"Newfoundland Dogs -- Better Than The Best"

(By "Knewf")

"I have a plaque in my kitchen with those words on it 'In This Kitchen, Newf Hair is a Condiment' just above the entry doorway. It was a Christmas gift from a good friend. It was not an expensive gift certainly...it is home-made but very special.... (Funny how the little things mean a lot, sometimes.) I have several boxes in the store room of framed Championship certificates and ribbons and framed show pictures. I plan on putting the photos back up after I paint my living room. I have three large boxes of snapshots that date from the time when people took regular pictures and not digital photos. Most of them are either my grand kids or my dogs. I have two bags of Newfy hair from my first Newfy in the same storage room. And 7 boxes of ashes of my deceased Newfs, some day I want to buy matching urns. I have books and books and more books, all about Newfoundland dogs. For a time there I collected the books. I am pleased to say that I have books now that are no longer in print. (Or maybe that just means now I am really getting old!)

"My shed has a grooming table and a dog dryer, and two boxes of scent items for my search dogs. My back yard is fenced and has several stuffed animals in various states of disrepair that are frequently moved about when I get home from work (the dogs parade with their "stuffies" when people come to visit), I have an outside faucet with both hot and cold water so I can give my dogs a comfortable bath, I have no flower beds because the Newfs would just get into them and dig them up.... I used to have several boards of my siding gone but that is now fixed. I have no screen on the back storm door, just the glass. Hopefully Phoenix won't break it, she still can't resist jumping on the door when she sees me coming.

"My living room couch is covered in a blanket that I hastily remove when people arrive. Most of the time when people come we sit around the dining room table anyhow. My floor is littered, the same as the yard, with stuffies. My Newfs run and grab a stuffy and carry it around proudly when people arrive, around and around and around. They do the same thing in the back yard when the neighbor kids come up to the fence to pet them. They have not as yet learned to put the stuffies back into the toy box so they remain scattered around the house, alolong with plastic bottles (Phoenix loves the noise they make when she chews on them) and left over toilet paper cardboard tubes. (Jenna likes to carry them around.)


"My kitchen sink has dog bowls in it. My kitchen window ledge has Jenna's eye solution and her ear drops and Phoenix's vitamins. My laundry room houses the clippers and the nail grinder on the same shelf with my mis-matched socks. My library table has a copper wastebasket with a big Newfy head embossed on it, inside of that basket are all the brushes and combs and scissors. My coffee table in the living room is actually a cedar chest, all you have to do to brush a dog is pull the coffee table out in the middle of the floor and put a scatter rug on top and it turns into a grooming table. My floors are bare wood floors, easy to sweep and piddle proof if and when I have puppies. The other coffee table in my living room is a large crate, 48 inches long and 36 inches tall. It has a wooden board on top and a lamp and a basket with two stuffed newfoundland (toy) puppies that I bought years ago at a National Specialty. The basket is only a tiny bit frayed where Bella chewed on it about 8 years ago.

"My 'china closet' no longer houses china. It has just about everything you can imagine that has to do with Newfoundland dogs, from the antique cast iron nut crackers to the modern resin plasticast Newfoundlands (I get one or two of those every Christmas). I have a genuine playschool toy from the sixtires that is a Newfoundland dog pulling a carnival wagon that is a tiny music box, and two Newfoundlands pulling a cart, that was a gift of love from my daughter, who scultped them herself.


"In my dining room window I have a large suncatcher that is a leaded stained glass; design of, you guessed it, a Newf. Above the dining room door is a photo taken by a professional photographer of my first litter of Newfy puppies, all lined up in a row, at the age of seven weeks. It took four hours to get that picture! On the wall is a velvet painting that my daughter did of a Newf, and another one of a lighthouse with two newfs on a beach, also from my daughter, and then there is one that I did, of a Newfoundland puppy. Also on the dining room wall are the Specialty wins and various other trophies.


"I guess it would be true to say I am an admirer of dogs and in particular of the Newfoundland breed. I know for a fact that there is no way I can live without a 'Newfy fix' for very long! There have been years in my life, when I lived in a bigger house, that I have had as many as eight Newfies in the house with me at the same time. Now, this evening, as I type this, Jenna is in her crate, snoring (she goes in and out whenever she wants) and Phoenix is on her couch with her Elmo stuffy laying between her front legs, also snoring. I know that every owner of every dog, most of them anyway, are sure that their breed is the best. However I know my breed is!"

Ch. Fleur De Lys Phantom Ofd-Opera

We have been lucky enough to get some additional pictures of our Daddy, Phantom.
We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.


Satch&Drool

Meet Our Daddy -- Phantom

Well, we finally have the pictures of our Daddy we have been after for quite some time; Ch. Fleur De Lis Phantom Ofd-Opera. They show him from a little Newflet to his becomming a Champion at 20 months of age. He is now nine years old and living in the U.K. We're really hoping that fate brings us together and that he is healthy and happy. He has to be a really special guy to have produced Puppy. Me? Well, I take after my Momma, and that is a completely different story.

Satchie

(Thank you Anita and Helen)

The Summer Wind

A Celebration Of Seaman (It's Not What You Might Think)

Fort Clatsop Visitors Discover A New Found Friend
Park Sets Aside A Day For The Lewis And Clark Expedition’s Dog "Seaman"

By KATIE WILSON
The Daily Astorian
July 9, 2009

"The Newfie owners are on to something.

"They have found love, loyalty, intelligence and companionship in a single, living entity. This compassionate, adoring being has even deigned to throw in mountains of fur and slug trails of drool for free.

"Newfoundland dogs, or 'Newfies' as they're often called, are maybe as close to the perfect dog as humanity will ever get. Or, at least, that's what some people are claiming.

"'They're different from any other dog', says Happy Valley resident Donna Azevedo who owns two Newfoundlands, Olivia and Lola, and has owned a variety of dogs in the past. 'They're so much more gentle. And they're not yappy'.

"Her granddaughter, Peyton Azevedo, 6, sits on a bench nearby at Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, with Lola's leash twined around her wrist. 'They're great with kids', Azevedo adds. 'She lets (Peyton) just manhandle her. She's never snapped at her.'

"'He's human', says Brittany Woods, 16, of Albany, about her 18-month-old dog Hunter. 'He's happy to see you, but he's not like 'Ohmygod! Ohmygod!'

"Lola and Hunter were only two of the eight bear-like dogs wandering around the Fort Clatsop replica Wednesday greeting children and adults for the park's 16th annual Seaman's Day.

"Seaman's Day is an educational celebration of the nonhuman member of the Corps of Discovery, a Newfie named Seaman.

"Park Ranger Sally Freeman has been a part of the event for several years. She says it helps people, especially children, connect and interact with history in a new and exciting way: through the eyes of a dog.

"Capt. Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame bought the dog before launching off into the great unknown in September 1803.

"Lewis put the capable Seaman to work almost immediately. He served as both a guard and hunting dog, chasing off a buffalo that charged through the camp one night and hunting squirrels along the Ohio River for the explorers' dinner.

"There are scattered references to Seaman throughout Lewis's journals. The dog was valued for his intelligence and courage. The last reference to Seaman was July 15, 1806. At the Great Falls of the Missouri River, Lewis noted that the mosquitos were making life miserable for both man and beast.

"Seaman was not mentioned again in the journals although there is some documentation that suggests he died of heartbreak soon after Lewis died. 'I believe that story', says Ed Maass who traveled all the way from Colorado with his two Newfoundlands, Ogee and Seaman, to be a part of Seaman's Day. 'They're incredibly loyal. They want to be with you.'

"Down by the fort replica, Jeffrey McCormick, 9, of Eugene pets Kona, a black Newfoundland. She pats at him with a front paw. 'Oh!' he says as the dog licks his hand. 'You've got a slobbery tongue.'

"Kona is nearly as tall as McCormick when she is sitting, but he has a Great Dane back at home and is not intimidated by the Newfoundland's size. He gives her a hug, almost disappearing in all her fur. Kona belongs to Laurie Ewert and her two daughters Lyndsay, 9, and Bethany, 5, of Portland. This was their third Seaman's Day.

"They love owning Newfoundlands, but are realistic about the drool and fur. Potential "Newfers" must realize that both of these come in bulk. 'They can sling drool', Ewert says.

"'It's on the TV screen and on the ceiling', Lyndsay adds, as matter-of-factly as if she were reciting 'Two plus two equals four.'

"'Oh! And on our couch too.'

"Far from repulsing owners, the drool only seems to charm them further. 'They drool so much!' Azevedo says. She laughs as she describes the 'slug trail' on the couch.

"Also the fur. Newfoundlands must be brushed often or their fur builds up into impossible-to-brush-out mats and dreadlocks. But even then, owners speak fondly of the 'second dog', a common term for the pile of fur they brush out of their Newfoundlands every week.

"There is another more rational explanation for the owners' love of Newfoundlands. Despite their massive size - adult Newfoundlands usually weigh in at 110 to 150 pounds - they eat relatively little food and don't require much space. While activity levels vary from dog to dog, most prefer to lie around like friendly rugs.

"While Freeman speaks to a crowd of nearly 30 people about Seaman, Lola slides to the ground, front paws outstretched, her big, heavy head resting between them. At 15 months, still a puppy, she already weighs 135 pounds and has no trouble gently dragging around whoever is on the other end of the leash.

"Children wander over to where Azevedo stands with Lola. They walk straight up to Lola, entranced by this giant, furry dog. They pull her face to theirs. She doesn't even blink, she just shoves her muzzle deeper into their open hands, tail wagging.

"Seaman's Day takes place every year on the second Wednesday of July, rain or shine, at the Fort Clatsop Visitor Center in the Lewis and Clark National Park."

Newfoundlands Are Like Potato Chips --- You Can't Have Just One

(Dog Products June 30th, 2009)

Everyone that has a Newfoundland knows that they are addictive! Seriously, the Gentle Giants are hard to resist and you really can’t have just one!