"This is the fattest polar bear in Alaska. His name is Fat Albert and he lives in a village named Katovik. He weights over 1,000lbs!"

That cat’s black-and-white coloration is so unusual! Is it a domestic cat or wild? Maybe it’s a young cat whose color will change as it ages?

RP, the story of Scrappy:

https://cattitudedaily.com/mee...ke-youve-never-seen/

Thanks, wtg. So interesting! What a unique cat!

Baby donkeys!

That second one reminds me of the old photo booths that would give you four pictures/poses for 25 cents.


Squirrel plays Narcissus.

Clearly I've been missing a great deal, not having followed wtg's LOL critters feature.
(And let me take this opportunity to thank you so very much for contributing all you do to this site, wtg!)

It was really fun to look at these various photos, each with something unique to enchant
(my lifelong yearning for a Newfie hit me over the head big-time!).

Can anyone clue me into the breed of the (mostly) white puppy? Australian Shepherd?)
I continue to research dogs (they are always so much missing in my life) although with certain qualifications, if indeed I dare to adopt one at my stage of life and living alone. (Mobility, $, and what to do at times I need to be out of town, especially for anything medical).

I strongly believe in adopting cast-offs (it would be a first), but if I were unable to keep it (and no son could absorb it into their still unpredictable lifestyles) I think a purebred would be more adoptable.

Always falling back to the notion of another Sheltie, except that their undeniable barking could make me unpopular with neighbors, especially if I were in an apartment.

But that breed looks wonderful, as little as I can tell at its age (I'd look up more about the breed once I was sure of it). Don't dare to adopt one that would get much over 40 lbs if that, and not super active (if that can be said for sure about any breed - at least if I start with it as a puppy).

quote:

(my lifelong yearning for a Newfie hit me over the head big-time!)

I totally understand that. My yearning for a Newfie hit when I was eleven or twelve, after I read a book called With Love From Karen. It was written by a woman whose daughter had cerebral palsy. Newfs figured prominently in life of the Killilea family.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/1...n-killilea-dead.html

After Mr wtg and I got married, we first got a golden, and then a couple of years later, our first Newf, Chelsea. Couscous and Mambo were our second and third. It's a totally wonderful breed, but because of their size and our advancing years we decided not to get another Newf after we lost Mambo in 2009.

Chelsea in our MG:



Mambo:


Don't have a scanned photo of Couscous handy...

quote:

Can anyone clue me into the breed of the (mostly) white puppy? Australian Shepherd?

I think it is an Aussie Shepherd, but maybe someone else can confirm that. Is that what Cindy has?

I don't know anything about them beyond the fact that they're a herding breed, which makes me think high energy with a need to be kept busy. I don't know if they have a tendency to bark like some other herding breeds.

What a joy you two have had, having parented THREE Newfies!!

The reason I gave up on the idea was personal research I did here in town. The first was a woman who bred them, and had pretty much turned her house over to the endeavor. The day finally came when her husband said:
"It's either them or me."

Don't think he was even a close second so she lived alone, and quite happily it seemed.

The second situation that made me feel I couldn't handle one, was another super Newfie-devotee who lived with two of them, her husband and son. I was given her contact info, and she invited me to visit, meet them, and see what it was like.

One was downstairs in a large crate (but not imprisoned just for simplicity of care or something) while the other was upstairs and couldn't be disturbed because it was so sensitive - to heat, to people, to changes of routine (I think it had heart trouble).

The one Newf I could meet there was a sweetheart, of course, but the household scared me. It was pretty much carpeted with black Newfie hair held together by (I finally concluded it must be that) considerable slobber.
Also, there was - yes, I must say it (don't know if it was inevitable) - a strong, distinctive Newfie smell.

Not horrible, but over-powering. The house was smallish and dark, curtains drawn, because the dogs were so sensitive to the summer heat.

In this case, the husband had opted in favor of keeping the wife (not sure how the son was coping) but it seemed pretty clear that their lives were very much dominated by the two Big Ones she adored.

Not sure everything was as I perceived, I asked directly about shedding and slobber and she admitted with a shrug, that, yes, both were ongoing problems.
"I didn't prepare for your visit in any special way," she said confessionally [had I thought otherwise?], since you said you wanted to see what it was like." I thanked her, heart sinking.

I can't believe it HAS to be that way with adequate grooming (and I'm told not all Newfies drool), but for me that was the last straw. With two very complex and demanding young sons, I didn't think I'd have enough energy left over to do the dogs and them justice.

In my dreams I still want my Newf (much like the little girl in the photo), but the closest I came was a large Bernese Mountain dog. I doubt the two real life Newf vignettes I saw were typical but I just couldn't take the chance.