In The Beginning

In 1981, our hearts and souls were consumed by a little bundle of joy, our first Newfoundland Dog, Sabrina.  She was everything we could ever have wished for in a puppy.  By the time, Rachel, our daughter was born in 1984; Sabrina was a well established member of our family.  When I arrived home from the hospital with Rachel, Sabrina had her nose a little out of joint and gave me the cold shoulder. She gave me a look as if to say, “How dare you leave me for all those days and then come home bearing a new sister for me?”  That soon passed when Rachel, who didn’t take well to being fed water in a bottle, started to choke and I proceeded to pat her briskly on the back; Sabrina thought I was hurting her baby sister and came to her aid.  From that day on, there was never any doubt that they would be the best of friends.

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Growing up together, having tea parties, swimming in the wading pool at the same time and taking each other for walks in the wagon.  As a toddler Rachel would like to check Sabrina’s teeth by lifting up her lips and have a peak.  Although Rachel was always taught to be very gentle and kind to all her animal friends, Sabrina would have tolerated anything she might have done even accidentally. 

She didn’t mind Rachel putting a bonnet on her when they played or the cats making a bed on her, and yet if she felt any danger for us, she would put herself between it and us and bark to tell us that she could handle it.  Of course if a stranger came to the door unannounced she would bark, so as to let them know she was there, but little did the person know that her tail was wagging and hoping they would come in to play.  Our beautiful girl shared our lives for 12 ½ years, which when she left was one of the hardest obstacles we had to overcome.

Not too long after, we searched high and low across Canada and the United States for our next Newfoundland.  We knew what we wanted and eventually found it when we saw a group of Newfs running across a large property heading for a swim in the pond.  The ground almost felt like thunder rumbling and yet the movement was so graceful.  Belle’s mom had just been bred so we had a wait ahead of us.  We visited several times before Belle was finally ready to come home with us forever, and what a great day that was!  She made such an imprint on our lives and is now in the pedigree of all of our Newfs today.  

We started out participating in obedience, going through several levels because a well trained dog is the best companion.  Belle and I worked hard at therapy in the nursing home about 30 miles from our home where she touched so many lives.  Next we tried our hand at the conformation ring where Belle again shone brightly.  She became the Top Bitch in Canada for 1996 along with attaining #7 status in all Canadian Newfs that year and only spent 2 ½ months achieving it.  In 1997 we participated in the Great Newfoundland Dog Trek, celebrating the Cabot 500, where Belle was chosen to be the first of the Honor Guards to meet the Queen of England for her arrival to Bonavista, Newfoundland for the docking of the HMS Matthew.  

For many years, we worked with the CKC Living Legends Team for the four remaining indigenous breeds representing the Newfoundlands to help educate people about the breed.   We would attend the Royal Winter Fair for the full 10 days as part of this team.  Unfortunately, their budget has been cut for the present time so the team has been put on the back burner.  There would be close to 10,000 people coming through each day getting to know the dogs, what a great tribute to their temperaments to tolerate the close quarters and being petted, hugged and interacted with for such long hours.  Each day we would try to take a different group of dogs so they all got the chance to meet, greet and inform the public about their truly incredible breed.  

In August 2006, we were invited to attend a conference for the Police Chiefs of Canada held in Ottawa at the Chateau Laurier Hotel, where we were to pipe in the Chiefs from Newfoundland to support their upcoming conference for 2007.  Many of the attendees had never met any Newfoundland Dogs prior and we amazed by what they saw.  We took a 9 year old Black female, Anna and her 4 month old Landseer grandson, Skipper.