Time passes all too quickly for Newfs, who generally have a life span of 10 - 12 years.
On September 26, 2008, three months after this photo was taken, we lost Henry's older 'brother' Wellington, who was into his thirteenth year.
Henry was probably as devastated as we were. Henry loved Welly, his old mate and mentor, and now he was without Newf companionship for the first time in his life.
We would always find Henry wherever Wellington was and as you can see from this pic, it was nearly impossible to photograph Wellington without his 'shadow' in camera shot.
Our Dog Psychologist in Palmerston North described Wellington, our first Newfoundland, as "One in a hundred". Wellington was full of energy and zest for life; he oozed presence and personality and was the most determined being I have met. He had a remarkable respect for our things and later on a huge capacity for patience with young Henry. He taught us a lot, gave us great memories, and brought joy to many others as well.
Wellington is pictured here at four years of age with Michelle.
(True stories about Wellington are on our site here.)
We adopted Henry when Welly was ten. We thought having another Newf would help fill the inevitable void associated with Wellington’s eventual passing. However, along the way learned that we enjoyed living with two Newfs…
During 2007, we understood that Wellington was not going to be with us for much longer and we decided that we would like to adopt another brown Newfoundland dog.
In June 2008, exactly when the photo above of Wellington in the snow was taken, Michelle went to Australia to meet Ian from NewFashion Kennels.
NewFashion had a litter of
just two browns on July 18 and we felt privileged to have an option on
the male, who we named Enzo.
We had hoped to have three Newfs for a while, but as things transpired Henry was alone for almost a month until we picked Enzo up from the airport on October 24, 2008.
Enzo's name originated from the fact that his dad is Italian, and we believe that Enzo is an Italian version of the name Henry...besides which the car theme also remains. We joke that we might get a little Griffon and name him Morris...
Henry appeared to quickly accept Enzo into our pack as we thought he would and within no time Enzo made himself completely at home in his new country and family.
On New Year's day 2009, we took the boys for a ride into the mountains. Here they are at Lake Lyndon, near Porter's Pass in the Southern Alps, Canterbury.
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Enzo continued to grow quickly as Newfoundland puppies do, although we were really concentrating on keeping the weight off his young bones.
Enzo, pictured here on New Year's day 2009, is around five months old and weighs 35.6 kilos, about a kilo less than Henry at the same age but about half a kilo heavier than Wellington when he was five months old.
Our Newf club had a water day on a scorching hot day in January, which was a great opportunity for Enzo, now six months old, to learn to swim. He will be a natural in the water just as Wellington was. Henry had a swim or two as well, but he was still not very comfortable when he couldn't touch the bottom!
With a bit more training however, Henry began to adapt to swimming without toes on the bottom. Here he is taking a lesson in February 09, where he was much more comfortable.
Young Enzo also progressed his water skills in leaps and bounds during the same day out with the Southern Newfoundland Society.
