I think some of you Newf people played up the health problems a bit too much, shame on you!
As the currently dogless one researching right now, let me add my 5 cents (you know I can't talk just 2 cents worth!) to the mix here.
I don't think that anyone has been 'downing' Newfs as a breed. From MY perspective, as a person whose planning a big baby, and who's trying to be prepared for the
consequences of that, I personally NEED to know all that bad stuff.
Because if I decide that a newfie is the dog I want just 'cause they're cute and sweet and will love me and snuggle 23.5 hours a day, how am I going to cope when my baby develops one of these all too common problems? Maybe I'm not.
Maybe I'm utterly overwhelmed by it, and I either send my baby off to rescue; or I have her prematurely put down, because I can't afford treatment or I can't bear to see her hurt at all.
When I was about 12, this happened to a neighbor of ours. Mary got a beautiful doxie girl, even taking a loan out to purchase her from a very reputable breeder. Every kid and dog on the block adored her, but at 2 1/2, Nina developed spinal problems. It was treatable--but VERY expensive, more expensive than Mary, who was retired, a widow, living on SS, could afford. She was still paying off the loan for buying her when Nina was PTS just after her 2nd Christmas. None of us realized at that time that no matter how good the pedigree is, there are certain things that every breed contends with, because our dogs were bred for particular purposes--but those very purposes can have other genetic consequences, like the doxie's tendency for spinal problems, bad hips in many big dogs, or animal aggression in some breeds.
I can't overstate how important it is to me to absorb the worst possible cons to everyone's breed--you all demonstrate the pros every day with your pictures and your stories! But if I know GOING IN to being a new dog mom what the probable health problems are, then I can 1) budget for the potential problems (or get a credit card just for the vet costs!) and 2) be prepared to recognize when a problem is starting early, and have at least a chance to keep it from becoming critical.
The best thing that all of you can do for those of us planning for fur babies is to try to convince us that we DON'T want your breed. You need to tell us every terrible, awful, bad and even just inconvenient thing there is ABOUT your breed, and keep telling us all the time.
And you know why, right?
It's because unless I'm already amply forewarned/forearms with icy logic around my heart, there's not a chance in h*ll that I'm going to be able to resist when he snuggles up and breathes in my face, and kisses me on the eyebrow.
The only defense to be had against puppy breath is a firm grounding in why he will NOT be the right dog for me when he weighs 150 pounds.
And I won't know that unless you drill it into me now, REPEATEDLY, because I'll be DEAF once I look in his eyes--be they newfie brown, retriever gold or husky blue.
So keep going on about the tumbleweeds and the dysplasia, and the running away, and the chewing of the walls, and the terrible runny-huge-sticky-nasty poops/throwing up, and all the rest. I need to be fully immersed in the worst it could get before I go anywhere near a puppy. (Or even a rescue. They're just as bad as the puppies with their, love me, love me, love me faces and their clingy ways.)
If you all do your job in this respect, then I will get the right baby when it's time. Because he or she will be the one that despite all your negatives pounding in my ears, I will say "Are you ready to go home with mama, sweetie?"
