About Newf Friends

Newf Friends Newfoundland Dog Rescue is a volunteer run, foster home based rescue group for Newfoundland Dogs in need in Ontario, Canada.
We place Newfs into carefully screened homes in Ontario and surrounding provinces and states.
Established in 2008.

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Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page for general information about our program and our adoption policies and procedures.



Saturday, February 27, 2016

Marleigh

Marleigh
2016-005

 May 29/16:  I was adopted!

 Quick Adoption Overview
2 years old
Great with other dogs - needs a home with a four footed pal
Fine with cats
Fenced Yard Required
Located in Bancroft, ON


All About Marleigh
Marleigh is a delightful young Newf who is making daily progress with her training.  She is well mannered, eager to please and sweet as pie.  She also happens to be ridiculously cute!

Watcher of squirrels
Marleigh is an affectionate Newf who is looking for an owner who can help her build her confidence and blossom into a happy, well adjusted girl.  She had little opportunity to get out and meet people and experience new things prior to coming to Newf Friends, so she has much to learn and is taking it all in.  She can be timid when faced with new things but quickly warms up and her goofy, loving, happy, personality quickly shines through.


She loves attention from people she knows and is an expert snuggler!  Marleigh is very motivated to be with people she knows and trusts, and is a typical "velcro newf" who is never more than a few feet away.  When meeting new people she is unsure and shy.  She will back away from and avoid strangers and needs to be given space and the opportunity to approach them in her own time. Once she trusts someone, she quickly becomes their new best friend and demands that they pet her and cuddle with her! She's super affectionate!

Wearing her cape towel after a swim - so cute!
She has excellent social skills meeting new dogs and has happily settled into her foster home with 5 other playmates.  She is playful, reads body language well, shares toys nicely, shows no resource guarding,  and basically gets along with everyone.


A home with another well socialized canine companion will be ideal for her, she really enjoys the company of other friendly dogs and loves to wrestle and play chase.  She also looks to other dogs for cues about how to respond to new situations and really benefits from the company of happy, well adjusted dogs. Marleigh would not be happy living in a home as the only dog.

Here she is playing with another foster dog at her foster home. Marleigh is the one who is often laying on her back on the ground.  She loves to play!



She has been fine with a mellow indoor cat, curious but respectful.  A home with a dog savvy cat will be fine for her.  She has not been exposed to cats outdoors but she LOVES to sit and watch the squirrels at her foster home.


She is a quiet girl who is eager to please.  She does not know many commands so this is being worked on in her foster home and she is bright and making progress.  Marleigh's leash manners are excellent. 


She is a silly girl with a bit of a mischievous side and acts a lot like a pup.  With a twinkle in her eyes she will sneak a shoe or slipper if they are left about, but happily trades for a toy when prompted.  Her house manners are coming along beautifully and she now knows that tables are not for standing on!  LOL!  She is very eager to learn and responds well to positive training techniques.   Marleigh is a delight!


She is now fully housetrained; having had little training in this regard, she is much like a puppy who needed supervision and routine.  She very quickly learned the routine at her foster home.  Such a smart girl!


She is living in a rural environment in foster care and is very at ease and comfortable there.   In a busier environment she is nervous but recovers well and with a trusted handler, and a canine pal, at her side and lots of praise she makes great progress.  Having another confident dog with her makes a world of difference for Marleigh and helps her to take in all of the new things around her.




Marleigh has been introduced to respectful, dog savvy children under close supervision, and is shy but curious, warming up to them when they respect her space, and enjoys to lay quietly and be petted.  She is uncomfortable with people she does not know coming into her space and touching her, so is not suited to living in a home with children.  A very active family with young kids/visitors and a lot of activity and people coming and going will be overwhelming for her at this point and she would shut down and cower.  A calm, quiet household where Marleigh can be introduced to new people, places and things at her own speed is best. She is a terrific candidate for obedience work to help her build her confidence.  She would be fine joining a family where calm, respectful children visit from time to time.
Practicing recall-a work in  progress

Marleigh has been spayed, vaccinated and treated for parasites.  We estimate that she is approximately 2 years old.  She is on the small side as Newfs go, weighing under 85 lbs -- just a little peanut!


Marleigh is being fostered in the Bancroft, ON area.  Her approved adopters will be required to pick her up in person. Traveling a long distance with strangers will be stressful for Marleigh, so preference will be given to homes within a 5 or so hour drive of her foster home. 

An adoption donation of $500 applies.

A safe and securely fenced yard is required.

To be considered for adopting Marleigh, or any other Newf in our program, please complete our adoption application found here.


Having fun in the woods

Monday, February 8, 2016

Temperament issues in Newfs, a growing concern


"Sweetness of temperament is the hallmark of the Newfoundland"....unless you buy your Newf from a lousy breeder, then all bets are off.

The breed we love is in trouble and it's time to have an honest discussion about what has gone wrong and what can be done to stop it.  Here in Ontario we're seeing a very concerning trend:  more and more Newfs are showing dog aggression, severe prey drive and human aggression. It's heart breaking for our volunteers to see the increased numbers of dogs coming through our program who are so un-Newf like in temperament that they need to be muzzled, sequestered from other animals or euthanized for uncontrollable aggression toward humans.

 Why is this happening?
Temperament is a heritable trait, meaning that it is passed along to dogs through their genes.  Historically, the Newfoundland Dog breed has been selectively bred to have a "sweet" temperament and dogs who do not possess this trait are not bred by reputable breeders.  However, today, there are breeders who are not considering temperament in their breeding programs.  When dogs who are genetically predisposed to having temperament issues are bred these genes are passed onto their offspring.  While environment certainly plays a very large part in shaping behaviour, genetics do play an important role in determining the temperament of a dog.   Certain poorly bred lines of Newfoundland Dogs are very well known to us as having incorrect temperament, and these temperament issues are being passed on generation after generation through the breeding of these dogs.   There are large scale (and small scale) puppy producers and BYB who are using this breeding stock, and as a result they are producing dogs with very serious temperament issues and selling them to unsuspecting buyers as pets.

To make matters worse, these lousy breeders are providing breeding stock to other lousy breeders, and sharing breeding stock back and forth, perpetuating the breeding of Newfs with incorrect temperament and form. One notorious large scale puppy producer here in Ontario who has been at the center of this poor temperament epidemic has been providing new breeding stock to other puppy producers throughout the province and also across Canada and the US, spreading the genetic mess they have created across the continent.  Not only do these lines have serious temperament issues, but they also have very serious health issues as well. 

Lousy breeders don't care enough about the dogs they are producing to perform proper health clearances, and they also don't care enough to breed selectively for correct temperament.  Sadly, for the most part they also don't properly socialize the pups or raise them in environments that nurture correct temperament.  The pups are typically sold before they are 10 weeks of age so they miss out on necessary socialization from their litter-mates which makes matters even worse.  These breeders are producing dogs who have serious health and temperament issues and they are saturating the market.


With lousy breeders producing a large volume of poor quality puppies the Newfoundland dog breed as a whole is suffering greatly.  We are seeing more and more "purebred" newfs who barely resemble the breed in appearance or behaviour.  The time to act is now.


 What can you do?  
Help us educate the public. Help spread the word that not all breeders are created equal.  

Warn potential buyers about the risks of buying dogs from breeders who advertise on Kijiji, Craigslist or facebook sale groups.  Share our article on how to identify BYB http://newf-friends.blogspot.ca/p/identifying-byb.html and encourage people to do their homework when selecting a breeder. When in doubt, your local rescue group is a great resource to get information about the quality of local kennels.  Local rescues know the good, the bad and the ugly.  

Help us direct potential puppy buyers to good, reputable, conscientious breeders and away from the lousy puppy producers.  If you know of someone who is looking to purchase a puppy please direct them to our breeder referral page http://newf-friends.blogspot.ca/p/breeder-referral-program.html  

If you are a reputable breeder producing healthy, happy, friendly, correct Newfs - bravo!  Keep your membership with the National Club current so that potential buyers can find you, get involved with your Regional Club to meet future newf owners, volunteer with your local rescue to help clean up the mess the lousy kennels have made,  and keep breeding awesome dogs. We love properly bred Newfs and we need good breeders to keep producing them. 

Help shut down lousy breeders!  If you witness neglect, poor living conditions, questionable practices report them to the SPCA.  If you have concerns about dogs not being registered, dogs being registered incorrectly, a breeder selling dogs at different prices if they are registered, or other similar issues, report the breeder to the CKC.  If you have any questionable experiences with a Newf breeder let your local Newf rescue know about it and they can help direct you to the right resources.

Keep us informed. If you have information about a Newf breeder that you think we need to know about, or that the National club needs to know about, please contact us.  We can't help fix problems if we don't know about them.  If we are armed with good information we can work constructively to bring about change.  

Support your local rescue, your Regional Newf Club and the National club.  These are the people who are advocating for the breed, who are lobbying for changes to policy to help protect dogs and future puppy purchasers, who are preserving the history of the breed and striving to maintain the true qualities of the Newfoundland Dog breed.  Help us save the breed we all love.


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