, under the dining room table, squeezed between the legs of the end table, but there he was...in the shower! Thought you would like to see too! He is the very best puppy in the world. What a great attitude! Cheerio

We heard from Wendell’s (Bess pup, Mac and Ros brother, MO) owners.

Last night I dreamt that Ted and I brought Wendell over to your house for supper. You had one of my favorites, pot roast with potatoes, onions and carrots. Everyone was busy doing something after supper and you all were going in different directions, until Wendell discovered your indoor swimming pool right off the dining room!

You had the pool installed so that the Newfs could do water training any time of the year. Well, Wendell got right in and went nuts, swimming back and forth!

It's amazing what my dream life can do!

Wish we had a swimming pool for the dogs to exercise. It’s the best exercise for these dogs! Don’t think we’d put it off the dining room, maybe off the west wing.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

January 14, 2007

HMM . .

When the staff at the vet’s are singing . .

“Just one night,
That’s all it took was
Just one night”

You know that something is up.

Picture last November.

Dan was very sick.
Melanie was sick.
McKey was not here.
And Zoë was doing
EVERYTHING.

That’s when Ros went into heat.

Zoë counted.
Melanie counted.

And they were off by one night on how long it would be safe to keep Franklin and Ros together.

It was last week when Melanie looked at Ros and said that she was either pregnant or having a false pregnancy. We’re rather tired here so we were hoping for a false pregnancy. We were back in the “State of Denial.”

After being serenaded by the staff, Ros was seen by our wonderful vet, Dr. Constant. He looked at her and said, “Hmm.” Felt her, and said, “Hmm.” He went out and the assistant came in and looked at her and said, “Hmm.” The assistant took Ros for x-rays. Dr. Constant came back and said “I think it’s time to stop praying for more puppies.”

Some time this week, we’ll have more puppies!

Who said God didn’t have a sense of humor?

Don’t expect any more puppies for awhile after Ros’s new group.
We’re resting.

To keep this last few months from every happening again, Zoë has announced that no human is allowed to get sick ever again. And we now have what Zoë is calling the West Cummington Jail.

Otherwise known as the Boys’ Kennel.
They’ll be using the play yard when the ladies are in heat and sleep in the kennel.

See all the pellet bags? McKey and cousins (Will and James Bodine) had to move those. McKey also had to clean the barn.

The tarps are for drafts. There’s a heat lamp for heat.

Sooooooo . . . . .

To get back to our other pups.

It’s Sunday, raining, which is better than the forecasted ice storm, and everyone is taking at easy.

Mattie pup

Mattie pup.
Notice the desk chair leg.
We get all of our furniture from the Salvation Army.

Mr. Green (Patsy pup, he’s got a home already)
Mr. Blue, Mattie pup.

Melanie just stuck the camera under the desk, knowing there was a puppy there. Where’s it’s head?

There we go.

And at last Rosie.
She’s still at a very awkward age. Mostly legs. She is getting a nice coat like her father, Franklin’s. She’s not ready to show yet. But, we think she’ll be a good candidate for the ring.
She certainly has the personality.

That chair has gone through nine litters of puppies.

That’s all for this week.
Hope we’re all still breathing by next week.
Take care.

January 6, 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We hope that this year will be wonderful for everyone.

Now we’re going to complain. We live in Western Massachusetts. In the hills. Where it’s cold. Where Spring doesn’t start until the first of May.

It’s 61 degrees today!

We usually have over a foot of snow on the ground by now and it’s 3 degrees or colder.

The dogs are confused.

Oh, well. To catch you all up. Patsy’s pups are all spoken for and all but one have gone to new homes. Mr. Green goes later. On the other hand, Mattie’s pups are now getting old enough for visitors and homes. If you know anyone who would be a good Newf owner, let them know.

Introducing Mac and Mattie’s Family

Bowater Waltzing Mathilda
Yes, she needs to be groomed!

River Bear Robert’s Mr. McKey (Mac)
Yes, he needs to be groomed too.

Mr. Red

Miss Wonderful (the only female)

Miss Wonderful and Mr. Blue
sniffing is very important

Mr. Blue

Mr. Red on a mission

Mr. Yellow

News of the new homes for Patsy’s pups:

Miss Pink, now River Bear Tricksy Ann Trouble. She was going to be Sasha, but before the first hour was up, she had helped take down the Christmas tree (she grabbed a strand of lights and ran for it, spinning the tree and knocking down decorations) and then she wrapped herself in toilet paper so the name change seemed appropriate.

Mr. Blue, now River Bear Sullivan, is trying to take over the roost. He is living with two older Newfoundlands. A puppy coming in can be annoying for the dogs already at home. It sounds like his new owners are doing the right thing by supervising the time together. We just need to write and explain that the other dogs need to be able to tell the puppy where to get off. But no one is allowed to hurt another. Don’t forget the humans are pack leaders not the dog.

Mr. White, now River Bear Atticus Finch, is settling in. The Corgi explained that she was in charge, and Atticus follows right behind her. He’s living on a farm and is NOT sure of the horses.

Miss Red just left recently so we don’t know her name yet.

Here a picture of Patsy’s pups just before they left.

That’s the five middles. They had come charging through all connected to the rope, but by the time the camera came out, they had settled into a tug of war.

Not to be outdone, Ros decided to dress up.

Ros and Rose taking a nap.
Mother, daughter

The Littles behind the gate to the living room.

All four Littles sharing the dog bed.

Now the next picture might be offensive.
Zoë was cleaning out the Living room and couldn’t figure out
HOW ON EARTH
one of the Little’s did this.

It must have taken some very expert backing up.

That’s all.

Take care.

December 23, 2006

Merry Christmas
and
Happy Holidays!
Crazy as ever here at River Bear.

Melanie decided we needed a Christmas Picture.
Her idea was using the dog bed, putting on the green
tablecloth, throwing two Christmas stuffed animals on it, and then having all nine puppies on the pillow.

That woman can daydream.

First getting the puppies there.

That is McKey using Pup, Pup, Pup and shuffling feet. He is attracting the pups to the pillow.

HA.

When that did not work, we threw pups at the pillow.

As soon as you threw one on, another would leave.

Then we tried food on the pillow.

That got us no faces.

Or one face and lots of bodies.

Until that one picture that stands out a winner.
Not all nine pups but quite wonderful.

Melanie wrote a take off on
“The Night Before Christmas.
It’s based on something that actually happened in the house.

A Newfoundland Christmas
Melanie M. Montague

T’was Christmas Day when all through the house
The family was resting, some zonked on the couch
Dinner was finished, dirty plates all awry
The table a wreck not one could deny.

When out in the kitchen there arose such a clatter,
We sprang to our feet to see what was the matter.
Away we ran like a dog from a bath
Tossing chairs and children to form a straight path.

Where, what to our wondering eyes should appear
A parade led by Franklin dressed in holiday cheer.
Decked with a red bow he pranced out in front
leading the others for a treasure to hunt.

At parade’s end Eleanor pulled a sleigh
On which Mattie rode on this wonderful day.
More rapid than mice through the room the dogs came
Mattie howled and shouted and called them by name.

“Now Ellie! Now Patsy! Now Franklin and Rose!
On Bess, on Mac, Ros follow your nose,
To the top of the chairs, to the top for a feast.
Let’s go for it! Go for it! Go all us beasts!”

The animals swarmed up the chairs to the table
Grabbing at leftovers, beets and potatoes.
Paws swiped at bones and left over pies
Dogs had whipped cream up to their eyes.

Rosie, our sweetest, was doing her best
To get at the table just like the rest
Bit hold of the table cloth, pulled to get higher
When down fell the turkey, her tummy’s desire.

Rosalind, the jester of all of our pack,
Was wearing a cranberry lime jelly mold hat,
That dripped down upon her changing her hues
To more of a Christmas time red and green view.

Bess, the queen, with a crown of holly,
Was munching a turkey leg, acting quite jolly,
When she decided the best thing to take
Would be what Mac had the pumpkin cheese cake.

Mac, wearing bells, thought that Bess was quite wrong,
Took hold of her holly and stretched it quite long
‘Til it snapped back and hit her right in the nose,
Then proceeded to eat the cake dropped on his toes.

Patsy slurped gravy that spilt on a pie,
When the prize Bess had dropped caught her eye.
But Bess, having lost the pumpkin cheese cake,
Beat Patsy to the turkey leg and gave it a shake.

Franklin decided to join in the fray
Gobbled up chestnuts and started to spray
Nuts and drool, which went up and about,
Hitting dogs and people who started to shout.

In a matter of seconds ‘twas over, complete.
All the Newfoundlands left except Rosie the sweet.
She’d got her head stuck in the dead turkey carcass.
She barked with delight as she looked out upon us.

Kids, teens and grown ups we cleaned up together
Deciding that this Christmas couldn’t be better.
What a Merry Christmas and wonderful feast
When shared by us humans with our marvelous beasts.

Pics from the litters!

River Bear Molly (Bess Pup, NJ)

River Bear Oscar (Bess Pup, NY) who lives with

River Bear Zoe (Patsy Pup, NY)

River Bear Roger (Patsy pup, NY)
He is a brother of Franklin.
More of Roger.

The Long Island Newfoundland Club has play dates in the park. That is totally cool.

Roger and his buddies!

Take care and Happy Holidays!

December 17, 2006

The puppies have been busy! The weather has been such that we’ve let the Middles (for some reason, The Biggles, has become in use, they are sort of large) out into the outside puppy play yard. They were having a great time. Until . . .

Melanie early one morning heard a strange sort of noise. Looking out the window, she saw one of the puppies had her head stuck in the fence. She called down to Zoë who had just become aware of the problem. She was yelling to Dan. She went out one way and Dan came out the other. All the dogs had to help. So we got the older dogs out of the way and Dan and Zoë released Miss Pink’s head. So Miss Red stuck her head in exactly the same way and they had to release her.

Here’s Dan and two of the Middles with the solution.

We can still get the gate open.

They do love to be outside.

Mr. Green and Miss Pink figuring out a stick.

The puppies have taken over the dog bed.

They also have found out about peanut butter jars.

The Middles have learned to escape out of the whelping (living) room. If the lower hook is not hooked, we have escapees.

Which makes the entry way very difficult to get through. That’s Mattie against the gate. Then clockwise . . . Miss Pink, Mr. White, Patsy, Mr. Blue and Ros.

The Middles really love to play with toys.

Miss Pink and a ball.

Then she posed! Her eyes aren’t blue, but Melanie has discovered if you use the red eye flash on dogs, you don’t get red eyes you get blue.

Of course, the best play toy is an older puppy.

That’s Rosie with two of the Middles.
She has continued the tradition that started with Patsy.
As a puppy, when Patsy was bored, she would find a toy or a towel and drag it in front of her mother until Ellie would play.

Patsy has continued that with Mac, Ros and Franklin.

Ros continued with Rosie.

And now Rosie started this with the puppies!

There seems to be a genetic component to Newfoundlands and dishwashers.

The best thing is playing with Mom.

Melanie is aware that she NEEDS to scan the photos we’ve received from people. She WILL do that! Promise!

She is going to brag though. She entered a photo contest and was one of the finalist! She’s going to be published in a book. Cool, huh? Well, she sent several photos in. Some beautiful, some awesome and one with a sense of humor. Guess which one was picked?

That’s all for this week!
Take care.

December 10, 2006

Well, such an interesting week. Zoë is fine now. Food poisoning. Probably from a frozen chicken dinner. Two nights in the hospital. The dogs were all so glad to see her home! They like the entire pack together, preferable in one room, actually in one chair. All eight plus the humans.

The pictures are just snaps today.

Sometimes all eight dogs get in the way of cleaning and
we throw them out.
They don’t approve.

Here’s Ros waiting to get in. The grooming table is the lookout.
Mac, on the other hand, just sits at the dog door banging it with his paw. Sometimes when the dog door is open, he bangs it because he’s bored and likes the sound.

His mother Bess is our TV dog. While watching movies, she can tell which are the bad guys and will bark at them. She’ll bark at dogs that are not behaving. (We don’t watch the Dog Whisperer when she’s around) She completely disapproves of Zebras.
They are just wrong.

She doesn’t mind cats.

Rosie’s had a hard week. Her father stepped on her. Now the last time Franklin went to the Vet’s, he was weighed at 155 pounds. He didn’t have his front feet on the scale. So when he stepped on Rosie’s elbow, it hurt! She’s okay. The x-rays showed nothing broken. But Melanie couldn’t handle her crying when Rosie would try to get up off the floor, so she bought her a dog bed.

She loves it. That’s Franklin on the left side checking on her.
He spent one evening when she was really hurting, licking her eyes, ears and jaw. She liked that.

Of course, all the dogs want one now.

This is where the Middles (Patsy and Mac pups) sleep at night. It’s in the family room. We have to separate them from Mattie or they would drink her dry.
The banner was made for Zoë by Melanie’s best friend Amalia FourHawks. The painting of the Newfoundland in the background is Rob’s called “Hair in my Soup.” And the heat lamp is there because we live in an almost 200 year old house and there are drafts!

Melanie trying to take pictures of Mattie and Mac pups. Now almost four weeks old.

She blames the whole thing on the smaller camera because it waits to take the picture for a few seconds after she presses the button. If nothing major happens in the next few days (knock on wood), she’ll use her good camera. (She makes just as many mistakes but the mistakes don’t make it to the log.)

Ah, a good one!

That’s Middle Mr. Green trying to talk to Little Mr. Blue.

That’s the Little Mr. Blue and Mr. Yellow wondering what happened to Middle Mr. Green. He fell over.

The Middles have been very busy. Here’s one with his head stuck in the box.

Here’s Middle Miss Pink chewing on Melanie’s shoe laces.

It’s a trip trying to clean anything with the Middles around. The Littles whelping box is in the living room and the Middles are loose in there during the day. So if we’re trying to pick up dirty blankets, they are there helping. They hold on to the blankets, they sit on the blankets or they decided to have a fight on the blanket we are trying to move. Or they decide to help you walk, by holding on to our pants, or chewing our shoes.

Mattie is a great mother as is Patsy, but Mattie is also Mac’s wife. They have had to been separated for four weeks now at night. The other night Mattie, on her way back inside , stopped and licked Mac’s face for five minutes, then back to her job of feeding puppies.

Melanie will be scanning pictures in that people have sent, it’s just very busy right now.

Take care.

December 7, 2006

Sorry folks. The log is delayed due to illness. Check back for puppy pictures Saturday afternoon!
Take care.

November 30, 2006

Lots of pictures of Newfoundland puppies and dogs today. Isn’t that just the best way to start out the week?

Melanie has been using the small digital camera for the last month because it has not been sunny. There’s not enough light in the living room to use her big camera. But there was a one hour sun break in the murk and Patsy’s puppies were introduced to the puppy play yard. They thought it was great. Well, because they were outside and it was sunny Melanie got to use her wonderful camera with the long lens. She loves that camera.

So starting from the Littles (Mattie’s pups), on to the Middle’s (Patsy’s pups), switching to Rosie (a class of her own) and then the older dogs.

Here we go!

Mattie’s puppies are now 2 weeks and 3 days old.

These are the littles being attacked by the Middle, Miss Pink.

Here she is trying to see how one tastes. Lot of difference in size three weeks makes!

We’re not sure who belongs to these paws, but they are sure cute.

Patsy’s pups discover the joys of a bone.

It’s amazing that Patsy didn’t eat it herself.

Outside can be a bit intimating at first.

The older dogs watching the puppy show.

Now Melanie took 98 pictures of these pups.
So don’t ask her which one this is. If she doesn’t see the color of the ribbon, she forgets.

That’s McKey playing with a pup. He’s been helping out up here while he’s working at the Miniature Theatre of Chester. Now known as the Theatre of Chester. He’s only one half hour away.

He’s also handy with the camera. That’s someone chewing Melanie’s shoe.

A slow motion fight.

A Mr. Green Portrait.

A Mr. White Portrait

All the older dogs started barking and the puppies ran for safety under McKey’s legs.

Patsy came out and heaven for the pups!

Patsy is a great mother.

Here’s Miss Pink with slobber on her head.

Switch to an older puppy! That’s what we usually see of Rosie!

A family portrait of sorts.

Ros, Rosie’s mom, walking away.
Rosie blurred as usual.
Franklin, Rosie’s Dad, checking out
Mac, Rosie’s uncle and both litters of pups’ Dad, lying down.

A portrait of Ros.

Rosie standing still. Unusual.

Zoë takes the dogs over to a neighbors for a run and swim in the river every day.

The boys love to run

and swim.

Here’s Eleanor, our oldest. No running for her. She loves finding apples to eat.

Zoë and dogs.

That’s all this week.
Take care.

November 22, 2006

Sad news this week. Mattie’s Mr. Purple didn’t make it. Failure to Thrive. His weight at birth was one pound. After one week he had only gained one quarter of a pound. We tried everything, supplements, putting him with his mom on his own; he just faded away.

He fit right in the palm of our hands. He loved to be stroked and cuddled. He was beautiful.

He’s now with Kelly Green and Bear.

We are very

Thankful this Thanksgiving

that every other puppy is healthy, gaining weight and happy.

Here’s Mattie with one of her pups.

Wait a minute . . .

That’s Patsy’s Miss Red sneaking a snack off Mattie!

Yes, Patsy’s four week old puppies are wandering about.

They don’t like the whelping box during the day.
In fact, they are noisy and sound like a flock of seabirds until they are free in the Whelping room.
(Also known as the Living Room. We have no idea where we’re putting a Christmas tree.)

The puppies have just started going over to the gate and talking to the other dogs. Melanie wasn’t able to get a picture of that. She will though.

The 4 week old pups are in their Ewok looks.

They also like sleeping under the twin bed we brought in to sleep on.
They are very difficult to retrieve.

Can’t leave out those cute Mattie’s one week old puppies.

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Take care.

November 16, 2006

Yes, not only are we late again, but it’s actually the 17th! But good news!!

Mattie had 5 puppies!
Four boys
One girl
All black!

Think she looks proud of herself??

Here’s the story . . .

First we had given up on Mattie getting pregnant. We had tried natural, artificial insemination and an implant. She did get pregnant with the implant, but the puppy did not develop. We thought, she’s a wonderful dog. She’ll always be ours; she just couldn’t produce pups. We were going to spay her when Dan’s operation occurred (he’s getting a lot stronger now) and the problems with that, and she went into heat. KNOWING that she could not get pregnant, we put her in the No Tell Hotel with Mac.

And she became pregnant.

Here’s another picture of the puppies.

Knowing how tired we are, we decided to do a c-section with her. HA! She just has to do things her own way. The night before the C section the puppies were born. First one was at 5:30 pm. He looked so small we thought there was something wrong. There wasn’t. He weighed 1 1/2 lbs. It’s just we’ve been looking at 3 week old puppies.

Here’s Patsy with her 3 week old pups. Quite a difference in size!!

Mattie’s last puppy was born at 11:30 pm. Zoë stayed up with them. The next night was Melanie’s turn.

Okay. Mattie is a new mom. She believed that if she left her pups they would disappear. She didn’t leave her pups to eat, to drink, to pee or to poop. AND she likes to sit when nursing. By the second night, she was totally exhausted. Melanie didn’t get any sleep because Mattie would fall asleep on the puppies. At 4:45 am Melanie finally remembered something that some breeder said a long time ago. (Thanks to whom ever that was) She put the pups in a box with hot water bottles. Put the box in the whelping box.

Mattie said “Oh, thank goodness.” Fell down next to the box and slept. The pups slept for 25 minutes. It was the best 25 minutes that Melanie and Mattie had for a long while.

She has calmed down now. Here’s a close up of the crew.

Patsy’s pups have found the joy of food!

That’s Miss Pink and Mr. Blue trying to figure out how to eat.

They learn quickly.

Patsy’s pups are doing great. They are fighting in slow motion. They bark. And they love to crawl up into your lap and get some petting.

You can’t come see them yet. They have to have their first shots. That’s between 6 and 7 weeks.

They like their stuffed animals also.

This was about 1/2 week ago.

They are much more alert now.

The older dogs like stuffed animals too. Here’s Ros.

Not to forget our oldest pup Rosie.
(who is in trouble almost all the time right now)

Here she is playing with her Uncle Mac.

We’ve gotten pictures from River Bear Oscar and Zoë, but Melanie hasn’t had time to scan them. Also some pictures of Roger.

We’ll get them on the log when we can draw a breath.

That’s it this week,
Take care.

November 08, 2006

Whew. Everything is fine. It’s just that the log is the first thing that goes when we’re tired. The poop gets picked up, the puppies get loved, the dogs get fed and the house isn’t too bad, but the log sort of gets left behind. So this is short. Mostly to let you know we’re okay and to show off the puppies. At two weeks old, they are between 4 lbs and 5 1/2 lbs! They do like to eat.

Dan is doing much better. He is exercising and gaining some muscle back. He gets to eat pecan pie and peanut butter and banana sandwiches. He likes that.

The news! Mattie will be having puppies on Tuesday if not before!

Here are Patsy puppy pictures!

This was taken at one week old.
Love those little paws.

The puppies like to get under things.

Dan found two holding paws and kissing.
He quickly snapped the picture.

Here’s a two week old Mr. Green.

Here’s Miss Red. Cute nose.

Miss Pink is our smallest right now.
In the middle is Mr. Blue. Both of his eyes are open.
Then Mr. White. He’s our 5 1/2 pounder.
Those tummies are big.

The other dogs have sort of felt out of it.
They found things to do.

Like ripping up boxes. That’s Bess stepping over Franklin. He’s playing with Rosie (gotten bigger hasn’t she?) Mac is sitting in the corner and Ros is lying there looking innocent.

Hate to run, but things must get done.

Take care this week.

October 25, 2006

River Bear Patsy Ketcham and River Bear Robert’s Mr McKey
are the proud parents of five puppies!!!!

Pretty Cute!!

Three boys.
Mr. Blue (who has a white chest)
Mr. Green (who has a white chest)
Mr. White (who has no white)

Two girls.
Miss Pink (who has no white)
Miss Red (who has a white chest)

Those with white chests take after Patsy.
Those that don’t take after Mac.

Patsy’s very happy!

She loves being a mother.
Just 24 hours old and they are well bathed and fed.

Don’t have much other news. Dan continues the slow healing process. When we were up with Patsy during the night, he got up four times to be with her when she went out. During that period, you have to have a flash light and a towel, just in case! She made it through the night and to our wonderful Vet’s for a C-section.

Hmm. That bit of news went right back around to puppies.

This story was an older puppy in it. And a back story.

The back story.

Wendell’s owners sent the following back in September, but being how things were, it didn’t make it into the log.

I put the 3 Newfs outside as usual and got involved with packing orders.
I would glance every so often to make sure all were happy in their play area.
Well, I just went to let them in the house since they always want to be closer to me or Mel if at all possible.
As they ran up on the deck to come inside, I noticed Wendell is all wet and muddy.
I look at his sister, Tiny and she is muddy also.
Now, I knew there wasn't any puddles or water for them to get into. Then I look out in the area they were resting (so I thought) and low and behold I see muddy paw indentations in the ground and torn up grass with water everywhere.
Laying alongside in the mud is the garden hose.
Now mind you, we don't shut it off at the house. (big mistake).
We turn the sprayer off at the end of the hose so it's easily available to fill their water bowls.
Wendell has watched me many times twist the sprayer on and he knows dad will always gives him a free drink.
Somehow that incredible Wendell figured out how to twist the sprayer on for himself with those big paws.
Now nothing will be safe with a crazy Newf and a hose.
He is too stinking smart!
Ephraim, the pack leader was clean and not involved. He knows better.

Updated story: What you need to know is Ros and Wendell are brother and sister.

Melanie has been doing poop patrol in the morning. She will also take the hose and clean out the water dishes and fill them up. Ros and Rosie love this. Melanie gets soaked which isn’t too bad, but it was cold and very windy this morning.

She did the water dishes inside and brought them out. Ros and Rosie thought this very unfair.

Now Melanie turns the hose off at the house (unlike Wendell’s owners) When it’s on there is always a small spray coming out there. Rosie went over to explore why things weren’t working right. Ros went over looked at the faucet, turned it with her paw, and got the water running. Rosie thought it was great.

Melanie thought it’s a good thing we’re turning the outside water off soon.

That’s all this week,

Take care.

October 18, 2006

Hmmm. You know how sometimes things just happen? Well, we’ve got a story for you.

Patsy came in heat during the latter part of August. Dan hadn’t had his operation yet and the doctors had told him that he’d be fine in three months. So we bred Patsy.

We usually do an ultrasound at one month after breeding to see if it took. We were rather busy with Dan. In the last two weeks, Patsy blossomed.

Yes, she’s pregnant and due next week.

Six to Seven puppies on the X-ray!

Melanie tried to figure out a way to take the x-rays and scan them in the computer. But, they were too big to fit in her purse.

Hmmm. That’s not the end of the story.

Mattie came in heat when Dan was in the hospital. With everything that was going on, it seemed easier to just put her and Mac in the No Tell Hotel. We knew she wouldn’t get pregnant. It had taken an implant the last time and she didn’t have a viable pup.

We don’t do natural breedings.

Mac and Mattie decided to.

Once.

But we knew she wouldn’t get pregnant. In fact, Zoë and Melanie had decided Mattie probably would be unable to ever have puppies.

We were in the STATE OF DENIAL!!

Mattie got fat.

We had changed her food and were feeding her too much.

Mattie got fatter.

She wasn’t getting enough exercise.

We took her to the vet today (knowing she was just fat). Melanie told Dr. Constant to only do the ultrasound if he thought Mattie was pregnant.

He palpated for a good five minutes, announced she was pregnant.

Melanie was in shock.

The ultrasound machine came out. He fiddled here, he fiddled there. Melanie saw one blob where she could make out a head and some paws.
(That was pretty cool)

She thought, okay one live puppy is good.

He then announced he had found more than one.

MATTIE IS PREGNANT WITH FIVE OR SIX PUPPIES!

We’ve tried getting Mattie pregnant with AI and implants four times. One natural breeding with Mac and wham.

Everyone looks good. Of course, you can’t count puppies before they get here, but

This is great news after the summer and fall we’ve had!

Dan has to get well quickly!

News from the nuts. McKey wanted us to take all the dogs to Northampton and then call his cell phone (we live in a no service area) to see which dog looked at their stomach. Yes, the dogs stole his cell phone. We could not find it. Melanie and Zoë mentioned something about not leaving things where the dogs can reach them. Especially Ros, who loves McKey and loves to take things that smell of him.

Melanie was eating ice cream and lost the spoon. She could not find it at all. Later in the evening, Carolyn (Dan and Zoë’s daughter - in - law, who should be nominated for Sainthood, in that she stayed here a week to get us back on our feet) found the spoon attached to Mattie’s fur.

Here’s Franklin working on a peanut butter jar.

His daughter, Rosie, got it later!

That’s all this week. We’re really happy!

Take care.

October 11, 2006

Hello Everyone,

First, Dan is getting better. He is still weak, but can see improvements everyday. The reason the log has not been updated was a death in our family. My brother-in-law, Bob Bodine, died of cancer this last week. He was a good man and a loving family man. He adored his wife, Martha and their three children, Rachel, William and James. The way the community has supported their family through everything is a beautiful thing to see.

I will end with pictures of the dogs.

Please take care,

Melanie M. Carpenter

Ros with a stolen butternut squash. Franklin is trying to figure out how to get it away.

Rosie
Doesn’t she look sweet? She’s actually a Great White Shark in disguise.

Here’s Rob eating and the dogs begging.
Patsy, Ellie and Mac.

This is Big Popi, Rob and Andrea’s new puppy.
Andrea is another wonderful artist.

Popi is two weeks older than Rosie. They had a great time and they got tired. Always good.

Ellis was trying to act like a great grandmother when we came downstairs. The paper towel roll hanging out of her mouth told a different story.

Rosie in heaven. Zoë gave her all the bones.

Zoë did not give her the nylons though.
Zoë is not going to use those again.

This is Aloba. He’s part everything. He also came for a visit this week. He owns Daniel, Carolyn and Brendan.
That’s my brother, wife and one of their children.
Brendan is kneeling. That’s McKey, my youngest, holding Aloba.

Here’s a picture of McKey getting help from Franklin, Ros and Mac.
He’s using the dog dryer to blow the leaves out of the yard.
The dogs love to chase the air.

That’s all this week,

Take care.
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