Your Newfoundland Is Very Small!

Whybu1

New member
I have a small female great dane. When folks comment that she is "so small" we just tell them she is a "teacup dane" and laugh.
 

DAWNMERIE

Active member
Coming from someone who's trying to fight the fat dog (and fat people) syndrome for some time now, better to be on the petite side of things
TRUST ME!
 

Sound Bay Newfs

Active member
She is just breed standard and needs to fill out and get her coat in before you show her, so see how she matures. What do her parents look like? What does your breeder think of her?
 

Jager's Mom

New member
My first newf didn't break 100 lbs til he was 5 years old.

It's def better to have a newf on the lighter side, rather than the heavy side.

You have a beautiful baby.
 

chumleysma

New member
I think I know a bit how you feel. My Newf and I were just in 5 parades in the month of October. For blocks and blocks I heard people tell others he was a Saint Bernard and children yelling, "Look, it's Beethoven." I have nothing against Saints, but it began to bother me a bit. In reality, I know it's not their fault so I politely correct them when they tell me..."Saint, right?" After hearing it so often I've even stared at him trying to see what they see. I guess we just have to go on politely correcting them, because they don't know Newfs like we do. That is, no two Newfs are packaged the same.
 

wrknnwf

Active member
I think I know a bit how you feel. My Newf and I were just in 5 parades in the month of October. For blocks and blocks I heard people tell others he was a Saint Bernard and children yelling, "Look, it's Beethoven." I have nothing against Saints, but it began to bother me a bit. In reality, I know it's not their fault so I politely correct them when they tell me..."Saint, right?" After hearing it so often I've even stared at him trying to see what they see. I guess we just have to go on politely correcting them, because they don't know Newfs like we do. That is, no two Newfs are packaged the same.
Well at least they are close in their guesses. I once got..."Dalmation mix?"

WHA WHAAT???

It was the ticking, I know, but honestly...
 

R Taft

Active member
Better smallish and light than big and fat...she will be a fit happy newfie. My Annabelle is only 98lbs and she is now 6
 

mcme

Member
It is all about perspective!

All you have to do is move to Florida. My Dublin, at 112 lbs. is small for a male Newf. He's always been naturally slim, which I know is a good thing. But here in the land of fluffy little foo-foo dogs, people think he is HUGE. They are always shocked when I says he's on the small side!
 

NinaA

New member
I was once told that a tiny terrier type was a Chow mix because it had black on its tongue. They said at the Humane Society here that was what they were told in determining some sort of breed possibility. I though, boy, how dumb is that, because a lot of breeds have black spots on their tongues - like every Newf I've ever had and most of the Labs.
 

BlackLightning

New member
If I had a dollar for every time someone told me Boum was small I'd be a millionaire!! I've decided that the general public are CLUELESS when it comes to the size of a Newf (or maybe it's just dogs in general?). I get told "he must weigh 180lbs" as often as I get told "He's so small. A friend of a friend of mine had a Newf that was WAY bigger than him.... blah, blah, blah".

Boum - about 25 inches tall, 115lbs. So SUPER small in the eyes of about 80% of people we meet that are "Newf experts" :) I love him just the way is.
 

Murphy

New member
People in my neighborhood were used to seeing me with my giant angel boy Murphy... So later....when I walked the Muppet dog you would have thought by the comments that he was a Chihuahua at 110lbs.. Guess who I would bet was the healthier????? :sunflower:
 

Bison

New member
My boy Bison weighed in at 87 lbs at his last vet visit in June, when he was a year and 3 months old. He is now 1 year and 8 months, and probably still hasn't broken 100 lbs.
I have found that "everyone" seems to have had a brother's friend, or a neighbour growing up, or once saw someone with a Newfoundland--that was at least 180 lbs, and that mine is so very small for a Newfie....
Every one of these people that have commented have never had a Newf of their own. Funny. :rolleyes:

Here is Bise next to his "Big Brother" who is also a "small" Saint at 2.5 yrs old and approx 130 lbs...



Your girl is beautiful, and she will fill out, and grow into those legs. Bigger isn't always better.;)
 

cmorgan.1505

New member
I'm a bit late to this thread, but I too have a smaller Newfie. I don't worry about size, but more if he is healthy and that should be the main focus.
 

dreamchaser456

New member
I have two small girls, 10 year old is only 90 lbs and our "pocket" Newf who at 3- 1/2 years is only 75 lbs. When newfy peeps she the little one they always think she's a pup still. She's a rescue and was starved for her first 6 months so we think it stunted her growth. That said they are both true newfs in temperament. Most non-newf people think they are both HUGE! Can't wait until those folks that think the girls are big see our new rescue boy we just adopted, he's 30 inches and about 125 lbs so he makes the girls look tiny! As long as they are healthy and loved, who cares about size.
 

NewfieGirl01

New member
Thanks guys!
Lynn, I never met her breeder. She was the "gift" I got *sigh*. Bf tried but knows nothing about picking a dog.

thanks everyone. I have always heard it's much better to have a smaller structurally sound dog than a huge unbalanced unhealthy dog.

I had the dogs in the vet today for their comprehensive exams and my banfield vet recommended breed testing them to ensure mousse and milo were really newfoundlands because they are "so very tiny". "only $60 and we can get an accurate 7 generation map of your dogs pedigree to ensure that they're really Newfoundlands". REALLY??????
They want to make sure they're not mixed with, say a doberman so they can "look out for symptoms of von willebrand when they get older."

I promptly said, von willebrand can be tested for at any age since it's genetic and the test takes two seconds to perform and can be sent in to a lab. So you don't have to wait until symptoms "pop up" in a Doberman, if there was a risk for it, it's much better to test younger.

She promptly shut up.

*sigh*

Just decided it's time to switch vets. Prices have gone up and vets here have gotten stupider and are now upselling like mad

I'm pretty sure my boy doesn't look like he's mixed with Doberman



 

wrknnwf

Active member
Thanks guys!

I promptly said, von willebrand can be tested for at any age since it's genetic and the test takes two seconds to perform and can be sent in to a lab. So you don't have to wait until symptoms "pop up" in a Doberman, if there was a risk for it, it's much better to test younger.

She promptly shut up.
Brilliant! I wish more people would speak up like that! Good for you! And yes, I think it's time to find a new vet. I tend to think that some are more interested in selling you stuff you don't need instead of actually doctoring, if you get my drift.

And if your current vet was smart (or really cared), she'd look up the breed standard and see that there is a fairly large range of weights and sizes for Newfs, unlike some other breeds with tighter restrictions. She would also be able to learn some of the other standard characteristics that make the breed what it is.

What it seems she is doing is trying to make you worry or be dissatisfied with your lovely dogs so you'll order up more unnecessary tests. What a jerk! Personally, I wouldn't trust a vet like that to help me make sound decisions about my dog's health care.

All of this reminds me of the time that I mentioned to my old vet that my girl was DNA'd for cystinuria and was cleared. He asked me to spell "cystinuria" and went in the back (presumably to look it up) and then came back and said "and she was tested for that?" as though I just made it all up. Sheesh!

Edited to add: Wonder what those pedigree tests would say about "purebred" goldendoodles?
 
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