I knew that Winn was something special when she spotted the newspaper on the sidewalk, made her way down the porch steps and brought the paper into the kitchen for a reward. She was only 4 months old! I had tried to show her how to do that two or three times a couple of weeks before but I didn’t think she was getting it and figured she was too young and we would try again when she was older. That was the first time that she showed me she really was absorbing what I was trying to teach her to do and could put it together at a later time. I was instantly aware that I had a true working dog on my hands and we could explore all kinds fun activities together.
Last summer I observed some friends water training their Newfies and then I volunteered at our local Newfoundland Club’s annual water test. I had never been to a test before and was just beginning to learn about water work with Newfoundlands but after that experience I was hooked!
When I got home from that test, I knew it was something that I wanted to do with Winn so I purchased a recommended book that was dedicated to training for the three different levels of the water test. We played retrieval games with bumpers and a life jacket. I filled her wading pool with water so that she could dunk her face for carrots and hot dogs as well as diving rings. We went swimming in a doggie pool during the winter months, throwing in different articles for her to retrieve and even doing a little jumping off of the pool deck to encourage her playfulness in the water.
When spring rolled around, I was excited to actually start training for the test. We have good friends who have enjoyed doing water and draft work with Newfies for many years. They were teaching a water work seminar for the Central Ontario Newfoundland Club over Memorial Day Weekend and I decided that would be a great way to spend the weekend with our friends, learning new skills and being surrounded by fellow Newfie lovers.
They went through each of the different exercises and showed us how to break them into small segments. We learned tips and tricks to practice on land as well as in the water, and each exercise was introduced to each team individually in a gentle and fun way.
Land work: practicing going out and around and revving her up by having fun with her fetching articles.
Learning Take A Line, one of the most difficult exercises:
Introducing the boat, taking treats and pulling it in:
Swim With Handler, our favorite exercise that we had been doing all winter at the indoor doggie pool:
When we returned home, we had to wait a few more weeks for the weather to cooperate but we were invited to train with two other families at a nearby lake. We spent almost every Saturday or Sunday with them and Winn took to it amazingly well. We each took turns with our dogs, helping each other out with exercises by acting like a drowning victim, dropping articles in the water or rowing the boat. 
As the weeks passed, Winn was executing everything really well. When she was first learning Take A Line, we put a long line on her to help guide to the caller, then swim around them and back to shore. After only 2 or 3 times with the long line, she understood what she was supposed to do and after that I didn’t put the long line on again. She was great at retrieval, was starting to understand Tow A Boat and was perfect with the Basic Control exercises. I even found myself giving tips to others on heeling and recall!
Once I was pretty confident with our skills, I started getting more excited about entering a water test. There were several tests planned in our area, all on different weekends so I started filling out the paperwork and entered 4 different tests with the hope of getting into and competing in 2 or 3. In addition to our own club’s test which would be the last one of the summer, we got into one in Indiana and one in Michigan. I really hoped that we would have success in at least one of them.
We continued practicing, fine tuning each exercise so that we were doing what was needed to pass and building her strength and stamina. She wore a life jacket during practice and I was planning on taking it off and doing a full practice run of the test the week before our first water test in Indiana. I wrote a post a while back explaining why Newfies wear life jackets when they train and you can read that here. Everything was going according to plan until the night before that designated practice and Winn went into heat! I knew it was coming sometime soon but I didn’t expect it that night. We would have to stay home and wouldn’t have any more time in the water until we showed up for our first test. I would just have to cross my fingers and go for it. That would add an extra layer of difficulty, she would most likely be more distracted and would have a harder time focusing on me. I had also severely sprained my ankle the week before and had skipped practice. By the time we tested, it was 3 weeks since we had been in the water and she wouldn’t be cleared to practice again until 2 weeks after we got back and that was the weekend of the Michigan test. It was time to have faith in our skills and go out and have a good time no matter how it may end up!
next post: our first water test!
She always hid from visitors, choosing the safety of her crate. Often times she would start out barking, eventually stopping to listen to our voices. Occasionally she would make her way out so she could take a look at whoever was there. Sometimes she was brave enough to join us in the same room, sometimes not. Chances were better if the voices were all female.
Last year, I wrote about the day she got her new rabies certificate that listed my name as her owner. We were finally able to shed the last physical reminder of where she came from. That was such a memorable day for me. You can read about it 
Bogart was my husbands bachelor dog and easily adapted to our growing and changing family. He was so gentle but also had a talent for escaping and getting into things. I wrote about him on National Mutt Day, you can read more about him 
When we moved into our current house, there were two Newfoundlands in the neighborhood that I noticed while out for their daily walk. I thought they were the most beautiful dogs I’d ever seen and after meeting and talking to their owners, I just knew that was the breed for me.
Charlie was a Newfoundland/Labrador mix that we adopted several months after we said goodbye to Bogart. Bailey was about a year old and we missed having two dogs. We think he was about three years old when he was found with another small dog in the woods in Tennessee and they were both transported to Illinois by a rescue group. He was very thin when we brought him home and he was always a hunter, I assume because he lived in the wild before he was found. We frequently found dead animals (squirrels, birds, possums and chipmunks) in the yard. He loved to be warm. He would curl up next to radiators and sit as close to the fireplace as he could get. His fur would be hot to the touch, but he would be so content. He tried curling up with Bailey whenever he could but she was always hot and she would “kangaroo leg” him to get him to back off. Bailey constantly bossed him around and he was pretty tolerant of her moods. Occasionally he would let her know that he’d had enough and she would look so offended when he snarled at her. She never really understood why there might be a problem, but they bonded well and depended on each other for the rest of their lives. Charlie curled up by my feet and died 2 weeks after Bailey died and I will always remember them together; they lived together and they died together.
After losing Bailey and Charlie, I vowed to never again have two dogs close in age, the heartache was just too much. When Maisie was three years old I found Annie. Her age was presumed to be between 7-9 when she was rescued and she had been in foster care for a year. After doing some internet research on my own, I believe she was 9 1/2 when we adopted her. She was a puppy mill mama that was severely traumatized from years of abuse and neglect but she found a new life after she was rescued and blossomed in the two years that she was a part of our family. The first time I heard the term “heart dog”, I considered all of my dogs as my heart dog, I love them all so much. That was until I met Annie. There was something very different about our bond, probably because she needed me so much and I was driven to show her as much love as possible to make up for all of the years that we didn’t have together. She was very, very special and she changed me. She made me a better person and those two short years were a lifetime for us. She will always be with me, she is my heart dog and I wish I had more time with her.
For dog enthusiasts, I might elaborate a little more. Winn and I have been doing all kinds of advanced training over the last several months and have entered several different types of trials and have earned five titles. Right now we are focusing on Water Rescue training and are having a blast!
I’ve taken a couple of trips with her to learn the skills needed to enter and pass the junior level Newfoundland Water Dog (WD) test and have been working on a few of the skills included in the senior level Water Rescue Dog (WRD) test. (Last year I volunteered to help at the water tests in my area and wrote about those skills 
This week, I’ve been filling out entry forms for water tests put on by different regional Newfoundland clubs. Two are close by, about an hour’s drive and two are further away and would require a hotel stay. I hope to get into at least two, maybe three. My friend who has been doing this a long time and teaches water skills clinics would like me to go to Canada with her so Winn could also try for her Canadian Water Rescue Dog title. I think this year, we will just focus on her American title and consider that in the future. I’ll be thrilled if we get the title this summer, but I’m loving the bond we’ve formed and the fun we have learning new skills. I have high hopes for us as a working team and there are so many possibilities for us to explore!
What got me to write about this? Last week, I spent a full day in the Animal Emergency Room with Winn after I discovered that she had consumed a corn cob.
maisiethenewfieandcompany 