Roadtrip to Iowa

Black Friday

Thatcher, Boden and Lea playing with "Grandpa"

Another Thanksgiving flew by. For Thanksgiving, the newfies got a nice little treat: extra family members in the house over the holiday weekend. To them, this means more people to show off for and to beg food from. They really are shameless, and will plant themselves directly in front of the person who they judge to be the easiest target - that is, the person most likely to give them food first. Often, this ends of being the youngest. If there are no children, they usually try their luck with females first, flashing their sad eyes and trying to look innocent. The worst part is that their sad eyes actually work for most people, including us who should by now be immune. We went over to a family member's house yesterday evening and afternoon, so the dogs missed out on actual Thanksgiving dinner scraps. They did, however, repay us for leaving them for the whole evening.

Now, we can't really point fingers as to which dog is truly the guilty party. Not only were Thatcher and Boden both home, a family member's dog has also been staying here the past couple of days. Lea is used to being closed in a room when she's left alone during the day, because she supposedly gets mischievous. Of course, we decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and left her out loose in the house with our dogs when we left. We (wrongly) figured, what kind of damage could she actually do? We don't have any super expensive furniture or really valuable trinkets or anything. So when we got home late in the evening after a wonderful dinner with family, I first notice a book has been snacked on. The dust jacket is in pieces, and the actual book is full of tooth marks. This, I knew, was the work of Boden. He loves chewing paper, and it was my fault I left the book on an end table that he is tall enough to reach. The rest of the house seems intact, but I decide to run and check the upstairs just to be safe. There I see our poor sturdy old laptop, which has weathered six or seven years of rough use, has been torn into. The entire upstairs is littered in toys and bones, yet Lea (we can't completely prove it was her, but Thatch and Boden have never touched the electronics we have all over the house) decided it would be the most fun to chew the keys off of the laptop. Makes sense, no?

Boden - Thanksgiving Day 2012

Thatcher - Thanksgiving Day 2012

Go for a ride?

Gator

I forget how much puppies love toys. Thatcher has always had plenty, and many of them have been around since he was a puppy. Worn out and missing limbs, but still alive. When we got Boden, we didn't really prepare like we did for Thatcher. We already had toys, food dishes, leashes, etc. So, in typical second-child fashion, he received Thatcher's hand-me-downs. Lately we've been trying to make up for this by buying a new toy every week or so. It's hit or miss, finding out which dog will take the new toy as "his". The first, a blue fuzzy dog whose four legs squeak, Thatcher claimed. He carried it around constantly for the first couple of days, even bringing it along when he went outside to use the bathroom. Well this weekend, we picked up another new toy - a furry yellow gator who is made of squeaky compartments. Boden and the gator have been inseparable ever since.

Common Newfie questions

I often "window-shop" online for Newfie-related products. I came across coffee mug with this design the other day and loved it. It made me smile, because since Thatcher joined our family, we have responded to repeated "clever" questions and comments about the Newfie breed countless times. "You should get a saddle for him!", "I bet he eats a ton!", "Is that a black Saint Bernard?". We've heard things like this probably hundreds of times. I think I must buy this. 

Take a peek at this design and more like it! Click here.