Kennel Terhotarha Newfoundlands

Not all the Newfoundlands that I have bred have perfect health: some have got bad hip score, a couple have had their elbows operated under age 1 due to dysplacy, a few are prone to hot spots and skin problems, and there have been some other nasty surprises like heart problems too. I would like to believe that only via sharing this information is it possible to reduce such problems in the future. Unfortunately in dog breeding 'no official health result' often means 'bad unofficial health result'. All the health results of my Newfoundlands are therefore public - you can view them either on the personal pages of each dog on these pages, or by accessing KoiraNet, a database held by the Finnish Kennel Club. If you need help understanding what these results mean, or want to know more about the breed, please do not hesitate to contact me. Not all the health problems enter official data bases either: Newfoundlands also suffer e.g. from allergies and skin problems. I am happy to discuss with you all the health risks involved in each litter.

In 2005 I carried out a survey of the health of Newfoundlands in Finland - you can view the final report by following this link (sorry, in Finnish only). The article was published in the Finnish Newfoundland journal 3/2005.

Please follow the feeding instructions of your breeder carefully especially during the first year of your Newfie. You will receive detailed written instructions from me on buying the puppy.

This is what my own adult dogs eat most days: raw bones. The diet is called BARF: Bones And Raw Food.

If you are interested in feeding your dog in a more natural way, you can find lots of information about this diet in Internet.

It's easy, healthy, cheap, and lots of fun for the dogs too (as demonstared here by Terho, at the age of 11,5!).

A Newfoundland is a giant breed and therefore vulnerable for getting problems with bone structure development during growth. About 70% of all Newfies in Finland suffer from some degree of abnormal changes in their hips (see Figure 1A; different countries have differently limits for getting “healthy” status for hips). This does not mean that 70% of Newfs suffer from their hips in everyday life, but it is true to say that it is a big problem for all giant breeds. More important however is how the front joints of your dog are, for two thirds of the body weight is going to be on them, not hips. About one third of all the Newfies in Finland develop some degree of abnormal changes in their elbows (see Figure 1B). Many Newfoundlands have to have an operation for their elbows or shoulders under one-year-old, some are even put down. So let's do our best that your puppy will grow up to be as healthy and functioning adult as possible!

Figure 1. (A) Official hips score results (% and sample size in brackets) and (B) Elbow score results of all Newfs examined in Finland between 1988-2005. A and B stand for free hips, 0 for free elbows.

A good development of muscles is the basic starting point for the normal growth of bone, and it is important that the puppy gets an opportunity to move a lot. More than anything else, a growing giant will need exercise!

• NEVER EVER tire a puppy with long walks, instead let the puppy regulate its own need of exercise by playing in the garden, fields or woods. Surely the puppy will try to follow you for a walk, but it is a particularly bad way of exercising a giant breed puppy. You do need to start getting your puppy used to wearing a collar and walking on a lead from early on (don't wait until she is 60 kg heavy and can pull you anywhere she wants!). However, do this little at a time: put your puppy on a lead and walk with her to take the rubbish out or get the newspaper. Use food or a toy to get your puppy follow you, don't use force unless you absolutely have to. Otherwise, don't take the puppy for long walks until she has the muscles and bone to do it safely.

• Playing in the garden or woods is best exercise for a Newfie puppy, the more the better! Let your puppy be outside as much as possible, provided that the weather is suitable. If your puppy is not agreeing to walk around the garden on its own, you need to spend some time there with her. If you do not have a fenced garden, you need to take the puppy to woods or alike to play, but always remember to make sure that the puppy will get as much exercise as SHE wants, not as much as you decide. WATCH OUT FOR ICE AND SLIPPERY PLACES! Wind, damp and frost can be dangerous for a puppy, because the soft puppy coat is not water-proof. If the weather is cold, don't let your puppy sleep outside, only let your puppy stay outside as long as it wants to play there. On the other hand, hot weather and direct sun light can be dangerous too.

• Swimming is excellent exercise for a puppy; it puts no pressure on the immature joints but allows building up muscle which is important. Get your puppy used to water from early on, use play and food not forcing to get the puppy in the water little by little and that way your puppy will learn to love it! Be patient, you might need to teach your Newfie how to swim but it will be worth all the trouble. A Newfie puppy has a natural tendency to rescue people from water and bring back anything which moves. Some individuals have such a large water rescue heart, that you cannot let them enter the water at the same time with humans. For this reason it is important to teach your puppy to swim with people from early age on, and show how to behave with people swimming too. Using this natural instinct, you can train your Newfie to be a real water rescue dog, but this requires that you encourage it to enter water from the very start, playing with water and carrying items. Please make sure that you give your Newfie a chance to practice its skills, take her swimming as often as you can!

• If you want to try running or cycling with your Newfie, absolutely do not try this before age 1! Make your Newfie used to this little by little, and always observe how she is doing. I have been regularly running 10-15 kilometres with my ADULT Newfies, and they love it if the weather is cool enough. They cannot do it if it is too hot, and they feel horrible afterwards for a long time if we have been running in too hot weather. Most of all Newfies love long walks in forests and mountains!

• A fully grown and healthy Newfie is a strong and powerful walking companion, which can walk for hours. It is most important to keep a giant dog in good fit, for if it for example gets joint problems at older age, strong muscles will significantly prolong its lifespan and improve life quality. An adult Newfie should get 1-2 hours walking every day, even more if you can spare time! Remember that a Newfie is just as sporty as her owner – you can definitely turn a Newfie into a totally bored lazy coach potato but treated with the right attitude (and against what most people might think) a Newfie can be just as keen exerciser as any other breed.

• Do not use a Newfie who is under age 2 years for pulling a sledge. If you start with light sledge, you can start training your dog to wear a harness and pull an empty sledge when it is 1,5 years old. Get the hips and elbows x-rayed first, I do not recommend too hardcore exercise like this for Newfies who have relatively unhealthy bone structure.

A Newfie has so thick coat that as an adult it can stay outside year-around, but this is not recommended.

A Newfoundland wants to be with its people, it is most of all a family dog. You would be wasting a wonderful temperament and a unique opportunity to have a truly dedicated companion if you made your Newfie used living outside on its own!

• First of all, the floor where the puppy walks must not be slippery. If your house has slippery floors, you need to cover them up for the first year for example with rugs or carpet. Slippery ice is as dangerous. A slippery surface can badly harm the development of the legs, it only takes one unlucky falling over. Always remember, that the muscles of a Newfie puppy are small compared to an adult, and the bone structure is maturing slowly and joints are soft for a long time. Walking stairs can also be harmful due to risks of falling over.

• Do not play rough pulling games with your puppy. If you have children, make sure that they understand how to treat the puppy and play with it safely. NEVER encourage a Newfie puppy to jump up and down madly, don't let her jump down from bed, sofas or car (actually, don't let her on the bed at all in the beginning, and teach her to wait in the car until you lift her down). Always lift the puppy down from high places as long as you can! Being too careful with things like this costs nothing, but being ignorant makes you regret a lot afterwards. Don't throw balls etc for your puppy if she runs like crazy after them, falls over trying to catch them etc. Rather, play calmly.

• Do not let your puppy play madly with other large dogs. NEVER let the puppy play so that it falls over or is knocked over by others full speed, or it runs so madly around that it falls all over by itself. Any kinds of dog parks are therefore not a place for a growing Newfoundland !! It is important that your dog meets other (nice) dogs and learns to behave well in their company, but watch out for too rough playing.

• Best way to play with your puppy is to do something that takes some brain work, this kind of playing will tire out the puppy much more efficiently than 3 hours of mad running! For example, teach your puppy to indicate the hand in which you are holding a piece of food, and other similar tricks. Puppies also love trying to find their toys hidden under a rug or blanket.

Coat care is an essential part of a Newfie owner's life. The coat of an adult Newfoundland is thick, water-proof and somewhat oily. Outer coat is rough and inner coat soft and thick. It is the inner layer of coat which causes tangles if not properly and regularly taken care of. Puppies change their puppy coat away around at 5 months, and the first proper shedding takes place around 12 months and about twice a year from then on (can happen any time of the year, often spring and autumn). You need to start practising coat care from the first day on when your puppy arrives and do it on the daily basis, to make your Newfie love this kind of attention. The puppy coat does not need as much attention as adult coat, but it is essential to get your Newfie used to being brushed before she is 60 kg heavy and able to easily avoid coat care if she so wants. So, practice a few minutes every day, best time of the day is after eating and playing when the puppy is very tired and just wants to sleep. At the same time, check out ears, eyes, teeth and paws and make this a daily routine which is not a big deal for the puppy. If the puppy resists, don't let her win, you always decide when you are finished with the coat care. Before you notice your little cute baby is going to be 60 kilos, and then it will be impossible to force her to do anything against her will. You will be doing a favour for your vet too.

At least once a week go through the entire coat of an adult Newfie using a comb or brush which reaches all the way to skin. Brushing is useless unless you do it so that it has an effect through the entire coat; it is good for skin condition enhancing blood circulation and removing dead cells. Critical areas for tangles are behind ears, trousers, near genitalia, armpits and underneath tail, so check out these places with special care. A good way is to open the coat with other hand, and then brush it back to normal position with another hand. When your Newfie is shedding its coat, you need to comb away any loose hairs ON THE DAILY BASIS to allow the new coat to grow properly.

• For shows and why not at home conditions too, tidy the ear and paw hairs of your Newfie. Use thinning scissors for ears to get a natural look. Have a look on photographs of show Newfies, and practice!

• For shows Newfies are getting tidied all over, especially chest and belly line. Practicing helps here, and I am happy to give more detailed advice for you whenever you want.

• Newfie hair quality is such that it usually stays rather clean without excessive washing. This however requires that brushing is frequent. When your Newfie is dirty (you will notice it!), it is necessary to have a bath because dirty coat smells and gets tangled easily too (a bit like your own hair would do!). Show Newfies are washed at least once a month to keep the coat in best form. It really depends a lot on where you live; in Finland I really need to wash my dogs only twice a year but in England the weather is such that they need frequent washing and still smell.

• Wash with hand-warm water using suitable dog shampoo. You will find the best shampoo for your dog coat quality only by trying. Watch out getting shampoo in eyes and ears. Rinse all the shampoo carefully out, otherwise the skin might get irritated. Getting an adult Newfie properly wet all the way to skin and then rinsed properly again after shampooing is hard work, expect it to take at least half a day! Use conditioner at least for chest and leg feathers.

• After wash dry the coat properly first with towels and then using a hair dryer or special dog dryer. Dog dryers are like reversed powerful Hoovers, and I warmly recommend getting one when living with a Newfie! It will take hours to dry a Newfie with a hair dryer, it will only take about 1-2 hours with a special powerful dog dryer. Drying after swimming is important too, otherwise you might get skin problems.

• You might not NEED to wash your puppy too often, but it is worth doing it anyway to get your puppy used to washing. Otherwise you will have a real problem later on!!

• If you are taking your Newfie to a show, it is worth washing the coat properly the previous day. Trim and brush the coat properly beforehand. Drying the coat properly after wash is the most important stage in getting prepared for a show. If you don't dry the coat properly, it will get curly and your dog will have a “bad hair day” after going to sleep with damp coat.

Skin

Because a Newfie has a thick coat and loves water, this can sometimes generate skin problems. If your Newfie gets a chance to swim daily, make sure that its coat gets properly dried for night and is not tangled and dirty. Hotspot is a type of skin infection very common in Newfies. The skin looks red and infected. As a first aid, shave all the hairs from the area, disinfect the skin and use antiseptic powder for cuts and infections. The most important thing is to AIR the skin properly and keep the dog dry. If this does not help, get antibiotics before the hotspot spreads and the vet will need to shave the whole dog. To avoid these problems, brush your Newfie regularly so that there are never ever any tangles or loose hairs. After bath or swim, dry the coat properly. Never let your dog go to sleep for night with wet coat. Continuous skin problems might be a sign of allergic reactions, check out this possibility too.

Fleas, lice etc are unfortunately very common these days. In areas with high frequencies of fleas, it is almost impossible to avoid getting infected. Best way is to ask your vet to regularly apply anti-flea medicine which gives protection for 1-2 months at the time. You do need to get rid of these guys, otherwise they will cause skin problems.

Ears and eyes

Ears need to be checked every now and then to see if they need cleaning. If your Newfie has an ear infection (common in this breed due to love for water), get to see a vet. Always treat ear infections properly; otherwise the problem is soon permanent.

Healthy eyes don't look red or runny. If there is thick yellow or green stuff coming out, go and see a vet.

Paws need attention too, Newfies are vulnerable to infections between toes because of their webbed feet. Wash the paws after walks if the weather is wet and dirty. Keep the hairs between toes short. Apply Vaseline on paws during winter to avoid snow and ice getting stuck between toes.

Keep nails short. Check at least every 10 days if there is anything to cut out. The shorter the nails, the better. If you let the nails grow too long, it is going to be difficult to tell whereabouts the vein inside ends and therefore how much to cut. Too long nails can cause the whole leg to end up in wrong position. All dogs need nail clipping, no matter how much exercise they get. Start practising nail clipping from the first week, it is most important to get your puppy used to this when she is still small! The puppy will most likely resist, struggle, scream, and do everything to escape. Do not let it ever win, you decide when you are finished.

• Baby teeth will fall out at 3-4 months. Check the situation regularly to make sure that the old teeth are not blocking the way of the new ones. Give the puppy something to chew, a carrot, hard bread or bones. It's best to give bones raw, cooked bones can get too hard and be dangerous.

Make sure from the very start that your puppy is not allowed to behave aggressively about its toys, food or bones under any conditions ever. Practice taking away the food bowl, toys and bones often, then give them back and tell your dog how good she has been to let you take them and show that she will always get them back afterwards. Every single family member must be allowed to do this, including kids.