Category Archives: Puppy problems

dogs, Our 3 Newfies, Puppy problems, Winn

The Horsefly

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Winn hates horseflies and she has a good reason. At our very first water test, she was attacked by the largest horsefly I’ve ever seen. We could all hear it buzzing around her. She bobbed her head up and down watching it while it terrorized her, then she turned around and ran out of the water. Ever since then, she’s highly tuned to buzzing noises near the water. We’ve tested at 5 locations of which 3 of them have had horseflies. We’ve only returned to one of those locations because that one usually has high winds which helps to keep them away.

This post isn’t reallly about horseflies. On August 22nd, we brought home a Newfie puppy. Maisie was delighted, Winn was disturbed. Somehow she knew this puppy wasn’t just visiting. She came out to greet us, stopped in her tracks and looked at me, looked at the puppy, and then turned back around and went in the house.

Winn does her best to stay away from Zuzu. Whenever Zuzu comes near her, she literally runs away. Her dodge and weave to avoid Zuzu reminds me of how she moves when she senses a horsefly nearby. We spent the majority of time outside with the puppy for the first couple of weeks and Winn stayed inside by herself. She would come out occasionally, but once she spotted the puppy, she would go back in as quickly as possible. Winn loves to be outside, just not with that puppy!

We are trying to show Winn that our basic routines are staying the same. She isn’t going to miss out on the things that she is used to. Winn knows not to beg at the table, but she does make frequent attempts to make an exchange. When she knows we are done eating, she will go and find something that I have touched and will bring it to me hoping for a bite of whatever is left. She will bring bills, catalogs, magazines, gloves, my checkbook, hat, small packages and so many other things that I didn’t realize I left out. If she cant find something that might be valuable to me, she will bring me a water toy. She stopped doing this when Zuzu arrived.

That behavior has driven me nuts on many occasions, but once she stopped doing it, I missed it. On the fourth night of her staying inside while we ate, I stepped away from the table, called her out, gave her a bumper and then traded it for a bite of chicken. The next night I looked up and there she was, standing in the doorway with her bumper in her mouth, comtemplating making a trade. Since then, she has joined us outside, lying around while we eat and eagerly hopping up when we start to clean up.

I have kept them all under constant supervision. Zuzu has been persistent in trying to get Winn to like her. She slowly moves a little bit closer when they are lying down. She’ll rub up against her when she walks by, trying to give her a whiff of her sweetness. She has respected the distance that Winn wants, but will test things out each day to see if the rules still apply. It seems to be working, Winn doesn’t get up immediately if Zuzu plops down near her and has even approached her to give her a sniff now and then. There haven’t been any issues during feeding times or when I’m giving out treats. Winn knows they each get a share, and Zuzu waits her turn. Each day is getting better with all of them. Winn has even come outside when Maisie and Zuzu are playing and drifted in and out of the play circle.

Puppies are a huge amount of work and Winn and Maisie are so easy. Winn is now 5 and Maisie is 9, both are pretty low maintenance so it seemed like a good time to bring in a puppy. Last year I wasn’t ready, next year seemed too far away. My friend is a breeder and we have been talking about this for several years. I love the pair that were bred together. They both have sweet temperments, are good working dogs and each represent the breed standard beautifully. Zuzu is the first female that she has had with the white markings that I have always admired. She also exhibits the traits that she might be a good working dog. In other words, she’s the puppy I’ve been waiting for so now is the time. We are back to being a three Newfie household and I am so excited to see what this sweet girl and I can do together!

Puppy problems

Wake up, wake up, wake up!

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I am not a morning person.  I like to wake up slowly and without a lot of noise.  I need a cup of coffee (or two) before I can form a coherent sentence.  My family knows this, even Maisie and Annie know this.  Annie learned to embrace Maisie’s habit of sleeping in. Up until 6 months ago, we all had a very peaceful morning routine. And then along came Winn…NewfGirlsWeb-125

I knew the first few months with a puppy would be rough.  Puppies have a lot of demands and need constant attention.  I was thrilled when I woke up one morning and Winn had slept all the way through the night!

For the first couple of months we kept her in a crate at night and she would wake up around 5:30 or 6. I learned that I had a few minutes to gather my wits when she would start squawking while playing with a toy. She was between 4 and 5 months old when we decided to let her try sleeping outside her crate.  Overall, it’s gone very well.

As Winn has gotten bigger, she has also gotten more rambunctious in the morning.  Most mornings I wake up to two huge paws slamming down on the bed somewhere near my chest.  She will start to pull herself up and with that comes the bony elbows, usually in my gut.  Before I know it, she launches her heavy body on top of me and starts snuffling my ear and kissing my face. She’s huge, her paws are huge and her head is bigger than mine.  It’s a lot to take in for anyone, much less a non-morning person like myself. It’s also impossible to ignore her. She pounces around and it’s like having a toddler jumping on the bed, singing “wake up, wake up, wake up”!IMG_3428

On many mornings, my husband (who is a morning person) will let her out and then Winn will come bounding upstairs for round 2.  While she’s waiting for the magic hour of breakfast time, she will repeat the process of the paw slam, the bony elbows and the body launch only this time she will snuggle up next to me, roll over onto her back and wave her legs around.  While she’s wiggling around and waving her legs she makes all kinds of noises that I assume are commands to “rub my belly, rub my belly, rub my belly”.

Poor Maisie, she’s not a fan of this wake up call either but Annie, who doesn’t want to allow this crazy puppy to get all of my attention, usually rushes over and begins barking in my face. It’s hard to remember the days when it was just Maisie and I, staggering down the stairs together and taking our sweet time getting ready for a new day. This is my alarm clock now and as aggravating as it might be, I also love being greeted in the morning by these two enthusiastic girls. It’s time to get up and face the day!IMG_3379

Dog training, Puppy problems

It all started with the newspaper…

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Bailey was my first Newfoundland and she loved to work.  I taught her to bring in the paper and this was her daily job.  Her ritual was to bring in the paper after breakfast, the reward was her dessert.  Believe me, if I waited too long to open the door, she let me know!  When the paper was late, there was no relaxing until she heard it hit the porch.

I noticed early on that Winn exhibited many of the same personality traits and this is one of the first things she learned.  Since we don’t get the paper daily anymore, training opportunities were sporadic. I worked with her 3 or 4 times and it didn’t seem like she was getting it, I assumed she was too young.  About a week after our last attempt, I opened the door to bring in the mail and completely unprompted, she spotted the town paper, raced down the steps and grabbed it to bring it into the kitchen.  I couldn’t believe it!

14 week old Winn learns to bring in the paper:

The trouble is that once she figured out that she got treats for bringing in the paper, she began bringing me other things that she found around the house.  Close to meal time, she will sneak off and find things to bring to me in hopes of getting a tasty reward.

Empty food bags or containers:

Boxes intended for recycling:

Treasures stolen from the kids’ rooms:

Water training items:

Things that I set down while doing a task (a remote, a stir stick and packing tape).

And most obviously, empty food and water bowls:

Oh, what have I done!

Family life, Puppy problems

Please don’t smack me in the face

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and other things I say to my puppy.

I love Winn’s huge paws, but good grief it hurts when she pounces on me when she’s hungry.  She tends to do this in the morning, after she goes outside to do her business.  She will come up to me, crawl across my chest and take one paw and hit my face.  Then she will get closer, essentially pinning me down and smother me with kisses.  It’s very sweet but too much the first thing in the morning and I’m encouraging her to stop with the smacking!

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My view every morning.

What’s in your mouth? I must say this 10 times a day.

Where did you go? I taught her to bring in the paper which she loves to do because then she gets a treat.  She can be very quiet when she wants to be and will sneak off, cruising around, looking for something to bring to me to get my attention and to hopefully get another treat.

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She goes looking for socks, and is always so proud when she finds one.

I try to give her other jobs to stimulate her working dog desire to bring me things.

And finally, please, please stay out of the paint!  We seem to always have a project going on, and often times paint is involved.  Her affinity for paint started when we were at my mom’s house and I wrote about painting with a puppy.  This summer we have been touching up the paint around our back deck and she found a plastic container filled with paint that had been placed among other paint cans.  I had let her out while I was in the kitchen making my breakfast. In just short of 2 minutes, she made a colossal mess!

Do you catch yourself saying funny things to your dog?