Newfoundland Puppies

Is there anything more delightful on this planet than a puppy dog? Newfoundland puppies are no exception to the cute and cuddly rule, but they will not stay that way for long!

Newfoundland puppies, along with other giant breeds, grow five times faster than any other dog breed. In fact, your puppy will reach two thirds of his adult size by the time he is eight months old!

But he still wants to be a puppy and will want to run up and say hello to everybody he meets. I have had to explain on many occasions that he is only a puppy, as people raise their eyebrows sceptically. At eight months, he will most probably be bigger than a full grown Labrador!

He is going to want to charge about the place, just like any other puppy, but he can knock over all your ornaments, even pull things out of your bookshelves, and if he decides to chew the furniture, be sure it will not be a few scratches.

When Ferdie was a puppy, he chewed through four dining chairs, an office chair, two mobile phones, seven tv remote controls and he made a major hole in a breezeblock wall!

There will not be much that he cannot reach.

A Newfoundland puppy is an extremely affectionate dog. He will want to be with you, wherever you are, so get into the habit of looking down before you move. Chances are he will be right there, under your feet.

They love cuddles, they love kisses, and they love to please. They are fairly easy to housetrain, given the right guidance, as they are extremely intelligent and do get the message very quickly. However, any harsh treatment will set your puppy back by months.

Along with most giant dogs, they hate to be shouted at. It fills them with fear and if it comes from the person they have learned to trust, that trust will be hard to regain.

A newfie has been bred for centuries to work on his own initiative. You cannot expect him to think of you as anything other than an equal and a friend. But he will look up to you as the one with the resources. You are the one who provides the food, the games, the walks and he will look to you for everything good in his life.

Basic puppy training for a Newfoundland puppy is really not difficult, but it is an ongoing thing and it is time consuming.

All puppies are hard work. Think carefully, as you would before deciding to have a baby. You will have to devote much of your time to this puppy for quite a few months to come, so try to think past the cute and cuddly puppy thoughts, and realise that raising a puppy, any puppy, is hard work.

Newfoundland puppies can be even harder work. They have very special needs in puppy care and if you ignore those basic needs, you will let yourself in for a lot of heartache and your dog will suffer for it.