BANNER THE PLANNER

Posted on June 29, 2023 by BigFootClub

*Published 6/29/23; written in 2016

Each Newf that comes to be a part of our lives has a different personality. There are some
similarities, particularly between members with similar lines, but there are also differences in ways that make them irrefutably unique. I love their uniqueness!

Banner and Jade are about as different in personality as two Newfs can be, and they are not closely related. In general, Jade is soft and quiet, and Banner is loud and outgoing. All puppies must grow up, and Banner has been growing up noticeably in the past couple of months. She is headed on her course toward becoming 3 years old, and as girls seem to mature faster than boys, this is a significant coming-of-age point for a young Newfoundland girl. She shows some remarkable talents, although she has not yet fully outgrown some of her puppy thinking. Jade has learned how to deal with Banner, but I think she will need to re-learn as Banner matures. Banner has caused serious injury to Jade’s back, by propelling herself at the speed of electrons through supercooled copper directly into Jade, broadside. When Banner was a puppy, Jade was optimistic and excited. She loves to play, and finally she had a playmate, like her litter sister! But after Banner grew into size and reveled in her Newfound capacities, Jade learned to treat her with caution. Although Jade exceeds Banner by 50 lbs. in size, she would hide behind the van door when the dogs were let out of the van, and she will still freeze, motionless, if she spots Banner loose in the yard while she is out. We must walk beside her to escort her to safety (cabin). So, the play encounters have been limited to toys indoors, supervised but encouraged.

Banner wanted to cuddle with her sister, and she would seek out Jade and lie next to her,
spooning. She would dive at times, shoulder-down, into Jade’s softness, and she would clamber into her with fake clumsiness while Jade was standing. Through these experiences, the bond has not grown, but more division has developed, with firm wariness on Jade’s part. Jade is not a disciplinarian, and all of her soft efforts to get her point across have only exacerbated Banner’s behaviors, as Banner sees those as a challenge. So she has quit trying to engage Banner, whose reactions cannot be safely anticipated. Banner doesn’t understand why Jade doesn’t want to engage with her. Now, it seems that some turnabout may be fair play. As the girls go to bed, they lie in one spot and another, looking for “The Spot” where they can sleep most comfortably. (In the comparison of Newf vs. Sheldon Cooper, Big Bang Theory, Sheldon is not the original.) The newest development is that Jade decided to invade Banner’s sleeping quarters, to which Banner made a verbal complaint. Sisters!

There has never been a time when I’ve brought a puppy home that the new guy hasn’t gone through the process of jealousy to maturation, with negative consequences to some degree on the adult. However, the dust usually settles, and it seems to be settling now. I’ve always suspected that Banner would be the alpha between the two, but something odd has happened that has left Jade just as confused as I am. A “mean machine” (loud large tractor pulling some large equipment) moved down the road past the house about a week ago while Jade and Banner were in the yard. Banner shot back to the cabin with her tail between her legs! This is my little girl who uses dirty words when she expresses her discontent, whose response has been typically confrontational – not even a remote indication of being timid. Jade stood in the direction of the menace and “barked it away”, like she did a snow-plough one winter when she was young. She looked at Banner puzzled, barked some more, and looked back at Banner again, perplexed about her quirky, unexpected response. A few days afterward, there was a loud, sharp sound, somewhere between gunfire and a small explosion, and Banner shot back to the cabin again. Jade didn’t appreciate the sound, but again, she was more confused about Banner’s reaction than she was concerned about the sound. Maybe Banner has been watching too much television, or having bad dreams. Or maybe she read some strange pee-mail*. There had been a loose male dog passing by last week. In any case, it seems more likely that Jade is our alpha. It’s always easy to overlook the influence of the strong, calm, quiet adult, but it hasn’t been that long since Jade has assumed the responsibilities of adulthood.

It seems that our little girl is growing up, though, and that her awareness is broadening. She is much better about being engaged with me in any activity, and I expect that now she and Jade can begin to work on a better sister-hood. She is learning every day more and more, and one of her newest learnings is this: if you get in the van, be sure to take care of business first. Apparently she got in once recently during a long ride when she really needed to go. Now, on her own, she looks at me with a funny expression when I tell her to get in, walks a few steps away and relieves herself, then gets into the van. I would much rather have confidence in good judgment than have regret from a mechanically obedient Newf!

*Pee-mail was a term that I first heard around 20+ years ago by Pat (Leclair?), and
a perfect fit it is.

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ODE TO A PAPER TOWEL

Posted on June 18, 2023 by BigFootClub

As A Newfoundland owner, one of your greatest assets is paper towels.  Sometimes what you clean up necessitates a disposable product.  Especially when you are showing or just traveling, paper towels can be a high-value asset.  This has been a topic of discussion among Newf owners periodically, particularly about the value of Bounty paper towels.  Having Newfs for several decades, I have watched as these towels emerged, improved, then began the decline cycle – inevitable when companies employ cost-decrease measures to resist raising their prices.  And occasionally there have been times when I pulled out a roll from a travel or camping supplies box that was several years old and compared the old version to the new one.  Each time, I sighed and said nothing, used the old roll like a parting companion and accepted the fate.  The wonderful thickness and absorbency characteristics that we have come to expect since its introduction have diminished, and what is produced now doesn’t feel that much different than other brands of paper towels, unless perhaps you aren’t familiar with the original version.  The drift becomes intolerable and possibly inevitable at some point.  I thought it had reached this point a year or two ago, but now there is the version produced today.  I have felt like writing a eulogy several different times.  It’s not hard to imagine a set of animated pall-bearers carrying a super-sized roll of the earlier version of Select-a-Size towels.

After the pandemic, amid the major shortages in manufacturing resources and the subsequent shortages in paper products, retaining quality within a reasonable price was a fainting hope.  Then the economy version of Bounty was introduced, Bounty Essentials.  That may have been a consumer acceptance test that led to the current changes, because Bounty paper towels today are very similar to the Bounty Essentials.  Some of the cumulative changes are:

1. The thickness of the sheet
2. The texture of the sheet, as though the fibers had been manufactured like a high-quality
cotton terry robe
3. The size of the diamond imprint pattern
4. The reliability of the performation (improves and disimproves, and tends to increase overuse
and waste)
5. Overall absorbency
6. Quantity I’ve been suspicious but never counted the sheets on a roll, but there is now a
class action lawsuit about misrepresentation of the number of sheets in a large package

A positive change was the development of the Select-a-Size sheets.  Long before then, I was ripping the sheets in half.  Too many times a disposable sheet was needed but a full sheet was a waste.

The latest version showed up at a local Sam’s, so I began buying from Walmart and occasionally from Lowe’s.  Then the latest version was the version sold at our local Walmart, and finally at Lowe’s.  In Albuquerque, the older version was still being sold at Costco, but I suppose that is just a matter of time also.  If the change hasn’t arrived at your area yet, be prepared.  It’s time for me to review some brand-shopping again, after about 40 years, although the possibility exists that all products have been cost-reduced under the current threat of economic circumstances.

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What kind of dog looks like Bigfoot?

Posted on June 1, 2023 by BigFootClub

In 2005, we got our first one-ton van for traveling with Newfs. On the back, I added the sign, “Exclusive Transportation for Members of The BigFoot Club.” This van has traveled from the west coast to the east coast, as well as north and south. A few years ago, I discovered that AKC had set up a page about what dogs look most like Bigfoot. Perhaps a Leonberger, a Newfoundland relative, would come close. I also looked at the search results returned by Google and didn’t see anything similar, but the silhouette of Bigfoot walking a dog was charming.

The BigFoot Club was named for a different reason:
https://thebigfootclub.com/2012/07/17/how-did-the-bigfoot-club-get-its-name/

Last week, there were some site changes, so the old blog page now has only a cropped image of Banner: https://thebigfootclub.com/bigfootclub/. This photo is the one used to create the thumbnail for the web page tabs. Image pasted below also. More than one Newfoundland has been mistaken for a bear, but could a Newfoundland be mistaken for Bigfoot? You can decide.

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It’s a Blustery Day, Pooh

Posted on March 31, 2023 by BigFootClub

Had I known there would be so much dry wind, I would have waited a day to give Banner her bath. A blow dryer wouldn’t have been needed.

The wind was so strong that, as we ran errands, I took a step and it blew one leg into the other, nearly causing me to trip. All the way around our stops, there was evidence of its force. A power pole was still standing along one road, although it was hovering at an angle of around 45 degrees. In another area, a Stop sign was tilting and weaving at around 60 degrees.

When we arrived at the park, limbs were down here and there. One was about 8′, a pine branch. Another around 20′ long may have broken more easily from interior decay. It was lying on the ground beside Marlin Perkins. Things were flying through the air that shouldn’t have been. But we had a nice walk. After the first lap, I asked if she wanted to go home, but she gave a firm but polite response, “No”. Of the many ways that our dogs learn how to communicate with us, with creativity driven by need, she has learned to step behind me and to the right with her head down to answer this question. This works well since dogs walk on the left and our vehicles are usually parked on the left. It is clear and unambiguous. She is approaching her old lady years, and there have been a few times that she wanted to leave after one lap, walking toward the vehicle instead of behind me, sometimes before being asked. As we continued our walk, my hair tied down and hers standing in every direction except where it was parted by the wind, we enjoyed our time in silence. New, immature red Maple seed pods were scattered along the sidewalk. Aside from one young family at the slide, no one else was around, not even squirrels or birds. Rounding the corner toward the east, our steps became lighter.

We left the park and stopped to deliver some starts of our walking iris to a neighbor. It had finally reached the point that trimming the dead ends of some leaves was essential, and there were also a number of runners touching the floor. I’m not a person who can keep indoor plants in good shape, but this one tolerates me well. There are two plants dead in planters here, and two others that are holding on. I like the plants that enjoy being outside and plants that turn soil into watermelons, cantaloupe, tomatoes, corn, etc, or roses and Magnolia blossoms. The walking iris produces lovely small blooms at the end of runners, and these delicate blossoms have a tantalizing fragrance. Knowing someone in the Master Gardener’s club, I asked if she would like some starts. She will surely have outstanding results. We talked about the wind, and she said that her daughter’s trampoline was on top of her house.

For all of the gusts and evidence, the forecast had shown only 13 mph wind. Hmmm. And with all of the wind, the AQI had peaked at around 115 and dropped down to 15 in a short time.

There were more things blowing around in the air as we drove home: a large foam cooler floating and tumbling across a soccer park, a box that had been driven across a large field. I began to wish that I had moved the outdoor furniture to safe space. Fortunately, the pieces were still on the patio, which, also fortunately, was on the east side.

You never know what kind of adventure you will encounter when you take your Newf for a walk. I highly recommend it.

Happiest of Fridays!

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