now... some words about Amanda and our Newfoundlands

I'm so excited, Thankgiving day is tomorrow. I love thanksgiving, I can't decide which I like best, Thanksgiving or Christmas.  I like both for the same reasons and it's not presents... Usually all the kids and kids-in-law bring their families and come to eat, drink peach margaritas and play board games...and maybe a little beer.

It looks like Ed, Rachel and family won't be able to make it this year,  Eddie has to work. Halliburton seems to pay him pretty good, but it seems like they aren't to generous with PTO (vacation). We'll miss all four of them. I'll especially miss my little, or I should say BIG princess, Cordelia.

But today what I'm most thankful for is that Amanda, our nearly 13 year old Newfoundland is still with us.  I am stunned that she's lived this long and she's still happy every day. A little slow, a little weak in the back legs but happy. I'm thankful...

In 18 years we've had 7 Newfoundlands. The first Windy (Windwalkers Feel The Thunder) was puchased in Ogden Utah. The family took the mini-van for kind of a mini vacation to pick her up. Eddie and I tried to ski at "Park City", he had more luck than me, but that's another story.

We picked up Windy and brought her home. A 12 week old Newfounfland is very cute and weighs about 12 pounds.

We took Windy to the vet for a puppy exam. She was diagnosed with SAS (sub-aortic stenosis) a genetic defect of the upper heart. It manifests itself as a "heart murmur". 

We called the breeder who said "send her back and we'll send you the other one we have" (Bullet a grey newf). But of course we had fallen in love with her and thought she ought to live out her life in peace, whatever it might be.  Typically they euthanize (a polite word for kill) newfs that suffer from this condition. More on this later.

A bit later (really can't remember exactly how long) we found a breeder in Loveland CO that had a single newf left.  We went up and got Rainey, who NEVER learned to like riding in the car. Rainey had a slight corneal defect caused by a fungal infection early in her life. She subsequently had a little white spot on one of her eyes. 

By this time Susan had already started training Windy in "Search and Rescue".

Turns out Rainey was pretty timid BUT loved children especially little children.

Windy was a little over a year and a half old when out of the blue the SAS killed her without warning.
 By this time we had moved to Black Forest where we live now.

We looked around for another newf and found a litter of twelve(12), not unusual for a newf but quite a sight for us.  Twelve newfs and mom.. They tie a different colored ribbon on each one to identify who's who.  There was always a huge waiting list to obtain a newf puppy, we had our name on the list for a female.  Out of the twelve, there were only 2 females and one was destined for us.  We couldn't take her home until she was weaned at about 12 weeks or so.  The guy called a couple days before and told me that his vet had detected an SAS murmur in the female we selected, they were going to have her destroyed, BUT he happily told me they had a male we could take in her place.  We went to look at the male and agreed to take him. While we were there I begged that he not have the little female killed.  He said he'd think about it and talk with his vet.  FORTUNATELY the vet agreed with me, let her live out her life, she has no clue she's got SAS.

So we brought home Stormy to replace Windy for Susan, and Sunny the red ribbon "SAS" puppy.  Happily Sunny lived to a pretty old age for a newf, over nine(9), longer than her littermate Stormy who died of bone cancer.

Somehow we heard about a year old Landseer (black and white) that lived in Denver and needed a home. Seems they got her as a 12 pound puppy, then had a child. The excuse was that she was just too big around the baby, like they didn't know how big a newf got.  Well she just jumped into the van and rode home like she never lived in Parker.  They called her Darby so we called her Darby. She was very attractive and we soon learned the more probable reason for them abandoning her. She could slobber, slobber more than all the other newfs together... We still have slobber on our ceiling. We loved her anyway..

We went on for a few years when Rainey died of kidney failure. She was very sad toward the end. She was about six years old at the time. She never was very good at Search and Rescue but she sure liked going out.

In the mean time, both Sunny and Stormy were well into learning to search. Actually to be more realistic, they are born knowing how to search, the training comes in teaching them to find the specific scent you want, using a scent article, that takes a month or two at the most. The remainder of the training is really handler training. Similar to horses who are born knowing how to change leads yet it takes years for some people to learn to signal a lead change to the horse...

Darby had numerous problems with her kidneys and kidney infections.  She died of kidney failure about six(6) years old.

We had Sunny and Stormy and who know for what reason we decided to get another newf. We went to a young woman in Golden that was going to medical school. She had I think nine puppies, we brought Snowy home.  Well It soon became obvious to everyone but me, that while it was clear Snowy had a Newfoundland mother, we didn't know who her father was. Three of the puppies came out as newfs and four like Snowy, Lab looking. The newfs were genetically tested and pure newf... hmmm.

Shortly after that we were refered to the breeder that we got Rainey from because she had a replacement for Snowy (we kept Snowy too).  We went to look at the new pup, she had been very sick and spent time in the CSU intensive care unit. She was about four months old and a little small for a Newfoundland puppy. She was already named Amanda by the breeder so it stuck.

In the mean time Stormy died from bone cancer. He was a wonderful friend we really miss him. His death was partcularly difficult because he had his leg amputated and he went through all kinds of cancer therapy.

Shortly thereafter we went BACK to Loveland and found Gandalf the Grey Wizard aka Wizard.  He was a full brother to Amanda but not a litter mate, about a year younger than Amanda. Yes he was grey... and never did get much hair, he looked almost like a Irish Wolf Hound with a fuller face...

Back to Sunny, she never again showed any kind of symptoms of SAS, the murmur cleared up and she lived a long (the longest to date) life with us.  She died because of  a spinal issue that crippled her back legs to the point she couldn't stand or walk.
Snowy succumbed to a skin cancer that was horrible. Enought said about that.

Wiz started with a slight limp on his front leg.  It was eventually diagnosed as bone cancer. He died going to the pain specialist (vet) at about 10 years of age which is pretty long for a newf.

At this point the only one we have left is Amanda. Amanda was always small for a Newfoundland about 100lbs. We had her spayed at about four years because her hips were classified as "fair" , not really good for breeding as hip displacia is genetically passed.

Amanda IS a cancer survivor, I one day felt a lump on her side, pretty big really.  They took it off assuming it was benign.  Turned out to be malignant squemous cell cancer.  I thought for sure it would reappear, but to date has not.

Amanda greets us at the door, if she hears us come home, always wagging her huge rudderlike tail.

Like I said, Amanda is nearly thirteen(13) years old. She has been through all of our grand children and
now has four indoor cat friends.

Amanda has symptoms of hip displacia, but she still walks pretty good, has trouble on UP steps and uphill walking. She doesn't travel well but loves the car.  We can't really leave her with anyone because she is pretty fragile in her old age.

We love her and we're very thankful that she's still with us. We miss all of our Newfoundlands, except Amanda of course. Each was unique in personality but all were VERY gental and never agressive toward kids or humans.  It's hard to imagine life without a Newfoundland, but they are very high maintenance, mostly emotionally because they are usually so young when they die.

Enough whining for now... Have a good holiday.