Tank's Introduction part Deux

In our last episode, I was born and started growing into the cutest puppy imaginable. Every moring I'd bound out of the puppy room raring to go and ready to chow down! I was almost always first out and first to the food. Until one day...

Much to my dad's horror, I was the last one out, todddled uncertainly toward the food, sniffed it and walked away. He knew I had parvo and took me right to the vet. I had IVs going before I started losing fluids both ends. After 3 days I could go home. Two of the other pups got parvo but we all got to the vets before any vomiting or diarrhea started and we all did well. This is me with my leg shaved where the IV was. After me, Shazaam and Tracy got it, too. So when I came home it was Isaac, dad and I, then the other two joined us. They went from here to their forever homes. After her second shot, Princess came to live with us. I was really glad to see her again. Parvo was a rough thing but it doesn't seem to have stunted my growth any. I'm solid muscle and 30 lbs heavier than my dad, 40 lbs heavier than my mom and only 19 months old!

Of course Isaac was a great dad. He loved to play with me. He let all us pups climb all over him. That kind of backfired on him 'cause as we got bigger we still climb on him. Now that we out weigh him it scares him and my human dad makes me stop. But I really love my dad and stick up for him if there's any trouble, like birds invading the backyard or a motorcycle going by.

I'm a great big brother to Princess, too. I let her win wrestling matches all the time. I love to lick people and if they squeal it drives me wild and I lick even more! I'm also a clever climber. At 4 months I could escape from baby gates that even Isaac couldn't get over. I can push out slats, squeeze through, dig under or climb over. I'm a great talker, too. I've even taught my human dad how to speak some dog. More later - Tank

Tank's Introduction, Part 1

Hi, adoring fans everywhere! My turn to tell a little of my story. It all started in the belly of my beloved mother, Georgia. My canine paternal progenitor, Isaac, has already told you about her, so if you want to read the romance and see the honeymoon photos, go here. It's a sweet story and I'm a sweet boy! Soon after I came out my dad gave us all temporary names just to tell us apart. Mine was "Hook" Most of the rest of the pups had similarly dorky names. Thanks, dad. Mine was based on the white behind my head.

Above to the right you can see the white on the back of my neck. I guess I'm lucky he didn't call me 'coat hanger'. Then to the left, you can see all of us puppies nursing. This is the most orderly we ever were. Don't be fooled! We were a rollicking madhouse of puppy flesh jockeying for position. There are 6 puppies in this picture. Can you find us all? Princess is being coy waaay off to the left - left of Georgia's hind feet. I'm in the center - you can see my hook! That's 'cuz I was the coolest one. Still am! That yellow thing on the bottom right was Georgia's favorite toy before my dad gave her a Cuz. They called it her ice cream and even though she destroyed it she still carried it everywhere. Kind of what you might expect for a teenage mother. I was a bouncy, enthusiastic pup. I was the first-born, the biggest and the first to learn to walk. Only problem was I didn't know how to stop. So I'd walk up to my sib-pups to say hi! They were doing well just to stay standing. So I'd come up, not stop in time and knock them right over. Bowling for newf-pups! My dad knew it was a sign of things to come. Not wanting to call me 'bulldozer', for which I'm eternally grateful, he named me Tank. I was the second to get my final name. Later on he named one of my favorite sisters 'Shazaam', 'cause she learned to pounce first. She pounced on everything - leaves, us, you name it. We just went to visit her a few days ago. Her people call her 'Maggie', but I still think of her as Shazaam! That was a cool name, dad! I did one other great thing as a puppy. Feeling frisky, I climbed up my mom's back while she was laying on her side. When I got to the top of that huge mountain of Newf-flesh, I looked around from my high vantage and then slid down her belly like a big slide! Wheeeeeeeee! it was so fun I climbed up and did it again. Wheeeeeeee! Then one of the other pups saw me and they came over and did it, too. Then a few more came and then they all came. We had a line of pups waiting their turn to climb up then slide down mom. It was a riot! I tried it again 2 weeks later and it wasn't fun any more. I'd gotten so big that it wasn't even a climb any more to get up on mom, and when I tried to slide down my front paws were on the ground while my back paws were still on the other side of mom. Oh well. The rapidly fading joys of puppy-hood. I was also the last one to stop nursing. One day I tried to nurse and mom gave me a kick and a growl that scared me but good! I wasn't going to try that again!

Then came the worst day of my life. You'll hear that story in part deux...

Mr. Isaac Says Hi!

Hey Dawgs! Isaac here! I'm the father of Princess and Tank and very proud of my kids! As the older generation I mostly leave the internet stuff to them. They're both bigger than I am. That was no fun when Tank went through his pushy stage. He was sure a bully. Good thing I'm not the alpha type. I was born Jan 2, 2004 in Tenessee. I've had a pretty hard life for a newf. My second owner in New Orleans sold me when their life got hard. My third owner's home was destroyed in Hurricaine Katrina. I was taken in by an elderly woman but I was so feisty she had to keep me in a crate all day. Of course that made me even more feisty whenever I got out. All I really want to do is play and love, just like any newf. Let me tell you, dawgs, I was one unhappy, confused newf! So this human gal who met me before Katrina had this loverly Landseer named Georgia. Whew she was a hottie! My third owners drove me to Kansas City to meet Georgia and we hit it off right away. I played in my first ever snow in Kansas City! At first I couldn't even figure out how to walk in it. Then I stuck my nose in the snow and ran, feeling the spray in my face! Weeeeheeee!

This is Georgia. We had the BEST time together!



First some playing around...







Then some *real* playing around...



And 2 months later, look at the belly on that babe! In there are Tank, taking up most of the room, Princess, and 4 other baby newfs! They were so cute!

That's when I came to live with my current dad and he's had me for over a year. The gal who bred me brought Georgia and Bertram, the puppies' Godfather, to her nursing home as therapy dogs. Four of the puppies went to her friends who worked at other nursing homes and they're all therapy dogs. The residents always ask for them and it's the highlight of their day to see the dogs. They hide cheetos and the dogs find them. For cheetos, I'd go anywhere! A couple of times, when Tank was mean to me and I started to play less my dad wondered if I would be better off in a house with no other dog. He just barely got the thought in his head but I knew what he was thinking and I went over and laid my head on his lap and looked up with my mournful eyes and he said I didn't have to leave unless I wanted to. That made me so happy!!

I'm such a great dad, I *loved* playing with the puppies!

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.