The Newfoundland has a moderate energy level and sometimes they just like to be lazy. Daily walks and some playtime is plenty for this breed. They are known for being water dogs, so don’t be afraid of going swimming with them if desired. In addition, they also would enjoy the dog park and training in dog sports. They are a good fit for carting, obedience, tracking, herding and really enjoy a wide variety of activities. It’s very important that you keep the activities to “Low Impact” sports until they are 1 ½ to 2 years old. Their bones are still growing and their joints are still developing during this time. You do not want to expose strenuous “High Impact” exercise during this time which can damage their growing and developing joints. Just be cautious so that they do not overdue it and hurt themselves. They are not fully grown until they are four years old.
A full grown Newfoundland usually stands 26-28 inches tall. The males range from 120-150 lbs and the females range from 100-120 lbs. The average lifespan of our dogs are 10 years. We have had some that have lived up to 14 years. The Newfoundland is relatively a healthy breed. Some dogs are prone to joint issues as they age just as any other dog is as well. Other concerns associated with the Newfie include hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, cardiac disease and a condition called Cysturnia which causes stones to form in the urinary track.
We recommend a veterinary visit within a few days of receiving your puppy. Your vet will advise you when to begin Flea & Tick and Heartworm prevention and when to have follow-up vaccinations. We strongly encourage you to AVOID dog shows, dog parks, public potty areas at rest stops and any other public areas until your puppy is fully vaccinated. Your puppy needs to build up their immune system. Your puppy can get the flu just like you and me so we tend to error on the side of caution until they are fully immune and acclimated to the area. No bloodline is absolutely free of all hereditary problems therefore, all our puppies come with a full one year 100% guarantee and their hearts for life. They are all AKC Registered. They will have a complete wellness exam entail their first shots and the litter is wormed several times before they are released to their owners. You will be provided a copy of your puppy’s health records and shots/working schedule so that you can keep updated.
We will let you know what food they are currently eating so that you can keep them on this food until you decide what brand you will be feeding the new puppy. We recommend that you mix the new food 50/50 if you plan to switch foods. Please research the brand to see if they have had any recalls. If you do decide on another food do not go with a lamb protein since it’s low in fat and puppies don’t do well on it. Mix ½ brand puppy is currently on with ½ of new brand for at least a week to acclimate them on the new food. Never feed cooked chicken bones or rawhide bones to your puppy. Healthy snacks include carrots, apples, frozen blue berries, all natural bite size crackers.
The first 24 hours your puppy might experience loneliness. We ask that when you come pick the puppy up to bring a piece of clothing that has your scent on it so they will feel safe in their crate. It will take time getting your puppy settled into your home and getting them on your schedule, but please be patient because they are so worth it in the end. Make sure your puppy is eating and drinking. Take them outside every time they finish eating or drinking so that they can get use to doing their business to help avoid accidents. Take them to the same spot in the yard so that they can get use to their smell and it reminds them they need to go potty. Reward them when they go potty outside. We use a bell on the door that we teach to go ring the bell when they need to go outside. We use a crate when potty training and please visit “Pet Information” page on our site for more information. Don’t forgot to gate off any stairs so puppy doesn’t accidently fall down them. You will want to teach them to go up and down the stairs when they are young so you will not have any issue later in life. Please keep any chemicals out of reach and debris present or near the puppy (sticks, beads, kid’s toy’s, etc.) Never leave your puppy unattended because they will chew so make sure they have safe toys. They are just like a toddler and need to be watched since they are still a puppy and they like to explore.
At any time in your puppy’s life you cannot keep them, we will take them back no questions asked. Never abandon them or put them in the pound or give them away. Our puppies are very important to us and no one would understand what a breeder goes through for each litter unless they experience it for themselves. The sleepless nights, emergency vet visits, sleeping on the floor during deliveries, cleaning, hand feedings, play time you name it we have done it. We have watched them grow and cared for them for the first eight weeks of their life and we look forward to seeing pictures of them as they continue to grow and be happy in their new home.
Thanks for visiting our site and please feel free to contact us anytime. All questions are welcome.
Tips on Potty Traing & Pet Training
Is Your Newfoundland Potty Trained Enough?
House Training a puppy or adult Newfoundland is such an essential issue for its owner that even a single exclusive tip turns out to be extremely helpful.
The first step in making your Newfoundland fit for polite company would be to potty train them. For me, it is part of bringing up a pet. There are a few things you need to know before you actually start potty training a puppy or adult Newfoundland. Please review below:
- You need to understand your dog’s body language. Watch for signs that will indicate to you when your pet wants to eliminate.
- If you own puppies, remember that they need to go potty at fairly frequent intervals – as soon as they wake up, after short naps, after play-time, after meals, before and after being crated and finally, before retiring for the night.
- Take your Newfoundland for walks at the time that he usually does his potty. Take him out to the yard and then to the same place there every time he needs to answer nature’s call.
- Praise your Newfoundland after he eliminates at the right place. Some Newfoundland owners even give treats to their dogs. But remember to do this every time he does it right. He will relate the rewards to his having “done it right” and zero in on the spot where you want him to defecate regularly.
- With time, you can try signal training. This is so that you know when your newfie wants to go. You can hang a bell at his level near the door and teach him to push it with his nose or pat it with his paw on his way out.
- Until your Newfoundland has been fully potty trained keep him under strict vigilance. Do not let him roam around the house freely.
- Use a crate. A crate-trained Newfoundland is usually very happy to get his own den. The advantage of crating is that dogs do not soil the place where they sleep. So, he will naturally not eliminate inside the crate.
- If you have a small dog and if you live in a high-rise building or in a place that does not have a proper backyard, you can try litter pan training. What you do is create a space for your pet to eliminate in your house itself.
- Use positive reinforcements while housebreaking puppies or adult dogs. Do not scold or hit him as you will gain nothing by doing that. He will only associate punishment with your return from outside. If you catch him in the act, a stern ‘NO’ or ‘FREEZE’ will do. It will startle the Newfoundland enough for him to stop pooping.
- Be prepared to return to a soiled home if you are keeping your Newfoundland home alone for more than 4 hours as separation anxiety is quite common among home – alone dogs.
- Accidents will happen. It is unusual for a trained adult Newfoundland to work against its house training. But medical problems or health disorders may lead to sudden accidents.
- Many dogs mark their territory. These can be a leg of a table or a particular wall. Intact male and female dogs mark their territories by urinating. Use deodorizers to spray on the places where your Newfoundland has marked. (We use 1/2 cup white vinigar, 1/2 cup of Ordor Bon and 1/2 cup water)
- If you are patient and are ready to accept that house training a dog takes time, even months sometimes, you will end up having a good housetrained Newfoundland.
Potty Training A Puppy:
- Housetraining a puppy is considered to be one of the biggest challenges by dog owners. If you think housetraining your puppy simply involves a steady supply of old newspapers, then think again.
- A puppy does not develop full control over his bladder until it is over 4 or 5 months old. Since they are growing and developing rapidly at this time, puppies eat more, burn more calories and need to eliminate more frequently than an adult Newfoundland.
- After each nap, meal, drink or play, take your puppy to his designated area (indoors or outdoors, wherever you have decided) and stay there until it eliminates. Then bring him to his crate. Repeat this situation everyday until he has developed a habit out of it.
Potty Training An Adult Newfoundland:
- The best way to housetrain an adult Newfoundland is to begin all over again. Observe him very closely. Maybe even maintain a diary of where he goes and when. Whether he is pooping when you are home or only when you are outside; whether you can time yourself to be home when he feels the need to go outside.
- You can try dog crates, but be careful to introduce gradually to them. Remember, commitment, consistency and intelligent use of positive reinforcement will make you the owner of a perfectly housetrained Newfoundland. Don’t expect miracles. You will only be disappointed.
Training Your Puppy
Your puppy is on it’s way to being trained when you first pick them up or at the time of delivery. It’s imparitive that you continue training them so that you do not have any tempermental issues with your puppy. NO NOT wait until they are 6 months or later of age to start training. By this time it’s too late and much harder to train at this age. They are just like little kids. They continue to do things until they are diciplined. They want to see what is ok or not and what they can get away with. They will also try to coax and love on you to win you over and you as the human have to see this and be consistent about training methods and the words you use during training.
Training is about consistency and discipline. You need to invest the time in training them if you don’t you will have a misbehaved puppy/dog as they grow. You can’t treat them like babies even though they are so lovable. WE cannot stress enough about crate training. It’s the best training for potty and discipline when they introduce bad behaivor. They learn that they will have timeout when they are bad. They also learn to love this area as it’s their home and an area for when they know they have done something wrong. They are puppies and will continue to act up until YOU as the human train them that behavior is acceptable or NOT when they misbehave. You need to learn the word “NO” or “STOP” and put them in the crate for “Timeout” when they misbehave.
I am in the process of training our girl named Samantha and she knows at the age of 5 months that when I raise my voice and say NO she is in T R O U B L E and she goes right to her crate. We are working on nipping and coming when I say come. She is nipping to get my attention, but we do not allow that since it will turn to biting as they get older. She gets slapped on the nose and told “NO” bad girl and goes to her crate for “timeout”. She is learning that the word “NO” is I am in trouble when I do that and have to go to my crate when I do this. She also is learning when she ignores me when I call for her to come she gets in trouble and goes to her crate when she doesn’t listen.
Yes, she will be good for while and from time to time she will fall back and see if she can get away with it again and of course she doesn’t and is disciplined. It’s the same for potty training as well. She has been using the bells on the door for months now and now all of sudden she has stopped and thinks if she bugs me and start pestering me enough it will be acceptable to be let out. Unfortunately, that is not the case and we have had accidents again in the house so she is learning that she has to ring the bells again if she wants to go out. It’s like two steps forward and three steps back from time to time. In the end the human will win because the human is the one that is training the puppy and the human is the one that is telling the puppy what is good/bad behavior.
This continues from day to day and as they grown they learn what is good/bad things to do around other dogs and people. Our post office woman is amazed when she see her and says WOW. She has told us she has a hard time finding houses where the dogs are not jumping on her. Our dogs are taught not be jump. That’s a bad behavior and we do not accept jumping. Samantha knows this and is mostly good but sometimes she forgets which is normal for a puppy and that’s why you have be consistent in keeping all commands fresh and used daily and weekly so that they do not forget to behave.
We are still working on this and I am sure you will as well and we wish you as much luck in this training as we are having in ours. Please contact us if you have any questions and we will try to help anyway we can in helping you be successful in this task.
