Up on the Deck Furniture

Since Sailor believes he's "people", he thinks it's just fine and dandy to get up on the deck furniture, He also thinks it's cool to eat his messy bone on the couch and taking up seating for 2 people while he's at it. Look at those big webbed feet holding that bone!

New Updates. . .

Hello friends. My last post was May 14th - right before I left for Vegas with Anita. We had a great time, but when I got back, it got crazy at work and then right into Memorial weekend, so I have not had time to update you on Sailor and his recent activities. Also, I dropped our digital camera on our rocks and the lens will not pop out now so you can't take photos. Can you say frustrating!

I have to admit that we have been a bit lenient with Sailor and now let him sleep on a doggy bed on the floor next to me instead of his crate, but for some reason (and we think because the tiles are cool), he likes to sleep in the master bathroom. . . okay then. He has been very good except for one night when I got up to find him and stepped in pee. He was covered in it and it was super gross but Todd cleaned it up! Love You Baby! He also came up with the new product for just such a thing " Shamwow Shoes"! :)

There has been so much going on in the last few weeks and I owe you guys so many photos!
Such as:
He graduated from Intermediate puppy school.
Sailor was on Fox 9 - they did an article about The Canine Club and he was on it swimming.
He now weighs 96 lbs!
We got Sailor a kiddie swimming pool that we filled up and let him play in. He seems to really like it.
He met the new neighbor's dog, Hardy (a 3 year-old yellow lab) so they swam in the lake together and chased tennis balls.
Our neighbor, Nic and her Boxer, Duke are back from Vegas now (yay) for the Summer and Fall, so Duke and Sailor had fun play-fighting in the front yard. In all of these cases, why is so heart-warming watching dogs play? Because they play with such abandon?

Landseer

I mentioned a week or so ago that there are 2 kinds of Newfoundlands - one being the Landseer. Todd happened to run into one at Petsmart after puppy class. He is about 6 months old. Notice how they have a lot of white on them unlike Sailor who is all black. This one is sweet too!

Vegas!

Hello friends. I am off to Vegas with my friend Anita, so won't be able to post much while I'm gone because of course, Sailor can't come along on this trip! I will trust that Todd will take notes on any cute, adorable and funny behaviour (my behaviour in Vegas will NOT be published :) that Sailor does while I'm away. I will be back on Tuesday night, so will update you when I get back. However, I do have some things set to post over the next few days for your enjoyment! Have a great weekend and YOU stay out of trouble!

Yawn!

Wow is he tired after a long day of swimming and playing. . . I should have it so good!

Playing with the Boys

Randall and Roman came over the other night to "show" Sailor to their friend. Sailor went out to play with them and chased them around the yard. I was laughing so hard as Sailor was running after Roman as he was almost as big as he is. Cute photos of the boys!

Muddy Dogs

Here are some snaps of the muddy dogs from last Sunday's "Swamp Swim". If you look closely, you can even see that Sailor's tongue is black with mud. It's kind of hard to see on him, but what a mess! Also, not sure who the random retreiver is - just another dog at the dog park, but he managed to stay clean!

Water Dog

Sailor went to the dog park yesterday with his buddies, the Bernese Mountain dogs Buckley (who is 5) and Penelope (who is 17 weeks). All was well until Buckley found a black, muddy, smelly swamp and lead all three dogs into it where they wallowed around. UGH! It reeked like primordial ooze! Double UGH! We decided in order to wash Sailor, it was time for a swim in the lake. The boat's in the water now, so we figured if he took off, we could catch him. We figured that since he was swimming at day care, he would be one heck of a swimmer. Not so much! NO need to fear as he became a total baby. We put him on a long lead as we figured since he's swimming at day care he would take to it and then maybe take off and not realize where the shore is.

Todd put his waders on and then walked him in, which he was fine and you could see the mud coming off around him like an oil slick! Then we took him out deeper where he had to paddle and he swam right to the dock and wrapped his arms around the post. Aww. Our poor baby.

We didn't want to traumatize him, so we let him swim back to shore. We will keep trying to get him comfortable in the water and we know he'll get used to it over time and his own pace. After all, he is a WATER dog!

Famous Newfies

You may wonder where we got the name Sailor. Well, I did some research and found all these famous Newfies. It's interesting to see that Lord Byron and Emily Dickinson were among some of the astute Newfie owners. I found Sailor's name on this list and thought it would fit him since we live on a lake. Enjoy reading this list of famous owners and their Newfies. . ..

Adam - Seaward's Blackbeard - 1984 Best in Show winner at the Westminster Dog Show
Boatswain - pet of English poet Lord Byron and the subject of his poem Epitaph to a Dog
Brumus - Robert F. Kennedy's dog
Brutus- first dog to complete the Appalachian Mountain Club's "Winter 48", climbing all 48 peaks in one calendar winter
Canton and Sailor - A female and male pup aboard a foundering British ship in Maryland that were bred with retrievers to form the Chesapeake Bay Retriever [13]
Carlo - Emily Dickinson's dog
Faithful - First dog of President Ulysses S. Grant[14]
Frank - Unofficial mascot of the Orphan Brigade during the American Civil War[15]
Gander Canadian war hero dog who saved the lives of many soldiers in the second world war in Hong Kong Island.[1]
Hector - First dog of President Rutherford B. Hayes[14]
Josh - Darbydale's All Rise Pouchcove - 2004 Best in Show winner at the Westminster Dog Show Lara - First dog of President James Buchanan[14]
Mother Teresa - The major canine character in the movie Must Love Dogs
Pilot - pet of Edward Fairfax Rochester in Jane Eyre - first described in chapter 12
Pluto - pet of the Croatian operatic soprano Ilma de Murska, which used to dine at table with her and was trained to eat a cooked fowl from a place setting without dripping gravy on the tablecloth.[citation needed] Pluto lived in the 1860s.
Robbe - dog of Richard Wagner who accompanied him on his flight from his creditors from Riga on a fishing boat, which inspired the opera The Flying Dutchman.[citation needed]
Russ - last dog of Richard Wagner, buried at the feet of his master in the composer's tomb in the park of Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth, under his own plaque: "Here rests and watches Wagner's Russ."
Sable Chief - mascot of The Royal Newfoundland Regiment
Sgt. Gander the Mascot of the Royal Rifles of Canada who was killed in action at the Battle of Hong Kong when he carried a grenade away from wounded soldiers. For this he was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal retroactively in 2000
Seaman - pet of Meriwether Lewis
Jack - national champion and gold medalist, resident of Cary, North Carolina. In an attempt to gain media attention, local residents insisted that he was even the most beautiful dog in the world.
Sirius - dog of Maggie in the book Star in the Storm
Thunder- from the book Thunder from the Sea
Jim (Effrijim)- from the book You Slay Me (Aisling Grey Series)
Swansea Jack- Often mistaken for a flat-coated retriever as the Newfoundland breed has gotten much larger)
Nana- Pet of the Darling family in the play Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Eating Together

Thought this was a cute photo of Osa and Mia the cat eating together. Luckily Sailor is probably outside at the moment or all the food would be gone!