8-Month Newfie Puppy Check In

Can you believe that Lil’ Lou is already 8-months old?

I can’t! 

Time is definitely flying and Lou is not the little fluffy puppy that I brought home 6 months ago!

He is growing each and every day and not only has he brought smiles, love and laughter to our home but also quite a bit of chaos!

We’ve officially hit the most trying stage of raising a Newfie, the adolescent stage and the stubbornness and selective hearing have set in.

I thought it would be fun and a little educational to fill you all in on how things are going with this brown hunk of goodness, the good and the not so good!

Newfie Puppy Size At 8 Months

First things first, is the growth rate. 

As many people have been able to tell by recent pictures of Lou, he is now a little taller than Odin. 

Lou’s measuring in at about 25″ inches at the shoulder which is about 1 inch taller than Odin. 

Now, I want to point out that Odin is on the smaller end for an adult male Newfie. 

So I don’t think that Lou will be bigger than an average Newfie.

My best guess would be that he’ll edge towards the higher end, about 150 pounds. 

Lou is right now weighing in at roughly 102 pounds. 

I say roughly because he wouldn’t sit still on the scale long enough to get an exact reading. 

He has a big head but a very long and gangly body right now. 

He’s growing right on target, up and soon he’ll start growing out!

Personality

Lou is a goofy Newfy, no doubt. 

He’s a very happy puppy and his tail is always wagging.

He gets so excited to see anyone and he does this cute little wiggle with his butt and he purrs. 

Alright, it’s more like a RAWRRRRRRR than a purr but it’s adorable.

When he’s excited, he always likes to grab a toy and wiggle and roar. 

He’s very curious but also cautious when he’s in the outside world. 

When he’s inside his comfort zone, he’s curious and adventurous. 

Training

Lou’s super smart and he picks things up quickly but you can’t overdo or he’ll lose interest which is so typical of a Newfie. 

He’s a work in progress just like any 8-month Newfie puppy is. 

He has good days and he has not-so-good days.

He’s doing really well with walking on a leash and he loves to carry things on his walks!

So far this month he’s carried his reindeer antlers, his jingle bells, his pumpkin bucket, my gloves and a dozen sticks!

Lou knows all the basic commands and uses them as he chooses right now. 

He’s very treat motivated which makes things a little easier on me. 

He has a very strong hold & carry instinct so I do encourage that as much as possible. 

He helps carry in groceries every week but right now he’s only allowed to carry in the paper towels because he brings the bag upstairs and starts to shred it. 

Behavior

I saved the best for last!

Lou is a good dog, but he’s also a typical 8-month old adolescent puppy. 

He likes to counter surf and he stole a stick of butter off the counter last month.

He ate it, paper and all. 

We’ve been working hard on correcting this behavior and it has gotten better, but he still has his weak moments. 

Lou’s very mouthy, especially when he’s excited, and that again is a work in progress. 

I have bruises on my arms from his nips and a few on my love handles. 

The other day, I was sitting at the kitchen table and out of nowhere, he jumped up and grabbed my ponytail and tried to rip me off the chair. 

He also likes to jump on me when I bend down to plug the Christmas tree in.

This brings me to THE CHRISTMAS TREES.

We have 2 trees, one artificial and one real. 

I put the artificial tree up last month to “desensitize” Lou to it.

He did fine with it. 

When we got the real tree we moved the fake tree and now Lou likes to try and eat the branches off of the real tree. 

So the real tree is behind a barrier. 

The fake tree now has ornaments on the top half and Lou can still reach them. 

He likes to walk by the tree and try to grab the plastic ornaments off of it but he hasn’t succeeded yet.

What about those stockings that are hung by the chimney with care?

Lou ripped his off so now his stocking is just laying on the mantle. 

Lou also got an early Christmas present, a new dog crate. 

He upgraded to the 52″ inch XXL crate because he was outgrowing his regular crate and because he bent the shit out of it when he tried to escape.

Lou is in a crate because it’s in his and my best interest at this time. 

He sleeps in a crate in our room every night without issues but if I will be gone longer than 30 minutes, he goes in his other crate. 

I’ve been experimenting with leaving him out for very short times and besides ripping the stuffing out of 1 couch cushion, he’s done well. 

He’s still learning the rules and pushing his boundaries, which is normal for an 8-month old puppy, and if I’m not here to enforce the rules, then he goes in his crate. 

He is fully potty trained, except when he gets REALLY excited, then he’s sometimes an excited pee-er. 

For anyone raising a Newfie right now around Lou’s age, we are experiencing similar puppy issues, I promise. 

Lou and Winter

Unfortunately, we’ve only had a few sprinkles of snowflakes this winter so Lou hasn’t experienced “real” snow. 

He has experienced mud which he appears to like. 

I think he’s going to love the snow and I can’t wait to see him with a few inches on the ground!

Lou and The Other Dogs

Lou gets along great with Odin and Finn.

Finn is his buddy and they play a lot together. 

Sometimes Lou gets a little rough and we have to intervene. 

Odin is slowly breaking down.

He’s played with Lou a handful of times and I think he’s come to grips that Lou is here to stay. 

Lou is still trying very hard to win Odin over and Odin is very tolerable of Lou’s antics. 

So that’s it!

That’s how puppy raising is going!

Fun things ahead and I’m sure some challenging times too!

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