Dunkey Monkey
When Duncan was at the vet on Monday they weighed him....130 lbs!! And he is just over nine months...Newfounlands can grow for up to 3 years!! I adore big dogs so the bigger he gets the better...but my mother on the other hand...although she to adores big dogs...becomes necro pale when she informs us that the vet thinks Duncan will hit 180lbs.
We were told Darla would be 140 and she is only 115 in the winter, 105 in the summer. I think Dunc will fill out at around 150-160. Luckily his heart is as big as his body...he is literally the biggest mush. He makes me laugh with his puppy like innocence and playfulness. I frequently forget that despite his size he is in fact a puppy...so when he clumsily knocks you over in the hallway because he does not know his own strength you are forced to take it in stride. When he sits on your lap...well you are forced to just accept it.
Darla however is having a bit of an issue with him. She has felt the need to lead so to speak. We gave her too much freedom of choice as a pup and she simply dominates and bosses my mother around. If my mom bends down to pick something up Darla performs the dominant play mount if you know what I mean. Dunkey Monkey does respects and adores my mother and when he catches Dar doing this he knocks her off my mother. Its hysterical to watch. It's also beautiful to watch two beautiful glossy bear sized dogs break into the dance like moves of the canine argument. My dad always insists it be broken up....I refuse because dogs need to be dogs and establish their own hierarchy. Duncan is quickly taking the lead and in alot ways Darla does not seem to mind. I think she just assumed she had to be leader until he arrived. Alot of times people make the mistake of assuming all dogs want to be alpha(thanks to Caesar and his archaic pre modern behaviour outdated bullshit... on behalf of all trainers and behaviourists...Fuck You Caesar!!), in fact people tend to give their dogs too much freedom and not enough social participation, which in turn leads a dog to think it has to make decisions. Darla is a classic case of that. You would say "Show me" to Dar and she would swing her head to the door to go out, pick which way down the block to walk, open the cabinet for a greenie, or point you in the direction of something she found wrong and would bug you until its fixed, she would grab your hand and drop it on her shoulder to tell you to scratch. She made choices and we were so fascinated with the mind of the Newfoundland breed that we reveled in her problem solving abilities. Thus became the alpha known as Darla. But now Dunk does not know better than to barge past her to go out the front door. He does not know the big couch is all Darla's, he sees, he takes, and he knocks Dar down to get it.
Lotus on the other hand has way bigger attitude than her size indicates when it comes to defending her possessions. I am honored to say I am one of them. Duncan came into the apartment before and Lotus was right by his side watching his every move. She has finally accepted the apartment as her newly upgraded den. So now when Duncan enters, she keeps a sharp eye on him. He came up to me and she ran right in between us. He tried to climb onto the couch, she grabbed his over sized drooping jowl with her teeth and gave him a warning growl. He tried to go into the bedroom...she ran ahead of him grabbed his jowl and growled again. I was cracking up as I watched a 20 lb dog boss around this 130lb puppy. Size has nothing over age when it comes to canines and their dominance over each other. I called my parents in to watch. Duncan was not allowed to even smell anything without Lo grabbing his jowl or body blocking him away from the items in question. When he spotted her food dish she ran over and ate every last piece....I don't even think she was hungry, she did it more out of spite (takes after her mom). Eventually there was nothing for Dunc to engage in and he left. It's so funny how to humans we see size as an intimidation factor...in dogs....its all attitude.