Newf toy review: Flying high with the JW Pet Whirlwheel!

Your Friendly neighborhood Tank O' Saurus here to tell you about a newf toy we really like! You other pups can play too 'cause it comes in 3 sizes. It's the JW Pet Whirlwheel. Neither Isaac, Princess or I really like any frisbee-type toys unless they're either stuffy or squeak or both. The stuffies we quickly destroy and the squeekies we either lose interest in or diemsqueek and *then* lose interest in. This is the first ring shaped toy I'm really excited about! My papa likes it 'cause it flies pretty well, we like it 'cause it's tough, it squeaks and it's tons of fun to grab from each other. I try to hide toys completely in my cavernous mouth. I can get a large cuz completely in if I get it in feet first. But even I can't get this one fully inside! Here's some pictures to show you what I mean.

I try to stuff it in

fold it in

whatever might work.

but

Princess can still get a hold of it! Really that makes it more fun, but I enjoy the feeling of superiority I get when I have the toy everyone wants where no one can get it! No one but my dad, that is. He really can reach in there.

This is one toy we *love* to chase when dad throws it. The squeaker gets us really excited just like the Cuz - I think it's the same people who make the Cuz, in fact. It's pretty challenging to pick it up off the ground. I can grab the ball in my teeth, Princess has to get an edge up and then grab it. That leaves me time to get in there and steal it!

I let Princess win just 'cause I love my little sister and I want her to play with me all the time and she's always comforting when I'm sad and telling me the right thing to do when I'm bad!

The JW Whirlwheel gets an aroo woo woo!

What Celebrity Doggies Do

Hey dogophiles! It's me, Mr. Tank O' Saurus, with some really hot gossip! This is the section where celebrity rumors will boil to the surface. Today's "Celebrity Doggies Do" is so hot it's erupting like lava. And remember, you heard it here first! (Princess woofs: 'cause you made it up!) Just ignore the newf behind the curtain...

Well, you all know how talented a writer Nanook is, but what you don't know, and what his fans have been clamoring for, IS, ahem, you heard it here first, remember: that Nanook...... is..... about to..... Write a book!!! That's right, Nook's Books! And wait! That's not even the half of it! Right here, right now, I, Tank, am going to reveal to you the Title of that book! (I'm not making it up, I'm predicting the future...) Nook's Book will be called (are you ready!?!) Hairy Pooka and the hors d oeuvre (Orderve) of Newf Fur. That's right! Why do you think his blog has been so full of references to Pooka's "gorilla suit" and Pooka eating Nanook's fur? Your intrepid celebrity reporter has it all figured out for you! You can thank me in the woofs! And remember, I'm not prevaricating, I'm prognosticating!

Princess introduces herself!

Hello, Dog lovers! I'm Princess, born January 4th 2006 very early in the morning! My human dad stayed up very late to deliver us all. Tank is my littermate. My mom is Georgia, a Landseer Newf who now lives on a lake with the woman who came up with the idea to breed us. My dog dad is Isaac, who will introduce himself later. They are two great newfs! I was quickly recognised as the most social of the litter. My human dad called my mom Georgia "the Queen of Everything". One day at about 10 days old I did something that reminded him of Georgia and that's when he started calling me, "Princess". I was very happy growing up and had lots of fun experiences and one bad one. One day we were all under a bush exploring and I got poked in the eye by a branch. My eye was bleeding so my dad took me to the emergency room where they took a piece of wood out of my eye and gave him some icky ointment to put in. Boy did I hate that! No severe damage but my inner eyelid covers more of my eye than it should. Another thing I remember is this big, gigantic newf named Bertram. He was jealous of the attention we puppies were getting and barked the deepest, most earthshaking bark I've ever heard before or since! My human dad hopes Tank will get that kind of bark! I'm closer to it so far. When Bertram barked at the group of puppies, they all ran away. Not me, though. I knew he needed affection so I ran right between his legs and looked adoringly up at him. From then on he always let me stay with him but none of the other puppies could. Tank used to yelp when Bertram barked. He's such a drama king! I always comfort the other dogs if they're sad or if they get in trouble. I love pleasing my papa so I almost never get in trouble.

I didn't get parvo, like Tank did, so I was separated from my human dad for a while while he took care of the pups recovering from parvo. After a few weeks I got to go back to him but my mom, Georgia, didn't come with me. That was kind of hard on me but I liked being with Tank, Isaac and my human dad. I got comfortable again fairly quickly. My Dad says I'm a natural therapy dog and as soon as I learn that "stay" means something besides, "follow" I can go to make sick children feel better. Stay is when he sticks his hand in front of my face. If he's too serious I give his hand a quick lick to remind him how much I love him. I'm getting better at the stay. I've already started working with cart shafts so I can be in parades and give kids rides.

But mostly, I love to SWIM!!! I get so excited that I rear up and paw the air like a stallion! I'm really good and fast and I always bring back what my dad throws. I've been in lakes, rivers and oceans. Dad took me to California with him. Tank and I stayed at a hotel and did all kinds of great stuff. The airplane was pretty stressful for me, I don't mind telling you.

I also love playing with Tank and Isaac. If it's too slow a day I bark at them until they play with me. I love it when dad throws a toy and we compete to see who can get it and we try to take it away from each other. I could do that all day long!

I think that's enough for now. Some of these stories I'll tell at length later.

Just Be CUZ!

OK,

let's

think

FUN!!

Let me tell you how to spell fun - it's C.U.Z! That's the best dog toy EVER! It makes a great quacking noise, bounces crazy and stands up to the toughest chewers (me and my dog mom). Nothing gets me more excited than when my human dad quacks the cuz. Princess runs back and forth from where dad usually throws it to where dad is as he walks (Waaaaaay too slowly!) to the yard. She always runs back to him just as he's going out the back door and pokes him right in the bellybutton with her nose. She's hilarious. Princess and I go berserk chasing it and seeing who can get it first. But I always steal it from her if she gets it (Princess screams, "You do NOT!!") Do too. Well, maybe not always. You can see video of us competing here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUrlgjeEuB4

But we get much more crazy than that sometimes!

The CUZ gets an aroo woowoo woowoo!

Toy rating scale:

' Lame

zzzzzz BORING

snif mild interest

snif sniffffffff interesting

Woof! WOW

AROO Amazing

Aroo woo woo The ultimate

Taking the Heat

Hello doggies! Tank here to tell you how much I loooooove being trimmed down in the summer. My dad has done it twice this year to keep me cooler. You should see my happy dance when it's done. I feel soooo much better. Princess and I are much more frisky. My dad wants to clear up one misconception a lot of people have so I'm going to turn things over to him. He's really boring when he gets a bee in his bonnet like this so skip past it if you don't care :)

Dad here. Summer haircuts on thick coated dogs are controversial. To shave or not to shave is a personal decision. By “shave” I mean a close trim. No skin should be visible. I use a #7 blade and leave about ½ inch of hair. The main reason I wanted to discuss this is to lay to rest a popular myth. When people talk about a summer trim and someone says “the coat insulates in the heat as well as the cold” that betrays a lack of understanding of the heat balance of mammals, people and dogs included. Mammals create heat. Mammals must lose some of that heat or they die. In cold weather that's easy. In hot weather mammals have to have a way to cool off to survive. Dogs cool primarily by panting and by sweating on their pads. Even though they don't sweat on the the skin of their bodies, there's still heat lost through their skin. Insulation slows heat loss. In cold environments that's great. In hot environments, that can be deadly. A big, thick coat will slow heat loss and thus the animal has to pant more and move less to maintain a reasonable temperature. Your thick coated dog will not be as comfortable as one with a thinner coat on hot days. But guess what? Your newf will still want to be in the air conditioning in hot weather! So shave or not, it's totally up to you, but know the truth so you make the best decisions possible.

If your dog is overheated, letting it drink is good, running cool water over it is good (this will be more effective with a short coat than a long one), but rubbing alcohol may not be the best choice. In people they've stopped using alcohol to cool because it cools so fast that it can cause seizures. There's no reason to think it's any different in dogs.

OK, Tank, back to you!

Welcome!

Oh My! 5 people have looked at this thing and there's not even any info, let alone witty prose! While you're waiting for the show to begin, let's have some teaser trailers...

links to find out more about us.

rcantor.shutterfly.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUrlgjeEuB4

http://www.dogster.com/family/368863


And some Kansas City Newf Links:

Heart of America Newfoundland Club

Autumn Acres Newfoundland Rescue


Some great Newf links, in order of greatness:

http://nanookthenewfy.blogspot.com/

http://www.newf.net/

http://newflist.googlepages.com/index.html

http://www.thenewfoundland.com/documents/So%20You%20Think%20You%20Want%20A%20Newfoundland.pdf

http://www.gad.net/Newf-FAQ/

http://www3.sympatico.ca/newfydog/before_you_buy.htm

http://www.ncanewfs.org/index.shtml

http://www.newfdogclub.org/a_ftp_main_directory/ftp_major_documents/newf_and_you.pdf