Life with a Newf

Ayla is moving to a new blog home!

2008-08-13T09:00:00.001+02:00

After a lot of consideration, I've decided to combine all the blogs I write into one...to save myself and others a bit of sanity. You can now find us at www.NoOrdinaryHomestead.com.

Thanks for all your support and come visit us soon! We're looking forward to sharing more adventures with you!

Make Your Own Dog Stuff

2008-07-22T09:42:00.002+02:00

Ever wanted to build a custom bed for your dog? Or maybe you don't like the way most harnesses fit your dog and want a custom one? Or perhaps you need a Newfie-sized raincoat for your pooch? Well, look no further than www.make-and-build-dog-stuff.com.

This site was shared while people were talking about building a treadmill for their Newfies, something that is hard to find, very expensive and unfortunately not easily customizable from an old treadmill for humans. For those with very hot and humid climates, taking your dog out can be very dangerous - but a treadmill will still keep them active (assuming you can get them to use it - I would suggest dangling something tasty on a string lol).

The site also includes instructions to build agility courses (under Exercise Equipment), houses, kennels, wheelchairs, carts, toys, treats, costumes and more. So if you're looking for a place to find instructions on building just about anything dog related, check this site out.

A very cool leash...but not for me :(

2008-07-15T07:11:00.003+02:00

We got an email this morning from FunStuffForDogs.com about a pretty snazzy new leash called the BZ Retractable Leash.As you can see, it's got quite a few bells and whistles, including a built-in flashlight, extra safety collar with reflective tape, a doggie waste bag dispenser and more. Quite nice I'd say.

BUT it only is suitable for dogs up to 70 lbs. What about all us other big, beautiful pups who are larger than that? We can't be walked in style??

And speaking of retractable leashes...where has mine gone, humans? I remember starting to chew through it and then it went into the infirmary for surgery - don't think the poor guy ever made it out. Maybe he's still in ICU...

Making new friends

2008-05-27T13:36:00.003+02:00

On the same day that Ayla showed us that she is an environmental doggie, she also got to meet a fun little puppy. Usually Ayla was the one terrorizing older dogs when she was little...this little guy was acting just like her, thinking he was the big dog on the block. It was quite amusing to see her put him in his place which used to happen to her all the time. It was also really something to see how everyone at the party that had been doing their own things suddenly was interested in nothing other than the two dogs!

Needless to say, they were very worn out after all the excitement...especially Ayla after her long swim in the morning!

Meet Bonnie. She's 4 months old. Three-quarters Bernese Mountain Dog & one-quarter German Shepherd. Totally cute, right?

One of the funniest things she did was when Ayla started to get tired. Ayla was just watching her a bit and Bonnie took a few steps back, started running full speed ahead towards Ayla and threw herself into the side of Ayla. Ayla, of course, just looked at her like, "Is that all you've got??" Bonnie bounced off and somersaulted across the grass. Just adorable.

But as they always say, "A tired puppy is a good puppy." And after their playing session, they were both definitely tired. Oh, and you can actually glimpse Barney up there hiding in the flower bed. He didn't want anything to do with either of these whipper snappers!

Ayla the Eco-Friendly Dog

2008-05-27T13:08:00.000+02:00

A couple weekends ago, we took Ayla with us down to Munich where a couple friends of our were celebrating moving into their new place. It just so happens that in their back yard is a stream which we decided Ayla just had to play in. She is a water dog, you know. ;-)

While Ayla was in there playing and splashing, we noticed a couple plastic bottles floating down the stream. So we told Ayla to grab them and started a collection pile. Incredibly enough, she collected these 3 and the shoe within about 10 minutes...they just kept coming.

Thankfully after all that, she was pretty worn out, and managed to get most of us at least a little wet. But it was a hot day already so at least it was pretty refreshing. I wouldn't have wanted to swim in there myself but I don't wear a fur coat in the summer either...

We did manage to get a couple videos of Ayla with all the bottle collection fun. Sorry for me almost screaming at you but the dog was pretty far away.

You might notice that she's actually swimming harder in the second video because this stream flows into a power plant down the way. During the day they raise and lower the water level as needed so within a few minutes there was a foot more water in there than we started with, which made it quite a bit harder for Ayla to get in and out...but she still seemed to have lots of fun!

On the road again...to Italy

2008-05-15T12:36:00.001+02:00

Hi everydog!!

Hope you're having some really nice weather where you are. It's in the upper 70's here in Germany which the humans find to be quite pleasant...but without A/C I have to say it's a bit warm. At least the mornings are still nice and cool, though. And we get lots of shade in our courtyard. My humans also keep me cool with ice cubes and homemade ice cream treats...and all the water I can handle from the old pump outside. But that water is super cold so I have to pace myself!

Saint Lover asked us to share a bit more about our trip to Italy. It was really fun so I'll be happy to tell you more since we didn't get around to doing it before! We usually go to Locarno, Switzerland, over Easter and my humans crawl around on a bunch of bi rocks. But apparently they don't like doing this in the snow and cold weather so they wanted to go someplace as warm as possible. So they opted for Italy which always has great food and doesn't take that long to travel to.

Our trip down wasn't all that fun in my opinion. We left on Thursday at 5pm and traffic was terrible. We just drove and drove for what seemed like an eternity. I did get to do a lot of napping, but a dog can only deal with that so long! We had some snow our first night out and also along the way a bit.

For some reason, the humans even thought it would be ok for me to drive a bit! I had a great time but I think some people around us were a bit concerned! ;-)

On Friday afternoon, we finally we arrived at the beach in Lignano. Since it was off season, we were pretty much alone out there. I got to chase some driftwood on the beach, and I have to say running on that stuff is harder than you think!

In Lignano, we stayed at a campground called Camping Sabbiadoro which was only a couple blocks from the beach...and from a pizza place where the humans ate that smelled heavenly! (Human note: The camping place allow dogs and it was open outside the usual vacation time-frame, which we discovered was not always the case throughout Italy. Overall it was a pretty nice place and we'd probably go back there. The bathroom walls aren't completely closed off, though, so in the winter or cooler times of the year it can make showering a brisk if not unpleasant task. And even though hubbers forget his ID at their reception, they mailed it back to us when they realized we weren't coming back for it!)

After one night there, we were back on the road toward Punta Sabbioni. On the main road passing through Jesolo on our way there, we found the Cantina de Jesolo, a wine cooperative where you can buy locally grown and produced wine. In those big vats are wine and you can bring in your own containers which they pump full of wine. They actually use a gas hose construction to fill them. (Human note: Learn a bit more about it here. They sell mostly merlot, reisling & tocai there. The last is a wonderfully tasty white wine that goes down dangerously easy. It's basically a table wine in Italy and only costs 2.50 Euros a bottle.)

In Punta Sabbioni, we stayed at an RV parking lot called Parking d. Alighieri which we discovered on our last journey to Italy. (Human note: It is one of the few places that allows dogs in this area, it's fairly cheap and they have no minimum number of nights during high season which is what brought us there the first time. But the owners are vigilant against noise makers at night so if you tend to get a bit loud after 11pm, this is not a good place to visit. Or maybe they just really dislike people under the age of 30.) This was the home on wheels we rented during the vacation while we were staying there. Outside of the parking lot are lots of farm roads to walk around on which the humans thankfully let me check out. But I did meet some rather obnoxious dogs along the way who I think said a few insulting things about my weight...but my Italian isn't so good so maybe it was really a compliment! ;-)

Next to the parking lot is another reason the humans like this place, Al Bacaro. It's a quite good restaurant which they adore. I got to go along with them last year and lay on the patio next to them while they ate. But since it was cooler outside this year, they ate inside and I had to sleep off our visit to Venice in the air conditioned RV.

Speaking of Venice, this was all the girls on the trip posing for the camera. Poor dad was real outnumbered on this trip!

And then we finally arrived. Venice always means LOTS and LOTS of walking...and when we come home I am so glad to just lay on the floor and not move for the next few hours!

But you know it has to be a great city when they have dog watering holes around the city! ;-)

It was a pretty nice trip overall and I'm always totally spent after walking around in Venice for a few hours. Not only does the walking wear me out but all the human contact and petting - you just have no idea how exhausting that can be! By the time we were ready to go home, I didn't even care if people stopped to talk to me...I was just ready to collapse!!

Enjoy the photos...maybe I can talk the humans into including me in more of them next time! ;-)

Newfie kisses to all!!!
Ayla

Home, Sweet Home

2008-05-09T17:15:00.000+02:00

Hey all you dogs!!

Long time no bark! I cannot believe how long it's been since there was a post here. I'm SO going to give my mom a piece of my mind when we get finished typing here....how could she let things slide like this?? Sheesh!

Since it's been FOREVER, I have LOT to catch you up on...and I guess I'll go with the oldest stuff cause I may forget it otherwise!!

WAAAAAY back in March I got to travel to Italy again with my humans. This time, instead of camping in a tent, we drove in something they called an RV. It was really nice because there was air conditioning in there and I could stretch out in the middle of the floor all day while we were driving. And at night I would sneak up on the couch and get real nice and comfy which was fantastic! I didn't get to go swimming this time but we did go to Venice again and I was even more popular this time around! Somewhere around 60 people stopped to pet me. A few of them even let me slobber all over their faces, which not even mom & dad let me do all the time. And I got to be in 5 random photographs. The humans didn't count how many people talking about me when they saw me because there were just too many....but there were lots of comments like, "Wow, that's a HUGE dog!" And then my mom would usually respond that I'm pretty small for a Newfie at only 100 pounds...which really got them talking then! A few people even said they were going to have to get a Newf when they got back home - I just hope they know what they're in for! ;-)

Unfortunately I still had to wear that stupid thing on my face when we took the ferry. That has to be the worst torture EVER!

Shortly after we got back from Italy, we had SNOW here. It wasn't much (so I'm told) but it was the most I've seen and it sure was fun to run around in it! Look how pretty I am with it all over my paws! I even look a bit like my Landseer sister...I have no idea how she gets it to stay on her fur all the time though? But it must keep her nice and cool!

And then something terrible happened! The last two weeks of April I got sent to doggie camp. That actually was pretty fun and I met some cool new dogs. BUT when I looked at my parent's camera after they FINALLY picked me up again, I saw this:

And just who is THAT?!?!?!! Apparently his name is "Bishop" and the humans say he's very sweet and I would just adore playing with him. But if that's the case, why didn't I get to meet him in dog myself?? Huh?? (Mom notes: He belongs to a friend of ours in Florida and he was just so cute that I thought I would share a photo of him.)

But on a better note, when the humans returned, I got new presents!!! Woohoo! I now have a flying saucer with a squeaky ball in the middle - which is oh so much fun to pounce on. And I got a Fat Cat trash collector man that is said to be indestructible - but we'll see about that. We call him Custodian Dick. (She also got a Chilly Bone which is a cloth bone you freeze, a big Cuz with a fun squeaker in it to accompany the tiny one she has, and a Flying Squirrel which is a square Frisbee thing...none of which she has yet but she will get soon I'm sure!)

Anyway, I guess the only other cool thing that happened is that I have a new playmate across the street! His name is Armani and he's a Golden Retriever (although a pretty big one at only 8 months old - he's almost as tall as me already!) I SO hope I will get to play with him soon because he is super cute!

I hope all you dogs have a great weekend...and don't forget to wake your moms with extra wet kisses on Sunday!! It is Mother's Day after all!

Hope to bark at you soon!

Newfie kisses,
Ayla

R.I.P. Canine Cooler

2008-03-31T09:45:00.002+02:00

Well, it was a very short lived time for the Canine Cooler but about a month ago, one of the seems started to open up and we had to put the bed out to greener pastures. It was still under warranty but unfortunately sending it back to the US to exchange it for a new one would have ended up costing almost as much as just buying a new one in the first place. And since we still have a smaller version of the same bed, which I originally thought about using in my Defender but not realize probably won't do since they're just so heavy to lug around, we will fill that up and use it inside.

The weather is starting to warm up nicely here so we'll get to see how Ayla handles the heat this year. Worst case we can always fill the duck pond for her with fresh water and let her prance around in the courtyard for a while. My mom also sent a little mister that you can hook up to your garden hose so we have to try that out a bit also - for the dog and for us! We're hoping for a nice long, hot summer. No, it won't be great for Ayla but there are plenty of places for her to hide out when it gets too warm. And hopefully this new Canine Cooler will have a longer survival rate than it's big brother!

The birthday haul

2008-02-26T09:03:00.004+01:00

Ayla turned 2 years old on Saturday...and of course she made out like a bandit!

One of the great things about dogs is that they get as excited about toys as most children do. Our two cats, on the other hand, look at us like we're dumb when we bring them a new toy.

So far her two favorites are the white bear stuffie (we call him Mr. White since we already have a toy called "bear) and the little brown dog stuffie (Mr. Brown since we have another dog toy similar to this one called various things aside from "doggie" or things similar to that since we don't want her to mistake a toy whatever for her plaything.) She's been carrying these two here and there, inside and outside. They're not too filthy yet but most of their noisemakers are already broken...in fact they were pretty much spent on the first day already.

I didn't wrap her present for a change because there was just too much else going on. So Ayla got to go fishing for her gifts in the bottom of this big bag.

We went for two nice long walks with her during the day also...over two hours total, around 8 km distance. She seemed to be rather pleased at the end of the day but was rather questioning about why she didn't get a big bag of gifts on Sunday morning too. ;-)

If she plays her cards right, we may celebrate her "gotcha day" in April too with a gift or three. We'd also really like to organize something with her breeders and her brothers and sister this year - a big play date with a walk and so on...but we'll see! Nine Newfies in our courtyard would be a test...and hopefully it would be a VERY dry day because our house may never recover from that many muddy paw prints!

Meet my new dinosaur!

2008-02-22T17:21:00.006+01:00

Hello again my fellow dogs!

Not every dog can say she's been "dumpster diving" before...but I have and I LOVE it!

Ok, so I wasn't actually IN any dumpsters (although I did climb in one low one we had here at the farm one time), but I was picking through other people's trash on Monday which was a large trash collection day here in our town. Most people were just throw out old furniture, broken things, scrap stuff and a whole lot of other junk. But I guess someone new my birthday was coming up because they left me a super cool new dinosaur stuffie! Look!!

Sorry it's not a very flattering photo of him, but as you can see, he's easily the size of most small-medium sized dogs. When I carry him in my mouth (holding on to his stomach) his head almost drags the ground! And he's almost as long as I am...and ALWAYS has a smile on his face. Talk about a great new friend!

I had some great fun playing with him the first few days he was here...but, alas, I had to go and screw things up and I accidentally ripped most of his front leg off! I was playing with him in the living room and mom and dad weren't paying much attention to me behind the couch. Then mom got up to check on me and saw the dino guts ALL over the floor. I think she's going to get him out of the ICU soon (at least I hope so) and maybe his leg will be as good as new then! I can't wait!

I'm really looking forward to my burp day tomorrow and sure hope I've been a good enough girl the last few days to get all my presents! Mom kept saying I better behave but it's just SO hard! You guys know what I mean, right? I guess the older you get, the better behaved you become. But I'm still letting my wildness run free as long as I can!!

Oh, and did I mention I got to play with Maya, the super cool Bernese Mountain Dog that lives down the block from us? She's only a week older than me but 5 kilos lighter...and we LOVE to play rough. I think most dogs in the neighborhood are a bit scared of us because we get a little crazy around each other...but we can't help it that we're fabulous!

Hope all you dogs have a GREAT weekend and I'll be sharing all my loot with you soon! ;-)

Super sloppy Newfie kisses!
Ayla

Stick it to me!

2008-02-22T15:14:00.001+01:00

Hey dogs!

It's me, Ayla, here. I thought I would pop in again and say "Hello" since it's been a while since either my mom or I wrote. There's been some fun stuff going on, but we've just been so busy that neither of us has been able to sit down long enough to type things out...but I'm here now so no worries!

Last Friday I was out walking with my humans and I came across this REALLY COOL stick out in the fields. My mom says she thinks it is actually a sunflower stalk but I just say it ROCKS!

It was not easy to bring home and my humans said I had to carry it myself if I wanted to keep it at home. Walking down the sidewalk with this bad boy sticking out about 3 feet on each side of me was NOT an easy task! I thought I bumped into a lot of stuff when I have my backpack on...but this thing is just HUGE. So I got lucky and my humans let me walk down the middle of the street since there was no traffic.

They were quite proud of me because I carried the stick the whole way home - which was at least a kilometer. It was pretty hard work and my mouth was quite tired at the end, but it was TOTALLY worth it! I've been chewing on it and dragging it around...mom even played with the stick and me in the courtyard during the week. But I don't really like her holding it much so I told her I should be in control. It's a big stick, after all, and I wouldn't want her to get injured!

I have some more cool stuff to tell you about so I hope my secretary can stick around a little while longer and write some more stuff for me!! Oh and did you know tomorrow is my happy burp day?!?! Woohoo!

More in a bit!
Newfie kisses!!

Ayla

Newfies can tweet?!?!?

2008-02-06T20:28:00.000+01:00

Hey all you dogs out there in blogland!

I'm here today to talk about a new and fun little gizmo my mom came across which is called Twitter. It's not all that new anymore but it there aren't a whole lot of people out there using it just yet (and I've barely found any Newfies at all!!) but it is pretty cool.

Twitter is like a miniature blog that you can use to talk to people. You can share websites you find and random thoughts you have, ask questions or do just about anything else you want...as long as it's under 140 characters at once. And those short little snippets are called "tweets." So, yes, Newfies can indeed tweet...as long as we have some help getting our paws on the keyboard! ;-)

If you want to create a couple of accounts to go on various blogs or to share just with family or friends, you can download a cool desktop app like twhirl to help you out. That way you can be signed in to multiple twitter accounts at once, get notices as soon as your friends post new "tweets" and just otherwise make your Twitter life a little more simple.

So everyone go check it out! I'm looking forward to talking to more of you via Twitter!

Newfie kisses!
Ayla

Tag! I'm it!!!

2008-02-06T19:18:00.000+01:00

The lovely Katie over at the Happy Haus has tagged me to play a little game. I haven't played tag in a while so I hope I still remember how! ;-) I have to divulge seven quirky and previously unknown things about me. This might be hard since my mom and I reveal TONS of stuff about me all the time!

I am the "hostess with the mostess!" Whenever my humans (i.e. ME) have people over, I must be present at all times and must do my best to make sure everyone is having a good time. That may require me to slobber them after I drink or to stand at attention every time someone gets up from the table. And it might even mean staying up half the night until everyone leaves or goes to bed...but someone has to do it!
I am a little bit afraid of the dark. Thankfully my humans are very supportive of me and am quite good about it now but sometimes I still get a little scared when I see something that I'm not familiar with.
I LOVE to go on car rides. My humans have been taking me along with them since I was a little puppy and I can ride for hours in a car without getting bored.
I've never met a dog I didn't like. But there are many dogs who don't seem to like me much. I figured the "kill them with kindness" rule is best so I happily wag my tail back to them and smile.
I'm the only Newfie in town. There are other Newfs in nearby towns...and even a brother of mine living about 15 minutes away but I am in the only Newf living in this town right now. In our own town of 2000 people, there were 4 other Newfs living there. Talk about FUN!
I love gardening! I have pulled up tons of weeds (Mom says those were actually flowers but I know better) throughout our courtyard and I pride myself on my digging work!
I will NOT drink from a bowl of water more than once. If I've drooled in it, I will wait until my humans refill the bowl with fresh water before I will drink again. I'd rather drink smelly water from a sitting pool of water than cleanish water with my drool in it!

And now for seven friends....

I'm tagging a bunch of dogs I don't know because I usually tag a lot of the same people otherwise which is just no fun. And if you are reading this and want to play along, please do! The rules are simple:

Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Post 7 quirky facts about yourself on your blog.
Tag 7 people and link to them.
Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Balls of energy bursting forth

2008-02-01T12:20:00.000+01:00

I may have mentioned in the past that Ayla has been a bit wild in the evening lately...or maybe I didn't. Not really sure anymore and too busy to go back and look myself...but it seems that Ayla has more and more energy these days, especially in the evenings. Actually, she has little bursts of energy all morning where she goes from napping to wanting to play then back to napping, rinse and repeat.

We weren't really sure if perhaps there was something more going on with her so we went to the "authorities" on the Newf-L mailing list and they mostly confirmed what we were thinking...Ayla has too much energy and needs more playtime and probably a job or two as well. Even though she's been quite bossy and demanding when it comes to requesting playtime at night (deep play bows, barking at me, body checking and having massive FRAP's), that's apparently just her overexcited way of asking for us to pay more attention to her. I've often given in after requesting her to ask properly (making her sit first, doing a few tricks and then ask if she wants to play), but I went to the list to make sure that her requests aren't some sort of dominance play which I'm walking right into and becoming her b*tch.

But the common consensus is simply that she's not getting enough exercise and training during the day to fully wear her down. Which means we need to find a lot more tricks to teach her, need to create some new work for her to do around the house and should definitely start taking longer walks during the weekends to get her worn down a bit.

Since I work from home I can amuse her during the day but the weather has been really gross lately and I am not too thrilled to go play with her in the courtyard when it's below freezing and drizzling. So that means I need to come up with something different to do with her inside.

I sit at a desk all day so games of "find the _____" could be feasible if I find several somethings to find and hide them through out the bottom level of the house. She got quite a few toys that she knows the names of so this could be interesting. But I'm not really sure if we have enough toys at the moment to play this well since she keeps devouring stuffies.

Ayla does seem to understand the concept of "hot/cold" and us telling her she's getting warmer or colder when we play fetch in the fields and she loses the ball. I imagine we could incorporate that with finding stuff also.

I did read that another game to play would be piling all the toys up somewhere (or opening their toy box if they have one) and telling the dog to retrieve a certain toy, only giving praise and rewards when they bring the right one...this could work although she does this pretty often already when toys are scattered around the house. I'd love to teach her how to clean up her toys but she's having trouble with dropping the toys into the toy box...she usually drops them in front of the box as soon as she sees or smells a treat!

I guess using treats would probably work better but I'll also need to remember where they end up or I may find some unwanted goodies hiding in strange places a few months from now which could be pretty gross. We can also practice her "sit" & "wait" commands while doing something like this...maybe I could even manage to get her to go "down" in the middle of the process.

I could also do a bit of hide & seek with her, with me hiding somewhere in the house...but she doesn't have access to too many rooms during the day so I may run out of places pretty quickly...but I guess it's just a matter of getting her thinking a bit as well as the actually activity of running around looking for me.

Some people on Newf-L manage to get their dogs to hide toys themselves and the human goes looking for it...I'm not sure if we could manage that or not but it sounds like it definitely could be fun...and certainly would keep her occupied for a while as she tries to find the best hiding place.

As far as wearing a dog out, games like fetch and tug of war work well too...so I'll just keep all these things in mind and go from there!

By the way, I've got Ayla playing "find the bone" right now...I'm hiding it in pretty hard places since she's been chewing on it today and it must smell as heavenly to her as it does to me. We're on round two and I have to say it's taking her a while but she seems to be enjoying it...and it's pretty entertaining to see her wandering around the house!

An early birthday present

2008-02-01T11:20:00.000+01:00

Ayla's second birthday is coming up on February 23rd and when I was in the pet store the other day, I saw one of these dog learning games. I've seen them quite a few times before and always thought to myself it could be something interesting for Ayla since she's so smart anyway (too smart really!) I intended to give her the game for her birthday but I just couldn't wait. I brought it out last weekend while Stefan's parents were here and wanted to show them just how smart Ayla really is. The game consists of a wooden board with holes drilled into it. Then you have little wooden cups which you place over the holes. Inside the cups you place treats. It's a pretty simple concept but the dog actually has to pick up the cups to reach the treats. Using a paw will result in nothing because the cups nestle into the bottom board and can't be tipped over.

So I put a few treats under a few random cups and set it down on the floor for Ayla. The instructions state that you may need a few tries with the game to make the dog understand that they need to pick up the cups...but not Ayla. She knew what to do almost immediately. Too smart these dogs are!

So we played a few rounds and then we both grew bored of the game. What I didn't read is that most dogs get bored within about 15 minutes. Dang! And of course this is a toy you can only play with while supervising the dog; otherwise it's very likely that there won't be any pieces left for you to play with when you come back. Ayla kept trying to take off with the cups and didn't really seem interested with the treats inside...but she's always been a sucker for wood anyway.

Was it worth the investment of €28? I'm really not sure. I mean it's interesting and all...but not necessarily cool and if we both lose interest within 10 minutes I'm not really sure I would try another one. But one never knows until they try, right? At least her other birthday toys will be cooler! ;-)

Good thing I have a big mouth!

2008-01-15T14:21:00.000+01:00

Hey all you dogs out there in Blog Land!

It's Ayla here again and I hope you're all having a great week.

I just thought I would report on something really cool I've just realized I can do - pick up more than one thing at a time in my mouth!! I can pick up two tennis balls or 4 pieces of dried tripe...and who knows what else! I'm so thrilled. My mom told me once I should be able to do this but I never really believed her...I have a very small mouth after all. (She's doesn't seem to agree with me on this statement but what does she know? It's MY mouth!)

No one has managed to get a photo of me doing this yet and my big lips hide most of the evidence anyway...but after I picked up all the dried treats the other day and spit them out one by one into my chair in the living room, my humans were laughing like crazy. Apparently they've never seen such a skilled pup before. I'm just excited that I can bring all my treats into the room with me at the same time and not leave any behind like I had to do before. Who knows what sort of wild creature might have tried to eat them while they laid in the entry way unguarded!

Anyway, I encourage any dog out there who hasn't attempted to pick up several things at once in their mouth to try this right away! It's just so practical!!

Lots of Newfie kisses to you all!
Ayla

I make someone's day...

2008-01-14T16:27:00.000+01:00

and no, I'm not talking about praise I got from my humans or anything...which, by the way, I don't get nearly enough of lately!! Wonder why that is?! Have I been bad? Can't be! ;-)

Cub/Bubba the Newfie (who's new on the blogging scene) passed on some Newfie love to a few of us other Newfies out there writing blogs and gave us this very sweet You Make My Day Award. I'm thrilled he thought of us and very happy to see another Newf getting his paws on a keyboard! But now I have to pick someone else to pass the award on to...yikes!

Johann the Dog - who is always out there doing something amazing on behalf of other dogs around the world
Savage - whose blog I just found while trying to find new blogs to tag for this...and I LOVE playing with Great Danes so I thought maybe if I play nice online with him, he will play nice with me in real life too :) I wish I had ears like his!
Champ - an awesome Great Pyrenees (can you see the resemblance??)
Bugenhagen - another MASSIVE Great Dane

I don't really know any more dogs at the moment that I haven't bugged a lot in the past with stuff...or that Cub/Bubba didn't just tag with his award - so I'll start there and see where the award ends up next!

Newfie kisses!!
Ayla

Canine Cooler update

2008-01-09T14:28:00.000+01:00

You may recall me posting about the Canine Cooler we purchased a few months back for Ayla when it was really warm around here. I placed it in the kitchen where it was mostly out of the way but Ayla didn't show much interest in it. When we got our Christmas tree this year, I needed to move the bed out of the way so I put it in the entry way where Ayla sleeps at night. Who would have guessed that she now lays on it all the time!?

Of course her interest in it may have something to do with the funky moldy smell on it that I can't seem to get rid of. I've sprayed it down with antibacterial spray which seemed to squelch the smell a bit...but it's come back again. I smelled inside the bed but the water in there doesn't seem to smell so I guess it's the underside that's really the problem...and perhaps the top when Ayla lays on it and she's damp. There was a small leak from the valve for a while so I guess that may have caused this problem.

At any rate, I'm thrilled she's using the bed at least once a day. She actually sleeps on it most nights which is really great. I think it's not only the coolness she enjoys but the fact that it's much softer than the floor. Now if I can just keep the smell from transferring onto her, things would be great!

APB: Cheetah stuffie, MIA

2008-01-09T14:22:00.000+01:00

Hey all you dogs,

I have something very serious to discuss with you here. I don't know how, why or who has done this...but my brand new cheetah stuffie has gone MISSING!!

He was last seen on Christmas eve when my humans gave him to me. I lovingly played with him and only made the tiniest of holes in his paw.

I believe he was still present in the house on Christmas day when my male human's parents left...but after that, things are a bit of a blur. My mom has asked me several times where he's disappeared to, and we've gone looking for him outside and in...but he hasn't turned up anywhere. Such a tragedy! My humans finally buy me another stuffie to play with, knowing I will slowly destroy it...and then it just vanishes. Not even they know where he's gone!

If any dog happens to see him, I'd appreciate him being told to return home to me. I know I may chew on him a bit but my humans can tell you that I loved him like no other stuffie! You should have seen me prancing around with him on Christmas eve.

Newfie kisses to you all and hope your stuffies are staying put!

Ayla

Bowling with humans

2007-12-30T19:56:00.000+01:00

We were out walking with Ayla tonight and had something new happen - she actually managed to knock us BOTH over at once! Since we go out at about 7 pm, it's already very dark and we have yet to find a light for Ayla that lasts more than a week (despite the 3 year product warranties), it's usually extremely dark in the fields behind our house. So when our 100 pound dog came barreling through the field at us, we didn't have a chance to react at all.

Her head connected with the side of my calf first and swept my feet out from under me. Then she continued past Stefan and he went down as well. My right elbow took the brunt of the fall and Stefan managed to get his hands under him. Needless to say, we're both a little sore and banged up now. Stefan's knees are hurting and he got a bit of gravel lodged in his hands - my elbow is very sore but we both seem to be in one piece still.

Since this is my second bowling with dogs experience, I'm really hoping it will be my last. Ayla is generally really careful about not running into us but we figure she must have misjudged where we were walking in the dark...or at least that's what we hope! A Newfie wouldn't purposely try to injure their human, right? :-)

All I got for Christmas...

2007-12-30T19:30:00.000+01:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that there were some very happy puppy faces in everyone's homes. Ayla got a new cheetah stuffie that she seemed thrilled with and happily pranced around the house with for a few hours. She did chew a tiny hole in him and he was filthy in the end, but she was adorable with him so it was all worth it.

She got a few more small gifts too, and of course a very nice fresh bone which she quickly devoured. We also bought her a remote controlled car in hopes of starting to train her to avoid certain distractions and to listen to us when we call for her. We picked out a very robust car that can also drive in water, figuring that if she happens to drool all over it, we don't have to worry about it short circuiting. Our training worked fairly well but Ayla eventually got so excited about it all that she was hard to control. And then the battery on the car died so we had to carry it back home. You'd think that if you spend 80 euros on a car and charge the battery for over a day, it would hold up a bit longer - but apparently shopping at the low end of the range doesn't buy much anymore in RC cars.

We've also been working on a panic command so Ayla knows we need her to return to us immediately - "abort, abort, abort!" It works really well so far although she tends to respond better when Stefan says it. I guess we just need to work on it a bit more.

Newfie Christmas tree pulling

2007-12-02T22:03:00.000+01:00

I was catching up on some Newf-L list reading and came across a message about a few dog clubs who are working at local Christmas tree farms by pulling the trees out of the lot. In return they accept tips and donations to their local rescue organization or dog club. How cool is that?? I would love to see a place around here doing that...especially since there are actually two Newfie breeders that we know of living within 30 miles of us.

If you want to see this action in person (I know I would!!) maybe one of these locations is close to you...

The Colonial Newfoundland Club
http://www.cncnewfs.com/
December 8th
Gettysburg, PA.

Newfoundland Club of Seattle
2nd Annual Christmas Tree Pull
December 9 10:30-3:30
Enchanted Winds Christmas Tree Farm
18021 Issaquah-Hobart Rd, Issaquah WA

Get the dog away from my children......

2007-12-02T18:28:00.000+01:00

Thanksgiving is more than a week behind us now, but this is something that we just need to post about! Better late than never.

We had a big Thanksgiving feast at our house last Saturday (Thanksgiving isn't a holiday here in Germany, so people have to work) with 10 people - 8 adults and 2 children....one Newfie. The guest list was comprised of long time friends of ours and a couple we met through a mutual friend years ago but just recently got to know better, and their children - 2 and 5 years old. They had been to the farm before and knew Ayla, although then it was in a bigger setting of our housewarming party in August. Other then that, mostly we had seen them at their house and never with the dog.

Their arrival already started with chaos. Ayla is a big girl and she got a little bit too close to the oldest child... he tripped, knocking over Ayla's Newfie size water bowl stand. The dog loves children and as long they are running around her, she will act like a maniac with them. This was too much with all the Thanksgiving food around and tons of people in our open dining room/kitchen. So Ayla was banished into the entry hall behind her doggie gate. But as soon as she was in there, the kids wanted to be there too. And when they came back, the doors didn't get closed behind them and of course Ayla came along.

This game continued in a variety of places; the courtyard, the den, the hallway, the mudroom. Always the same game. The mother got increasingly agitated by the dog but not her children who were all over the place. Ayla was, of course, glued to the children running around like monkeys on mescaline, happily licking their hands and faces.

Finally it was too much for the mom and she screamed out "Get that dog away from my children". The room froze, Ayla looked shocked and I, as the non-fur mommy, was a bit offended. I had constantly moved the dog from one location to the next (aside from cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people) and her children always brought her back. I am not sure why you can't make non-dog people understand if their children stop running around the dog will stop chasing them. But they just never get it.

Thankfully hubby had two of our close friends sitting across from him when we sat down for dinner that can really calm him by just looking at him and rolling their eyes. He was ready to burst. The woman was still complaining a bit about the dog at that point when the greatest thing happened. Not 10 seconds after we all sat down to eat, Ayla flopped herself down near the table and went to sleep. Hubby just said "See, this is what happens when you stop running - the dog stops following. This is what we where trying to tell you". If looks could kill, Stefan would have been a dead man.

Following dinner Ayla was way to exhausted from the pre-dinner exercise and left the kids to their own devices. Interestingly enough, these kids had some fun games in store: Squash and pumpkin throwing inside the house, hitting people and objects with a wooden meat pounder, and a sort of dance contest on our glass coffee table - all without a word from the parents. I think everyone at that table took more effort in finding something for the kids to do and focusing the kids energy on something else, than the parents.

In the end, Ayla was a perfect girl all night - no trying to steal food (she was snuck enough turkey meat, sweet potatoes, carrots etc for two Newfies after dinner), barking or acting like a crazy loon- more than can be said for the kids.

We don't have any children yet, but we learned a lot from that night for when the time comes. A lesson for now though - pick your friends wisely. If they can't stand your best friend then they are not worth hanging out with. This wild bunch definitely won't need to be offended by Ayla any more, they won't be invited back.

An electric Newf

2007-12-02T17:58:00.000+01:00

Hey all you dogs!

Ayla here with a quick note to say "hi" to everyone since it's been forever since I was last here. It seems a lot of my blogging puppy friends are also on hiatus these days - guess with the holiday season being upon us everyone is out having fun instead of sitting in front of their computers - as they should be! :-)

Anyway, not much has been happening since we got back from our awesome trip to Holland. My humans are back to walking me an hour a day instead of the 2 or more we were taking in Holland but I've made sure to harass them more during the day now so they know I really miss those days.

And speaking of making my humans nuts, they think I'm having another growth spurt because I've been really yappy to Mom every time she's sitting on the couch in the evening. I keep trying to share the couch with her, which really would be better for just me since it's only a love seat, but I get so excited that I start chewing on her and trying to dominate her and then I get ejected from the game. What's a dog to do? :-)

In other news, my humans put up something really cool for me to play with last weekend...Christmas lights! They bought some interesting light blue colored balls with lights in them (from IKEA, Mom says, and they were brand new!!) and strung those through the rose bushes in my courtyard. I thought they were a bit too long on one side so I "trimmed" them down a bit. The humans had a LOT of fun trying to get the balls from me afterwards but I wasn't going to let the game end there. A few days later I pulled down the rest of the lights too, even though they were about 7 feet off the ground. Man was that fun! That strand of lights really lost to me that time!

But I wasn't ready to stop there. The humans have another light chain along the edge of the house which I can't reach...but the did have the extension cord in my courtyard! So I unplugged the lights for them (we need to cut back on our electricity usage, people) and then thought it might be fun to chew on the end of the extension cord a bit. But watch out fellow dogs - those things bite HARD! I let out a yelp and the humans came to investigate. The gracefully took the evil cord away from me and locked it away in the trash can. That's one cord that will never mess with me again! (Mom's note: We hope this will prevent her from getting any more stupid ideas about chewing on cables...God help us!)

Anywho, the weather here is awesome tonight. It's raining and the wind is blowing stuff all over my courtyard. It's almost like we're back in Holland. I can't wait for our walk later! Hopefully we'll also get some of this snow stuff soon too. My humans keep talking about how cool it will be since we barely had any last year...only time will tell I guess.

I hope you've all had a fun weekend and done something to get yourselves spoiled rotten. I've got an important meeting with my food bowl now so I've got to run...

Big Newfie kisses!!

Ayla

Finally, a vacation fit for a Newfie

2007-11-10T18:11:00.000+01:00

We've finally made it, the guest house project back at the farm has come a long way and the build out is nearly finished - time for a vacation. We've arrived safely on the island of Texel in the North Sea yesterday afternoon without much of a hassle. The night before we left it looked uncertain we could make the crossing as major storms and heavy swells were in the forecast. The ferry was canceled for a few hours in the morning, but everything was back to normal by the time we arrived.

We have moved into our guest bungalow and are pleasantly surprised by how cozy and nice it is. Plenty of space for a newfie to stretch out. We did have to move two single beds together in the downstairs bedroom, since the master bedroom is upstairs which has a really steep spiral staircase - definitely a danger to Ayla. Since Ayla always sleeps in our bedroom when we are on vacation we had to improvise.

Today we took Ayla on two long walks, both about 90 minutes. She loved running through the dunes (most of them have leash requirements, but a few areas allow off-leash). The temperature on heavy winds here are perfect for Newfoundlands. Thanks to LL Bean and their fabulous jakets we are quite comfortable too, even with the occasional rain showers.

On the way back from the evening walk, Ayla was a very very bad girl. We where already inside the vacation park where our bungalow is when Ayla spotted a rabbit. She took off like a bat out of hell, pulling the leash from my hand and nearly pulling me off my feet. Thankfully there is no traffic in the park, but we where kind of worried. We chased after her and thankfully she soon lost interest in the rabbit. Bunny 1 - Stupid Newfie 0. Her chase lasted for about 4 blocks and we still had a 10 minute walk home and we are glad to report that we have a very tired Newfie on our hands. Vacation is rough work afterall.

All the fresh ocean air is making us a bit tired too. Meanwhile we are relaxing in front of an open fireplace and will soon start making some dinner. A great first day of vacation for all.