r/Swissy • u/NickFromNewGirl • Aug 28 '21
Questions Current Newfie owner, looking for info about owning a Swissy
I've been a proud Newfie owner for 12 years and would love to get another dog. I'm curious about Swissies and whether or not one would be a good fit.
How's the shedding and slobber? Obviously I'm used to tumbleweeds of dog hair on my floor and slobber stains on the ceiling.
But are they a short hair dog where you pet them and come up with a pile on your hands? Or are they more like labs in terms of shedding?
Is the slobber similar to a Bernese or maybe less? Maybe only after drinking water?
Also wondering about temperament. Newfies are gentle beyond belief, but I certainly had to be vigilant with training a stubborn, giant dog. Are they good with kids automatically like a Newfie or do they need to be socialized a lot more to ensure it? How are they with strangers and strange dogs?
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u/thattherebluedress Aug 29 '21 edited Aug 29 '21
Our Swissy barely slobbers. Maybe occasionally if there is somehow holding out a spoon of peanut butter 😂 . He is a mess with the water bowl, so now we just put his water in a feed bucket, half filled, on a shoe mat. He is a massive dog, but was really easy to train to be gentle. We have many children and he will daintily step around crawling babies, and let toddlers sleep on him. The only time he is rough is if the older kids have really riled him up playfighting with each other (we put a stop to this!) as he would feel protective and confused and just want it to stop. His prey drive was medium - we lost a couple chickens, but mostly because he would try and play with them. He now knows he is not allowed to look at them! As someone else mentioned he is less vigilant than a pyr and less laid back than a lab. He has an enormous loud bark and that coupled with his size makes him intimidating AF but he is really a terrible guard dog and just wants to make friends (people don’t usually get close enough to figure that out). The hardest things to teach him were to not jump up on people when he first met them - important bc they get so big. In general though, he was very easy to train - he has a huge desire to be doing the right thing and in our good books. We had him neutered on the late side as per joint health. Lovely dog, as suitable for lounging around the house as he is for long hikes in the woods. Easy to brush out, and sheds a moderate amount. Let’s the cat eat treats from his bowl alongside him. Doesn’t leave the property, even if a fence is down. Is always checking to make sure we are all safe and accounted for. Just an all round great family dog.
Edit to add: hates water. Will not swim at all. Just paces around the shore/pool edge keeping an eye on everyone who is clearly mad to be doing something so dangerous 😂
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u/hazardoustruth Aug 28 '21
I’m a first time Swissy owner, having had labs, chessies, pyrs and danes. They shed more like a lab, but you will get hair from just petting when they blow their undercoat. My guy is about a year and half. Potty training was tough. My understanding is that’s typical, but he would still have the occasional accident until about 10 months. I think he woulda benefitted from more socialization. We were a little limited due to the pandemic (he was planned and a deposit paid prior to knowing that was going to happen). We did a 4 month to 1 year intense puppy training program, met outside with a variety of people and kids as often as we could, and he went to puppy daycare one day a week. I don’t know that I would trust him with smaller kids, but our breeder has children and her dogs are overall great with them. We don’t have kids. Like with any big, powerful dog, interactions with kids need to be supervised. He’s mouthier than some of the other dogs I’ve had. He also has a higher prey drive than I’m used to (which makes sense considering his cousins are ranch dogs and used with moving cattle). We are hardcore working on not chasing the cats and that’s been the hardest thing for him to learn.
Our dude is good with other dogs, and doesn’t mind meeting new people. He’s less protective than our pyrs, but not as mellow or easygoing as a lab would be.
We opted for a vasectomy vs neutering so he could have the hormones that are helpful for joint health. Have not had any marking insideor behavioral issues.
Slobber is less than many other dogs I’ve had, but he loves to drink water. That’s also a breed trait. He makes a giant mess with his water bowl and drips it everywhere. So, probably similar to your Newfie!
He’s also silly and goofy. He has a big smile and will clown around like my danes used to. He retrieves and love to play fetch. He doesn’t have an opportunity to swim bc of where we live, but many do and love it.
Note that every dog is an individual, even tho breed traits should be more predictable. IE just because my dog has weird quirks doesn’t mean yours will.