Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="trancejeremy" data-source="post: 3426884" data-attributes="member: 924">My parents got a Newfoundland when I was in college, and I ended up taking care of him in his last couple years of life.They're big.  Very big.  Extremely big.  This is important, because they are also very stubborn. If you want them to go someplace they don't, this can be a struggle.  Because they are not only just heavy (150 lbs), but strong. They eat a lot (duh).  They've incredibly sweet. I don't think they have a mean bone in their bodies.  Which is nice, but if you want a guard dog, forget it. My parents had theirs for I think 2-3 years before he actually barked. Still, they can play a little rough (not as much as other dogs), and you have to be careful because they are just so big and strong.  My parent's dog broke my nose with a right paw to the face. And gave me a concussion once, knocking me down (I'm prone to those, though. Both the nose and the concussion thing).They tend to be lazy. You can get them to do things, indeed, I saw a thing on TV on them working as rescue dogs, and I saw one of them sort of repelling down a rope from a helicopter to rescue someone in the water.  It didn't look real happy about it, though.They are incredibly good swimmers. And they do have strong rescue instincts. If you would get in a pool and pretend to drown, he'd jump in.  Or if you just pretend to be hurt, he'd come over and check on you. And usually sit on you, which really isn't too helpful, but...They've very smart. My parent's dog housetrained himself and would ring a bell whenever he wanted to go out (which my cat later learned from watching him, actually).When he was about 11-12 or so, he had trouble getting up (I guess because he was so big, and his back leg muscles were not strong enough).  That's when I took care of him, because I could pick him up and they couldn't. I don't know how common it is, but it's a lot of work hauling around a 150 lb dog.  But he was such a nice dog (and wasn't in any other sort of pain), I thought the effort on my part was worth it. Anyway, I don't know if I'd get one again. I got my current dogs (Black Lab-German Sheppard mixes, I think) because they literally appeared on my doorstep one day, and I find their size (80-90 lbs) to be much, much more manageable.  Still, if I could pick any dog to get, I would probably try getting a Black Lab/Newfoundland mix.  Hopefully they would have most of a Newfoundland's temperment, along with the Lab's small size.</blockquote>

Verification