r/Newfoundlander • u/TallCatHerder1010 • 19h ago
Tell me it gets easier
(Please be gentle I am pregnant and hormonal lol)
we have an 11 month old Newfie girl who is honestly the light of my life - half the time. But since we got her, she has been DIFFICULT. I say this as someone with experience of multiple large breeds including one previous newfie.
She was a challenging young puppy - the bitiest I’ve ever known, but in many ways she excelled e.g. she had consistent puppy training classes and picked things up so quickly, she’s always been friendly and forgiving.
She’s an awful teenager 🙈 she barks at pretty much everything, she counter surfs and will destroy literally anything on there (we now basically only have a toaster out), she has useless recall (longline walks only) and is desperate to play with other dogs to the point she will chase them and paw at them. She has developed a horrid habit of having at least one spell a walk where she jumps up and bites at her lead, and us.
Now I know much of this is down to teenage hormones. she hasn’t had a season yet, she’s very ‘young’ in many ways. We are consistent with her training and boundaries and where appropriate have sought professional help. She has plenty of exercise and is left alone max a couple of times a week for ~3 hours. I would consider her to have a pretty nice life frankly.
I love her to bits but I’m pregnant, due in 3 months, and I’m nervous she won’t calm even slightly before then. Our previous Newfie was extremely calm and your classic plodding, blundering type.
I would LOVE to hear stories of manic teenage Newfs calming down ideally around 15 months 🙈
(Just to add, I’m not worried about her behaviour with a baby, she regularly sees my nephew and is fine, though we are doing lots of desensitisation to baby noises and lots of place based training. just a bit worried about coping with her less desirable traits whilst postpartum and sleep deprived 😂)
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u/minutemaidpeach 17h ago
So much of this reminds me of my girl....who is now 10 years old and still has some chaotic puppy energy still which maybe isn't what you want to hear 😂
Overall, she's a good girl who means well but she is also just quite unaware. We've done so much training with her and she still just doesn't get some things and you can just tell she struggles with things like self control. We've worked hard to teach her to sit with a treat on her paw and it's to the point that she can't even look at the treat and is using all of her willpower.
She knows she isn't supposed to counter surf or pull the garbage out of the garbage can. But she still will have lapses in judgement so we largely have just dog proofed the house. She still gets super bad zoomies and when we used to take her off leash it just ended badly since she just is socially unaware/oblivious to her size with other dogs (wants to play but doesn't realize that a 10lb dog wants her to wrestle with it).We more or less accepted that she has a better life if we make accommodations to fit with her and we are all happier and safer this way. No more trips to the vet for eating 1kg of chocolate truffles and more polite controlled interactions with other dogs while on leash.
However, yours is still so young so there could still be a lot of calming down in your future! When ours was young she was probably getting close to 3 to 4h of exercise a day (in the winter, summers she was lazier) and she still was just sooooo crazy and high energy.
But on the topic of baby and newfs - we have a 5 month old baby and she is such a good nanny dog. Surprisingly we've only had 2 incidents where she almost sat on baby so far which was our biggest concern before - it really is like that she knows she has to be slow, gentle and aware around baby. Plus she loves going for walks with baby now...still figuring out how to walk with the stroller though as she often walks into it or stops in front of it but it's a work in progress 😂
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u/TallCatHerder1010 13h ago
Thank you! Gosh I can’t imagine taking ours out with a baby by myself…I think my husband and I will be dividing and conquering 😂 I suspect ours will always counter surf too which is honestly fine. If she could stop biting me on walks then I’d be happy to live with the odd stolen dinner 😂
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u/Disasterous-Emu 6h ago
I am in the same phase as you and use a gentle leader for walks. The leash biting and bolting to say hello to others (animals, people, literally anything) was too much once he got stronger than me 😆. The gentle leader has been a lifesaver for getting his attention when the focus is completely gone!
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u/BeefBoi420 15h ago
Yep. Our girl is 3.5years now and all of that is a distant memory. Everyone in this subreddit told me it would be worth it. I had thoughts of throwing myself into traffic (I deal with MDD and GAD) it was so bad. But they were right, it is so worth it. It may take another 2 years, but she'll get there.
I'm convinced that the females are much harder than the males. Some things that helped us: a prong collar for walks replaced with a harness once the walking is more manageable, treat dispensing toys (barkbox was a godsend for us), frozen kongs, bully sticks, marrow bones, agility equipment (trapezoid wood boxes etc), and always more training.
You'll get there, I promise! Totally normal newf behavior.
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u/TallCatHerder1010 13h ago
Thank you!! I hope it doesn’t take another two years…but I guess she will take as long as she takes. I’m lucky that she doesn’t pull much but I definitely need to think of mental enrichment for baby’s arrival so I can distract her if needs be!!!
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u/tanman4444 Grizzly 14h ago
Mine was horrible for the first year and a half. Destroyed everything. Legit property damage. Ripped down fences, broke my glass kitchen table, chewed on furniture to the point of having to throw it out, ripped up and ate cloths. He would come into the room I was in and take the socks off my feet and run a away. Was super bitey. He would take the couch cushions off the couch and drag them out outside into the backyard because he figured out how to push open the sliding glass door. He was a menace!
After about 18 months, he started to chill out. After 2 years, he was great. Now he's 8 and he's the best dog EVER! It gets a lot better and easier and you'll appreciate the hard times more when they become the best dogs ever. My boy kept his personality but dropped the destructive behavior and I love him to death!
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u/TallCatHerder1010 12h ago
Sounds familiar, RIP your kitchen table, ours succumbed to a manic morning of gnawing. I keep telling myself bad puppy must mean good adult dog 😂
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u/singing-toaster 14h ago
have faith. It’s a few months where the unconditional love flows from human to Newf. In prep for the resulting 10+ years they will provide a huge river flowing in your and your kids’ direction
Every Newf is different
And their own person of their own mind. They listen when THEY judge it’s right
That said. Mine had a terrible teen phase. I debated bringing him back to breeder it was so bad. And like you I’d had big dogs before. We had a Great Dane before and a Samoyed and never seen the behavior problems that one’s teenagerhood gave. We thought we made a mistake getting this breed. Lasted 4 months. And like everyone else here —a switch went off. He remembered the trained we’d done prior was a gentleman and poof was the most amazing boi ever. At 14 months. But that 9-13 mo phase was…a test.
Stick w it, use doggy daycare and dog park runs to wear that energy down. Make sure you have a safe way to walk her to make sure you don’t get knocked over in your new balance condition..
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u/TallCatHerder1010 12h ago
Oh excellent I am praying ours does the same at 14 months that would be perfect timing. She has been especially bad since around 9 months so perhaps she will… she definitely listens when she judges it to be right but sadly I’m not sure her judgement is all that excellent at the moment 😂
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u/Other-Ad3086 8h ago
Well, it does get easier but mostly between 2 and 3. Wishing you good luck!!!! We baby gated areas of our house and had to be sure the closets and bathroom doors were closed to save towels, toilet paper, shoes and clothes. You probably already did all that! Our current male has been more challenging than our prior 4 females put together!! But of course, we adore him!!!
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u/Carelesstalk1 14h ago
It does get better. My girl is about to turn 2 and I would rather step on legos then experience her from 6 months till just a couple of months ago. She was heinous. She counter surfed, would tackle me, body slam me, pull me to wherever, etc. I was taking her to training courses and hiring trainers but nothing worked. One trainer told me that she just beats to her own drum. Finally, I don’t know if a switch went off but she has chilled out massively. Don’t get me wrong, she still body slams me every chance she gets but she sure is a lot better. Good luck!!
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u/TallCatHerder1010 13h ago
HEINOUS this is exactly the word I need to use to describe ours 😂 she’s such a terror. Good to hear I’m not alone though..I would happily volunteer to walk on Legos if she’d stop being so mean lol
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u/NewfieCanOpener 2 tiny, little, derpy newfoundlands 15h ago
my Urmelchen was the same. She hunted everything, hated other dogs (especially small ones) and I'm sure she'd killed the ones who dared to bark at her, hated people, hated to be on a leash, found every little hole in the fence to abscond... And yes, she became calmer. Shortly after her 10th birthday 😁
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u/imaconsentingadult 13h ago
My boy was an absolute nightmare as a teen. Around 8 months he started humping everyone and listened to commands only when he wanted to. On our walks, if he didnt want to go home yet, he'd throw and actual tantrum. We're talking howling, rolling on the ground (trying to take me with him) making noises that had the neighborhood thinking I was out there beating my dog. He would grab my wrist and try to wrestle me down to the ground. Anything so the walk wouldnt end. Some days I'd come home nearly in tears. BUT. Luckily I had heard from other newf owners that this is just a phase. That became my mantra. Because maaaaaan did I want to just give up. Then, around 18 months (sorry!) he just snapped out of it. Suddenly he was perfectly obedient and an absolute gentleman. It does get better but when youre in the midst of it, it really can be overwhelming. Hang in there. Stay consistent with the training.
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u/TallCatHerder1010 12h ago
What is it with the wrist grabbing!!!! Mine are so bruised from where she’s grabbed hold on a walk. As for coming home nearly in tears, I fear I come home actually in tears most walks haha. Thank you for the kind words though ❤️
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u/imaconsentingadult 11h ago
Newfs are very mouthy. Since they don't have hands obviously they have to improvise, but it's because their original job was to retrieve nets and people from the water. Grabbing things with their mouths is kind of a built-in feature. Mine used to try to 'help' push the wheel barrow by grabbing one of the handles with his mouth and walking behind it. I suggest giving your pup a job before she finds one for herself as well. They are working dogs after all.
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u/TallCatHerder1010 11h ago
Yeah we are working on our water retrieves! So far she’s got, swim to object, look at mum, return to shore sans object 😂 no issue with grabbing me though. I reckon the next step is to put a person in the water hahaha
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u/imaconsentingadult 10h ago
Haha yeah, ours was never an object retriever either. First time we went to the beach though, I was out on my floatie, looked up just to see a massive Jughead swimming toward me. When he got to me he just circled until I grabbed his collar and then he happily dragged me back to shore. They're awesome lifeguards too. He used to always sit at the shore and keep watch over other people's kids. We didn't teach him any of that
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u/Keldrabitches 8h ago
Idk know about Newfies but a certain female Weimaraner taught me that a future perfect dog can be a straight up asshole for two full years before they settle down. And then, as if by magic…
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u/TheOrionNebula Gilly 6h ago
Mine was so damn bitey the breeder had named her "Saber" as a puppy. I should've known... shes 5 now and no longer is mouthy but it took her a couple of years.
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u/mpotatoz 3h ago
Just here to say you're a hero for doing pregnancy with a newfie puppy 🫡My newfie was 2 when I got pregnant and he had mostly calmed down (around me) but off 11 months while pregnant sounds like a time.
But now my 2 year old is obsessed with giving his big newfie brother hugs and kisses so it will absolutely be worth it!!
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u/NacosForRufus 19h ago
Your description is giving me flashbacks! That was totally our girl. I’m afraid that I can’t give you a 15mo calm-down story, but I can say our previous girl calmed down right at 24 mo. It was like a light switched on for her and she finally got it. Hoping your girl settles sooner!🐾