Enough Fur for Two Dogs!

Better late than never, I guess. Now that summer is more than half over Louie has finally "decided" to blow his coat. All of this fur came off of him in 20 minutes.

Hopefully Louie will be a little cooler now. You would think after all that he would look naked, but he still has tons of fur left.

If you are curious about how I got so much hair off of him so quickly. Here is a picture of the tool I used:

It's a grooming rake with rotating and retracting pins. It conforms to the dog's body as you use it, so it's pain-free. Katie and Louie seem to enjoy being groomed with it. When Newfoundlands are blowing coat I have found that this tool removes undercoat faster than any other.

Does Your Dog Ever Pull on the Leash?

Katie and Louie are great dogs, but it's almost impossible to overcome any dog's natural canine instincts 100% of the time. Sometimes the compulsion to chase just takes over when they see a rabbit or a squirrel (not that Katie or Louie have ever caught one). When over 235 pounds of the world's strongest breed of dogs are attached to my wrists I think it's critical to find some way to save myself from being pulled down to the ground or in front of a car. I've struggled at times to find a way to control the Newfs in this type of unpredictable situation. After trying several different collars and harnesses I have finally found one that I love! It's called the Sense-ation No Pull Dog Harness and it really works. The things I like about it:

1) It's easy to get off and on - takes about 5 seconds to do

2) The harness can fit loosely on the dog and still be completely effective

3) Katie and Louie seem very happy when wearing it and actually play more attention to me than ever

4) Since it doesn't go around the dog's neck the dog can't choke itself.

The leash attaches to a ring that sits on a loose strap in the middle of the dog's chest.

When the dog starts to pull, the location of the leash makes them turn slightly to one side instead of going straight forward as they intended. Katie and Louie learned in about five minutes that the only way to keep going straight was to stop pulling on the leash.

Last week I didn't realize that an orange cat was running by our parking area right as I opened the back gate with Katie and Louie beside me. I could see that Katie and Louie's chase instinct kicked in immediately, but they didn't make any progress towards the cat and my arms did not get pulled out of their sockets. Hooray for these awesome harnesses!

In case you are interested, here's a link to the site where I found the best price with free shipping. I'm not affiliated in any way with this company. I just wanted to share this with you all because I thought others might benefit from this great tool as much as we have.

I Used to Think Crate Training Was Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Katie and Louie love their crates so much that they frequently get in them without being asked. As previously seen on our blog they will sometimes even cram themselves both into the same crate.

For a long time I was not a believer in crate training and actually thought it was cruel to put a dog in such a small space. About ten years ago Scarlett the Siberian Husky showed me that my beliefs about crates were wrong. When she had knee surgery at the age of 7 she had to stay in a crate for 23 1/2 hours a day for 6 weeks during the beginning portion of her recovery. Scarlett drove me to tears several times during those six weeks with her relentless verbalization of her dissatisfaction with her captivity. So I was sure that once freed from her crate she would shun it forever. But again, I was wrong (that seems to happen often with preconceived notions). Once Scarlett didn't HAVE to be in the crate she started seeking it out. For the next eight years Scarlett spent probably about 10 hours a day in her crate by her own choice.

After my experience with Scarlett I began to see why it would be beneficial to crate train a dog from day one. Now, if Katie or Louie need to be in their crates at a show, while traveling or at the vet's office it's no big deal. Their crates are actually a comfort to them in strange situations.

A lot of people have asked me how I crate trained Katie and Louie, so I thought I would post it here. The strategy I used is a compilation of many different methods I read about over the last few years. My main goal was to make crate training very positive and happy for the puppies.

We were lucky that their breeders put Katie and Louie in crates as pups, so they got a feel for it early. However, at that time they were in a crate with several of their litter mates, so being in one by themselves was a new experience.

The first thing I did to start crate training was to feed them all of their meals in their crate from day one. I left the doors open so they could come out when they were done eating. Since they passionately love food the crate quickly became a happy place in their minds.

The second step for us was to start saying "Katie Kennel" or "Louie Kennel" when standing beside it. Then we tossed a treat inside so the dog went in to get it. At that point, we praised them like crazy. We did this several times for a couple of days.

The third step was to say "Louie Kennel" while standing by the crate and then PAUSING. We gave the Newfs a chance to offer the behavior and when they did we immediately gave them a treat and praised them a lot. We did this many times for a day or two.

Next, we repeated step three above except after the dog entered the kennel we shut the door without giving the dog the treat. We praised and fed the treat to the dog through the closed door. Then we opened the door and let dog exit without any acknowledgement. (Note: you never want to give them praise or a treat for leaving the kennel. That is a neutral behaviour which should not be rewarded because they will cry to be let out in the future if they anticipate a treat upon exit.)

Fifth, we repeated above, giving treats with door shut and locked. This time we fed small treats through the door periodically for about a minute.

Gradually we worked up to longer time periods with the door shut and with longer intervals between treats.

Next we told the Newf "kennel", shut the door, gave them a treat and left the room for just a few seconds. (Note: If the dog whines or paws at the door ignore him until he is quiet. If he is being good give another treat then wait at least 10 seconds before opening the door.)

We gradually built up to being out of the room for longer periods of time. We came in at random intervals and gave the dog a treat through the door.

Some people skip all these steps and just put the dog in the crate and let them cry/bark it out. Sometimes that may be the only option as I had to go through with Scarlett since we didn't have time to do crate training before her surgery. But if you have a month to spend just a few minutes each day on crate training you can make the whole experience a very positive one for your dog. I think these furry bundles of unconditional love are so worth the effort!

Our Super Cool New Fan

Our Auntie Maija told us that Little Remy got an awesome fan that he just loves, so we decided we needed one too. It came in the mail today and we immediately snuggled up to it. Some people like to get cozy in front of fireplaces, but we are coziest in front of cool fans.





A Kiss for My Sis

Katie Got a Newf Bed

This bed is Newf sized for sure. I bought it for either of the dogs to use, but Katie is the one who loves it best.


I got this for $25.00 off ebay. It was $.99 plus $24.00 for shipping. There are still some left at this price if anyone is interested in bidding on one. It's extremely nice and worth about $70-80.

Conformation Tool

5/26/11: Revision to post: Originally this post had a picture of a homemade conformation tool that we made out of scrap lumber to train our Newfoundland dog Louie's legs to stay in the proper stance in the show ring. Back in 2009 the creator of a product called HappyLegs (click the link to the left to go to her site) contacted me to tell me I was infringing on her patent by posting the picture. I am still not convinced that I did anything wrong by posting a picture of Louie standing on a tool that we made for our own personal use. However, since the creator of that tool was very confrontational about my original post, I honored her wishes and took down the picture of Louie. I will say that I have seen her Happy Legs in person and she has created quite a lovely tool that would last you for a lifetime of dog shows. If we were showing more than one pet dog we may have chosen to invest a couple of hundred dollars in her tool which is much easier to use and adjust than our clunky tool that we made literally from garbage. Her concern was that she thought we were trying to sell this product which is total b.s. My original post, which I have archived, said nothing whatsoever about selling any version of her product. In fact, we have never sold anything on this blog and have never even placed a single ad on it. Can you tell even 2 years after she contacted me that I am still a bit ticked off about this?

Here is another choice for people looking for a less expensive option: Steponz These are much more cheaply made than Happy Legs. I think they are overpriced for what they are, but if you can't afford to spend $200 and don't have a handy husband to make your own this might be a good option for you.

And here is a link that shows a homemade set that a woman's husband made for her. This one looks to be quite professionally made.

Now back to the original post...

The picture at the top is Louie in his first fun match at 3 months old making GooGoo eyes at the judge. He won best in Working Group that day.

We have no expectations of Louie completing his championship, but who knows what might happen. Our main goal is to go to some shows and have fun. but I do believe that showing is somehow in Louie's blood. When he gets in the ring he just turns on the charm and has a fabulous time. Louie seems to take after his greatgrandfather Josh in the charisma department.

Here is a little video of Louie's GreatGrandFather...